As we begin creating new content for our followers, students, and their families, we are hoping to share the story from our Bear POWER Family Newsletter. Avery Brooks, Bear POWER Ambassador, has begun to provide tips and resources for the parents within our program. Check out the full newsletter here!
Bear POWER Family Newsletter (10/8/2020)
Supporting Your Student Over Breaks
Hey there! We are so excited that you have joined us for the fourth edition of the Bear POWER Family Newsletter. In this installment, we will be offering you advice on how to support your student over campus breaks, which is just in time for the Fall Holiday! Before we share our tips on how to help your student during this time, we wanted to preface this newsletter by reminding you that at the end of the day, you are the parent, and you know your student best and know what methods work best for them in order to decompress. These tips are simply here as extra ways to encourage your student as they relax over campus breaks.
Tip 1: Encourage your student to continue practicing their independent living habits.
While your student has been away at college, your student has learned many new skills, such as doing their own laundry or making their own meals (even if they only need to be reheated in the microwave). When your student comes home for a campus break, we recommend that you make sure your student continues to practice the independent living skills that they acquired on campus. For example, encourage your student to continue doing their own laundry while they are back at home. Now, this does not mean that you must refrain from helping them; you can do a load or two for them as a nice “welcome home” gesture. During longer breaks, such as Winter Holiday, though, we recommend that you remind your students to continue using the skills that they have learned at college so that they do not come back overwhelmed once classes resume; after all, it would be daunting to come back after a month of not doing any sort of chore-like activity and having to relearn it all over again. By encouraging your student to practice their independent living habits once or twice a week, it can allow your student to transition back to campus life much easier after their vacation period is over.
Tip 2: Encourage your student to participate in relaxing activities.
Your student has been a rockstar at campus these past few months! They have studied many long hours for all their classes, and they have devoted much of their spare time to wholeheartedly engaging in extracurricular activities through Bear POWER. Therefore, your student may be used to running at ninety miles per hour and may have forgotten what it is like to kick back and relax. Thus, when your student returns home from campus, it is important to encourage your student to rest and decompress from their fast-paced life at college; in order for them to continue to stay active in all of their activities back on campus, they need to refuel their minds and bodies while they are at home. The number one way to do this is by encouraging your student to get the recommended eight hours of sleep each night. All of us are victim of staying up late working on an assignment or procrastinating sleep by watching YouTube videos. However, over time, this lack of sleep can take a big toll on your student’s physical and mental health. Thus, by encouraging them to catch up on sleep, you will help your student feel energized and recharged for the next time they return to campus. Another way to promote relaxation is by creating opportunities for family time. This is something we probably do not have to tell you twice to do. Encouraging this time together, even if it is just for thirty minutes around the dinner table, can help your student to destress and decompress because they are given an opportunity to discuss any emotions they have been feeling while on campus with those who they trust the most, their family. We know how stressful COVID has been for everyone, so allowing for this opportunity to come together and simply talk can go a long way in promoting a positive attitude in your student’s life when they return to college.
We hope that these tips prove useful to you as you prepare to welcome your student back home for the Fall Holiday, as well as for future campus breaks! We also wanted to remind you that if you ever have any questions or feedback about the newsletters or blog posts, feel free to reach out to us and let us know! We want to make sure these articles are helpful for you and your family as you are transitioning into the life of having a student in college. We hope you join us next week for our next topic: Ways to Support Your Student for Online Learning.