It’s the job of every parent to help their kids develop the habits they need to succeed in college. Chores are an excellent way to instill productive behaviors in your kids, but not every chore has to feel like a grueling task. These four habits will help your kids develop the traits they need to succeed in college in a way that they might actually enjoy.
Make Planning and Setting goals a Daily Activity
Learning to organize their schedule will help your kids accomplish their goals. For college students who must learn to juggle the heavy course loads alongside their personal interests and responsibilities, having these skills established is a must. Get your kids a planner and teach them to set aside time each day to organize the following day, week, month and year. This could additionally help them to get into the planning mindset that’s needed for future budgeting habits. If they know how to handle their schedule, they could use that to their advantage with paying their bills on time in college!
Encourage Perseverance with Creativity Time
Creative pursuits are one of the best ways for your kids to see the fruits of hard work directed toward something they enjoy. Reading and writing and other creative activities at a young age help children to become more proficient in discovering their voice, which will benefit them significantly as they learn to write and express themselves in college. Establishing a creativity time in which they can practice music, a visual art, reading, storytelling, dance or another creative pursuit, can help them gain confidence. Progressively excelling in a skill can help them learn to budget an appropriate amount of time to develop their creativity.
Setting Aside Time to Help the Community
Serving others can help children to grow in compassion and respect for other people’s feelings. Teaching children to serve and respect others from an early age will help them to better avoid the increasing habits children and college students have to bully others via social media and technology. Establishing a habit of serving others will help their self-esteem and will develop a history of community service that will distinguish them from less-involved, competing applicants at top universities. Serving others will also reinforce the value of hard work.
Benefits of the Daily Cleaning Schedule
One of the biggest challenges for many incoming college freshmen is organizing their time. Procrastination is the number one killer of good grades. Establishing the habit of sticking to a cleaning schedule that spans the week will teach your kids the importance of spacing out unpleasant tasks so that they don’t pile up and become overwhelming. Additionally, cleaning is pretty key to the basic survival skills needed in college, such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, dishes, etc. If nothing else, learning these skills will at least help them to be ready for their dorm inspections!
There are many ways to encourage your kids to build the habits that will help them succeed when they get to college. Spending hours studying might not be your child’s favorite activity, but by helping them build their organizational skills and perseverance through creative pursuits and helping the community, it might just be a little less painful.