The Biggest Parental Rite of Passage
A rite of passage is defined as a ceremony or ritual that happens when a person leaves one group to join another. As parents, there are many rites of passage along the way when it comes to raising our children. Arguably, the biggest of those is sending our kids off to college. It’s a long and complicated process where we’re battling a plethora of emotions as we try to support our children as much as possible. Ultimately, we are doing our best to get them ready to leave the nest. That, in and of itself, can stir up a lot of feelings because it is not only a rite of passage for them, but for us as well.
To make matters worse, the college journey has become even more complicated and extensive in recent years. There’s a lot of strategy at play, from getting your child ready to take the SAT to ensuring that they write the perfect essays. This added pressure can suck some of the joy out of the process for them, and us as well. Still, I feel that this particular rite of passage is one of the most important times to lend support to our children.
There are a number of things that we can do to guide them during this transition:
- Help your child explore their options. For both of my daughters, I planned extended road trips to visit college campuses across the country. We got to see schools on their lists as well as additional universities…
