Back-to-School Organizing
Oprah Radio | January 01, 2006
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How can parents send their big kids off to college with as few hiccups as
possible? For answers, Peter turns to Karen Levin Coburn, the associate dean for
Freshman Transition at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and
co-author of Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years.
Karen says parents can help smooth the transition with the following advice:
- Don't do everything for them. Let your child get his or her own credit card, pay the bills and
pack, Karen says. "If not everything gets done they'll learn there are
consequences," she says. "It's a way of showing them that you have some faith
in them—that they can do it themselves."
- Learn about resources at your child's college. When parents are informed about tutoring, dining, health care and other resources on campus, it helps relieve anxiety, Karen says. "They can then be a coach to their kids when their kids do run into problems instead of trying to jump in and solve the problems for them," she says.
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