Except for that leftover cake in the fridge, graduation is over. Ahead is a summer of relief (your baby got into college!), anticipation (a whole new world lies ahead!), and a little apprehension (how will we adjust to the next chapter: the unknown?).
What’s next for your child? I found some resources that helped my son when he first went away to college, so I’ll pass them along. Books: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport,
2010 The Naked Roommate: College Survival Guide by Harlan Cohen, and How to Survive Your Freshman Year: By Hundreds of College Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors Who Did by HOH Books. Websites: CollegeTips.
Your child’s future will unfold individually, mysteriously, and perhaps serendipitously. He will want input from you less and less (yes, it hurts!). But as his journey evolves, he may occasionally be interested in a gift book on careers, or suggestions on a job search website. Some possibilities…
Books: Now What? The Young Person’s Guide to Choosing a Career by Nicholas Lore, You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career by Katharine Brooks, 
How’d You Score That Gig? A Guide to the Coolest Jobs–And How To Get Them by Alexandra Leavit, Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World by Lindsey Pollak, and How to Survive the Real World: Life After College: Advice from 774 Graduates Who Did by HOH Books. Websites: CollegeGrad.com, CareerTV.com, WetFeet.com, Gradspot.com, and Careers-in-Business.com.
What’s next for you? It’s different for everybody, but at the risk of link overload, I can suggest resources that have helped me and other parents I know. Books: Beyond the Mommy Years: How to Live Happily Ever After…After the Kids Leave Home by Carin Rubenstein, 
Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-At-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work by Carol Fishman Cohen & Vivian Steir Rabin, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life by James Holis, and Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths by Timothy Butler.
Websites and workshops: iRelaunch.com website, webinars, books and workshops for empty nest career re-entry, Charting Your Course Harvard Business School workshop for professional women whose careers have been redirected by family life, ThirdLaunch by the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara, and Paths to Creative Retirement Workshop by the North 
Carolina Center for Creative Retirement.
For parents who have sent a child to college, what part of the transition was the most challenging for you? What would you like to share with parents who are about to go through this transition for the first time?
by Sally P. Springer, Jon Reider & Marion R. Franck
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2 responses so far ↓
Rose // June 28, 2009 at 1:32 pm
These are wonderful resources for the parent, but you have to be careful not to overwhelm your child with too much information. This is a time of great anxiety for your adolescent, and an overload of advice may heighten that anxiety.
You can support your teen by encouraging healthy eating habits, physical outlets, mental space, and social interaction. This is a time when your teen is getting ready to make a lot of her own decisions, and expressing confidence in your child’s ability to do so can facilitate this autonomy.
Kris Hintz // June 29, 2009 at 12:33 am
Yes, you make an excellent point. This post offers a smorgasbord of resources, assuming perhaps you might make use of one or two, over the course of years, when appropriate for yourself or for your grown child.
The only teen-oriented book I offered to my own son was the Cal Newport book, as a Christmas stocking stuffer his senior year of high school. I didn’t know whether he would ever read it.
But he did read the book the summer before college. My son told me later that it gave him an amazingly pragmatic and effective strategy for succeeding his freshman year of college while truly enjoying his experience.
So you never know. But resources definitely have to be offered only occasionally, as “seed planting” rather than an avalanche of unsolicited advice! Thanks for your insight.