It goes without saying, it is rather stressful coming to a strange university. Students, who have made a break from home, find the freedom amazing but still may face the stressful issue of separation anxiety. Both young men and women miss their families and feel lonely especially in their first year of study. Universities and colleges provide a variety of summer orientation programmes aimed at making the transition period easier and less traumatic. Parents in their turn can contribute to successful adaptation to campus life by acting and communicating with their children in the right way.
Some students feel the most comfortable and free when their parents keep at a respectful distance, thus giving them the desired independence. They are ready to deal with their own problems and do not require help or visits from home. Nevertheless, parents should not forget that their children still need an evening phone or Skype call, or an SMS.
In case, a student enjoys high trust and independence from his or her family, it is possible to cut even more slack. Parents may not be heavily engaged in the college experience of their children. On the surface, this would seem to be a very desirable situation. However, they should beware lest they become aloof with their children and the bond between them can become less intimate or even disappear.
One more way of building harmonious parents and students relationship is when parents are very involved in the lives of their college students and stay very close to their children. This type of relationship might seem the most suitable both to students and their parents as well as college or university administrators. But parents should not have too high or unrealistic expectations of the campus life or become highly invasive into it. There is no point in demanding too much attention from the students who are already overloaded with extracurricular activities, hovering over them and interfering in their private and social life thus putting obstacles in the development of responsibility and independence.
Building harmonious relationship can be tough both to parents and students and there is no good going to the extremities in an effort to help channel high interests in positive and productive ways. There should be certain steps made from the both sides in order to cope with a student’s stress of coming to a strange environment and a parent’s fear of being apart from his or her child.