Ten Things A Parent Of A Senior Should Do Before (or just after) Graduation Day

/

10. Be sure your child knows how proud you are of them. Actions don't always speak louder than words.  They might be too distracted to notice your actions, but need to know how you feel.  It is important to their self-confidence that they know that they have your support. Celebrate them & their accomplishments. 

9.  Begin to give them a little more freedom than you have before.  They will have full freedoms in college and your offering to give them a little more freedom at home now will communicate to them that you understand their desires.  

8.  Spend Time Having Fun Together.  Going on a trip together, having a fun night out, or a family game night at home will develop your family relationship and give you time to spend with your child before they go off to college. Give them great memories of family time.

7.  Have A Talk About Money.  Most college freshman do not know how to manage money.  Whether you give them a credit card, allowance, or they have to get a part-time job, they will be more on their own financially than ever before. They need your help.

6. Have A Talk About Relationships. Many students don't go into college fully understanding that the people they meet and form friendships with will dictate who they become and how they are perceived by others.  College is a very social place and they need to be wise about who they begin to develops relationships with.

5.  Ask Them About Their Goals, Dreams, & Plans. If this doesn't sound like a normal conversation to have with your child, then you are in a relational deficit.  Two reasons this is important: One, asking them to share makes them think about their future and, secondly, it shows them that you care and are interested in them. 

4.  Be Quick To Listen And Slow To Speak. Most teenagers don't think that their parents understand them. They often feel that parents just want to instruct them, which makes this young adult feel more like a child than they want to feel. Ask questions and then listen and resist the urge to subject impute and advice until they ask for it.  

3. Tell Them About Your College Experience. Be careful not to just tell a bunch of party stories without sharing the lessons that you have learned. Don't be afraid to share with them some of your struggles and successes.  Let them know that you were actually in their shoes once and that you understand what they are going through.

2. Let TheTransMission help you guide your student through this transition. This website it for them and will give them insight, ideas, and direction from now until the end of their first semester in college. Also, Lost in Transition and opportunities like the Freshman Care Package are great examples of how we can help your child. 

1. Pray With Them And For Them.  Nothing will tell your child that you care more than to sit them down and pray over them.  If this is not natural for your family, then do it often enough so that it begins to feel more normal.  Let them know that you will continue to pray for them daily while they are in college.

Take The Survey

/

I am working on a new book this spring and summer to help adults guide students through a healthy spiritual transition to college. I need your help. I have created a 20 question survey to collect data and stories for the book. Hundreds have already taken the questionnaire so please do it too. Then pass it on to your friends. Thanks!

Click Here for the survey link

College Mentoring Groups - Coming Soon!

/

This could really help your future college freshman as they get settled into school. These groups are made of college freshmen from all over the country who meet once a month with Tommy McGregor and talk about what they are thinking and dealing with during that first semester in college. Check this blog for more details in May. Spots are limited. 

Blogathon Announced

/

What is a Blogathon? This is an opportunity for others to submit content to one of TheTransMission blogs. We have just announced 3 upcoming blogging events for 2013. 

Words of Wisdom for Graduates (July)

Advice for Parents of College Freshmen (August)

Making The Most of Your Senior Year (October)

To learn more about this opportunity and to get submission details, click here

The Current State of the High School Senior 

/

​As of today, the high school class of 2013 is within weeks of their graduation.  They have spent almost all of their recollected life in school, at home, and under the supervision of loving parents and teachers, but now that is about to change.  With some nervousness and much excitement, they are preparing for a great leap into adulthood where they will have more freedom than ever before. For both parent and student, this is a stressful time of wrapping up one chapter of life and preparing for another. 

Read More

5 Suggestions To Combat Senioritis

/

1. Open up the flow of conversation between you and your graduating senior about their excitements and anticipations of college. Allow them to share their thoughts with you so that they know you are interested.

2. Give them something to do to fill their time, outside of school. They could get a job or intern/shadow someone in a field that they are interested in. This will allow them to focus on something related to the major that they will pursue in college. 

3. Give them a little more freedom so that they will feel more like the adult they so want to be. This should be a gradual thing, but a little longer curfew or extra privilege will go a long way to help them not feel so "trapped" in their senior year.

4. Be creative about celebrating their senior year in high school. The problem with senioritis is that they are more focused on college than high school. Celebrating their senior year might include having friends from the senior class over for a cookout, helping coordinate a senior mission trip or project, etc. 

5. Pray with them about the next few months that they will enjoy the rest of their senior year and that they will finish well. 

Dealing With Senioritis

/

About this time every year, just as spring blooms and the days grow closer to the end of the semester, an intermittent sickness spreads throughout households of those anticipating graduation. Could it be a virus that only affects certain ages at specific times? Might it be brought on by transitional stress at the end of the high school years? Is it contagious and could it potentially become a pandemic? To these and other possible questions: Yes!

