According to a new study of college students released on Monday, a parent or guardian has taken action to solve a university-related problem for their child in almost 40 percent of the first-year student population.
About 13 percent of the students reported these interventions as frequent.
Parents need to stop babysitting adults.
They need to realize that constantly buzzing around in the affairs of their children may hinder the children’s development as adults.
College is a time for students to test out their new roles as adults in society, and find a way to use their newfound powers and responsibilities.
Parents who intervene too frequently or quickly will jeopardize this developmental process.
College students must be able to make their own appointments to see a doctor, solve housing problems, and edit their own papers.
If parents complain to housing every time their children have a problem with their roommates, their children may never learn to adequately cope with and address such social conflicts.
Parents should be involved in their children’s education, but there is a fine line between encouraging and supporting a child and holding their hands and acting on their behalves.
Parents should be encouraged to get involved with UCLA, and be concerned about the welfare of students.
In fact, the National Survey of Student Engagement, which reported the findings, also found that students are “more engaged in college life, happier and reported getting more from the experience” if they had parents who intervened.
The transition to college can be stressful for a family, and easing the family into the shifting dynamics should be facilitated through staying in contact.
However, some parents unfortunately find it difficult to resist the temptation to manage their children’s problems.
Worse yet is the legitimacy in rationalizing these interventions.
Anecdotes are abound when it comes to descriptions of how some campus entities simply respond more seriously to an angry parent rather than a young student.
These stories should be nonexistent considering that students are typically legal adults, have firsthand experience with their problems, are closely involved at UCLA, and are generally the most logical choice for who to solve their problem.
There is no reason for parents, who are typically less involved with UCLA than their children, to have more leverage with any entity at the university.
The survey also found that academically independent students tend to have higher GPAs.
Overinvolvement and micromanagement of a student’s academics or school-related problems can be detrimental to the college experience, but getting involved in events like parents’ week or having encouraging and uplifting conversations with a child can be highly beneficial to the child’s well-being.
When children leaves the home to enter the realm of college life, they still need the support and contact of parents that the university cannot provide. But college is a crucial time for a developing young adult to discover ways to quickly and effectively resolve problems, which can serve as a model for problem solving throughout the rest of their lives. Thus, their independence must be respected and developed as well.