Responsible may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of high school senior; Yet, it is necessary. A responsible college students is one who knows how to balance both fun and work.
Here are some tips to better prepare your child for the responsibilities of “adulting”.
1. Housekeeping Responsibilities -
Be sure your teen knows how to :properly do their laundry, clean the bathroom (boys aiming, girls dispose sanitary napkins) ,plunging the toilet, being organized, take out the trash out daily.
2. Responsibility to Self:
The College experience will undoubtedly involve short sleepless nights, stress, and poor nutrition. A good thing to teach your child is how to cook quick healthy meals (ramen is not a meal). Some teens have never boiled water....sighhhh. How to manage time, and how to disconnect when they feel overwhelmed to ground themselves and take a breath.
3. Financial Responsibility:
How to budget and save- Do they know how create, interpret, and follow a budget ? .
How to use a credit/debit card (ONLY USE WHAT YOU HAVE)
How to pay bills, manage bank account.
4.Maintenance responsibilities:
Basic Car Maintenance: read the owner’s manual, changing a tire, verifying the oil level (I personally lost not one but two engines...I KNOW), adding water in case the car overheats, checking tire pressure, jump start a battery and of course setting up road emergency equipment.
5. Safety Responsibilities:
How to read a map- If their phone dies and/or have poor phone signal. Understand directional terms north, south, east, west.
Trust that little voice inside their head and that feeling in their gut.
Your teen will make mistakes in spite of what you’ve taught them, yet they’ll also avoid making a lot of them because of what you’ve taught them. Let them know you don’t expect them to be perfect, but you do demand the TRUTH. This may be their first time alone, but an open line of communication is necessary.
And ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS let at least one person know where you AT ALL TIMES.
Parents this is as difficult for you as it is for them. Trust that you have properly prepared them to change the world.
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