This decline in practically every motor, emotional, and sensory function is the affect of a semi-temporary condition known as Senioritis. According to the Senior Leadership Association & Council for Kids Eagerly Resting, or SLACKER, Senioritis begins sometime after the start of the college application process and has been known to linger throughout the summer months until the infected moves off to college.  Common symptoms of Senioritis include a basic lack of desire to do anything productive at home or school, and tiredness, even after a three hour nap.  Experts have discovered that this energy deficiency seems to flare up when the affected is anywhere except in close proximally to other inflected individuals in social settings.  The reasons for this is uncertain, but research has authenticated it’s claims.  Other symptoms of senioritis can be, but not limited to, an extreme lack of communication, inability to complete regular household responsibilities, and a decrease in concern for...anything. 

In some cases, symptoms of senioritis have been reported in teenagers as early as the 9th grade. For parents dealing with this condition at home, extreme patiences it required. Treatment can vary and most are deemed ineffective. Studies show that most reasonable attempt to remedy this condition before its natural passing from the system is often met with resistance. Six out of seven doctors agree that the best treatment is prayer and large doses of ibuprofen, for the parent, not necessarily the senior.  Parental caregivers have been known to get through this time quoting such phrases like “This too shall pass”, “They will be gone soon”, and various Psalms on suffering and deliverance.  

(IF YOU ARE A PARENT OF A SENIOR, THIS MAY NOT BE A LAUGHING MATTER. TOMORROW ON THIS BLOG WILL BE "5 SUGGESTIONS TO COMBAT SENIORITIS")

Understanding The Student Blog

/

The Senior 2013 blog is a great resource as you continue to lead your high school senior through this Transition Year. Here is a look at the weekly schedule on the Senior Blog.

Monday Devo - This is a devotional that posts every Monday to challenge the student for the week. 

Tuesday Article - Every Tuesday there is an article on the site that relates to the theme of the month (Feb's theme is identity). 

Wednesday & Thursday- Wednesday and Thursday are open days for content. Often on Wed, there are follow-up questions from the Tuesday article or another post on a related topic. Thursday can be a challenge, testimony, article, video, or similar article.  

Friday Question - Every Friday there is a challenging question for students to answer on the blog or on the Facebook group.

Weekends - Saturday usually has a Scripture to think about &/or announcements about upcoming online events. There are no posts on Sunday. 

Monthly Checklist - The monthly checklist is often posted on the first or second day of the month (regardless of the day of the week). It is intended to give the student a perspective for themselves, based on where they should be in the process of their Transition Year. 

The CORES of TheTransMission: Five Essential Freshmen Goals

/

The first year (or two) of college is all about taking the “core” classes so that a student can begin to develop their knowledge in the field that they feel most called to study. These academic cores (history, math, English) are often a refresher course to reinforce and develop what a college student has already begun to learn in high school. This principle of strengthening core concepts is also vital to a student’s spiritual transition to college. 

Read More

Preparing Your Child for Their Transition Year

/

Once the Christmas Tree has been taken down and another year's calendar is up, a high school senior finds themselves back in the halls of high school for the very last time. Not only is this their last semester in the school that they have known for so long, it is also the final stretch of a major chapter in their life. Graduating from high school and going to college is not just the next step for many graduating high school seniors, but it is also a new life stage that will require more maturity, responsibility, and growth. 

TheTransMission was created to help you prepare your child for this huge moment in their life. We understand that the whole family goes through a transition and that it is often hard to know how to accurately prepare them for college. All students prepare academically for college by taking tests and filling out college applications. Many will prepare socially and emotionally in their own way, but very few Christian high school seniors will take the necessary steps to prepare spiritually for college. 

TheTransMission operates on what we call a Transition Year. This is the year of a student's graduating and includes their last semester of high school and their first semester of college. This is the period that we believe students are most ready to focus on the transition and most likely to apply all that they have learned. Please take a few minutes to look around on this site to see how TheTransMission can partner with you, the parent, to help guide your child into a healthy, spiritual transition from high school to college. You might want to begin by taking the tour of the site, as well as clicking on this link above about how to prepare for a transition year. 

We are excited about spending this year with you and welcome any comments or questions that you might have. We ask that you connect with us through the Facebook and Twitter links on the right of the page. Please check back to this section of the site regularly for content for parents as you lead the charge of leading your student to this next stage of life. God Bless!

Being A Parent To A High School Senior Is A Hard Job!

/

We, at TheTransMission, understand that. Our team of contributing writers include parents who have been there and done that.  Even though this ministry and site is geared to working with ministry leaders and guiding students, we don't want to forget about you, the faithful parent.  Regularly, you will find an article on this blog just for you. Please visit often for new material or select one of the following options to receive updates on the site (Twitter, Facebook, or RSS). As a parent of a high school senior, you might even want to follow the TransYear Blog too so you can pass this content on to your child. We would also like your feedback, so feel free to contact us through those social network channels or in the CONNECT section of this site. I hope that you will join The Transition Coalition which is a network of parents. Each month (beginning again on Jan 2013) you will receive a monthly email letting you know of ways that TheTransMission can help your child make a healthy transition into college. 

©2012 TheTransMission All Rights Reserved