They say time flies when you have children and, if your pride and joy is set to head off to college this year, you can likely see the truth in that statement. One second they’re holding your hand while you walk to the park, and the next they’re leaving home to pursue their own lives. It’s an exciting time, but it’s also filled with bittersweet goodbyes and, for you at least, a myriad of worries.
After all, your child will always be your baby, and you’ll want to make the transition to college life and solo living as easy as you can. Lucky for you, a quick internet search will pull up endless lists of everything you can get for your college starter to begin making their college dorm feel like home. These essentials can play a key role in helping them to settle. But, tea towels and kitchen pans won’t necessarily help them to thrive in their new life.
In reality, your child needs more than belongings to make college life work for them. When they’re suddenly out on their own, they particularly need solid life skills that they can fall back on to ensure they fly. And, who better to teach those skills than you as a parent?
In this article, we’ll consider some life skills and essential lessons that could transform your child’s college journey for the better. Let’s get into it!
Life Lesson # 1 - Basic Recipes
You can buy a college student the best cooking equipment, but you can’t stop them from living off beans on toast. Unless, of course, you teach them some basic fall-back recipes to ensure they’re always eating better. The important thing here is to keep things simple. Let’s be honest, no college student wants to spend more than twenty minutes in the kitchen. They probably wouldn’t have the time even if they did have the inclination!
Start as you mean for your child to go on by teaching them about pantry basics. This can open them up to a world of quick meals including stir fries, pasta dishes, and rice options galore. It’s also a great way to make sure they’re getting nutrients without needing to stand at the stove for any real amount of time.
In general, you’ll want your college student to understand the importance of a pantry that looks something like this –
Pasta, noodles, rice
Tinned beans and legumes
Oatmeal and other cereals
Peanut butter and jam
Canned fish like tuna and mackerel
Soy sauce, white wine vinegar, etc.
Tinned tomatoes
Condiments
Cooking oils
Then, make sure they know how to turn those ingredients into a great meal by practicing dishes like a stir fry or pasta bake with them before they head off. Encourage them to try out additions like legumes and beans, or even a little tinned fish, which can add the nutrients college students so often miss out on. Then, you can guarantee they’ll always eat well, even on a budget and with tight time restraints.
Life Lesson # 2 - Tackling the Weekly Food Shop
You’ve taught your child a few basic recipes and pantry supplies to keep them healthy. Now, you need to make sure they know how to keep that pantry well-stocked. After all, when our kids live at home, most of us head out for the weekly food shop without thinking about including them. And that can leave them completely lost when it comes to shopping for themselves.
Of course, in a basic sense, your child knows how to walk into a store. But cost-effective healthy food shopping requires more than a haphazard approach. Instead, you’ll want to instill vital lessons in your child, including the need to plan their meals and write a list before heading to their local store. This will make it easier for them to budget, and ensure their pantry is never short when they come to whip up a quick bean chili.
If your child’s college schedule is jam-packed, you’ll also want to teach them about the joys of online shopping, including how to set up an account and save their favorite items for next time. Equally, if you’re worried about their budgeting, you could finish this lesson by handing them an all-important food store gift card, which you can often keep topped up from a distance to make sure they’ve always got the money to buy the food they need.
Life Lesson # 3 - Cleaning Essentials
Just as your child knows how to walk into a store, they’re capable of basic cleaning tasks like folding their clothes and (hopefully) slipping them into drawers. But keeping the intricacies of their college living quarters clean can be a skill young students don’t always possess.
The amount of cleaning your college student will need to complete depends greatly on their living arrangements. For instance, shared college dorms tend to be small and relatively easy to manage, while private apartments or housing can require a more dedicated cleaning focus.
Either way, you should take the time to teach your child essential cleaning lessons such as –
Vacuuming
Bed making
Cleaning spills and stains
Toilet cleaning
Laundry sorting
And more
You could also benefit from supplying them with a ready-to-use cleaning caddy stocked with everything they might need. You could even stick a label on each product to explain what it’s for, so they can easily reach for this to tackle every cleaning task. The top items to include in a caddy are –
Microfiber cloths/scrubbers/paper towels
Cleaning products including disinfectant, toilet cleaner, and window cleaner
Dish soap
Washing gloves
Baking soda
Etc.
Life Lesson # 4 - Life at the Laundromat
You may be aware of the need to teach your child the basics of washing machine use before they head away. This is the best way to ensure they don’t shrink all their clothes, after all. But, it’s also important to remember that most college students won’t have their own private washing machine in their accommodation.
Instead, the majority of uni students will use either a dorm laundry room or head to the laundromat, where they’ll use industrial-scale machines like a UniMac washer. And these machines are a little different from simply putting on a small load at home.
As well as getting your child familiar with residential washer settings, you should take them out to get used to life at the laundromat. This can include familiarizing them with how much money they’ll need for each trip (typically between $4-$8 for a wash and dry), as well as getting them used to the settings on industrial UniMac machines and even smart washing laundromat machines that now come complete with mobile apps.
And, of course, you’ll still want to focus on teaching laundry basics including –
Washing natural or delicate fibers
Separating colors from whites
Checking dryer suitability
Life Lesson # 5 - Hosting 101
Most parents quake at the idea of their child hosting in their college abode. Just the thought of it brings to mind raucous parties and noise complaints. In reality, though, your child can have a lot of fun hosting their friends more responsibly with the help of a few simple lessons. For instance, you could teach them a few basics about how to host a dinner party, which could see them enjoying a whole new kind of sophisticated socialization once they’re living away from home.
Lessons that could see them leaning towards dinner instead of raves include –
Batch cooking recipes like curry, chili, and pasta dishes
Table laying techniques
Ambient playlists
Basic cocktail recipes
And so on
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Life Lesson # 6 - The Importance of a To-Do List
College life can be hectic, and it’s all too easy for students to become overwhelmed by responsibilities like lesson management and cleaning the home. This can lead to slips in both home care and their ability to stay on top of their studies. And, it’s an issue you can overcome by simply teaching your child the importance of a to-do list.
Whether you set them up with lists on their phone, or simply use a good old pen and paper, to-do lists are a great tool to help your child manage their new responsibilities. What’s more, instilling the importance of writing out a basic list every day as a student can lead to a lifetime of more responsible time management.
Key priorities including college work, lectures, and household cleaning, should especially feature highly on these to-do lists. That way, you can rest easy that your college student is always on top of the load.
Takeaway
You’ll want your college student to be as comfortable in their new life as possible. Teaching them certain life lessons can be as valuable in that sense as sending them off with bags full of new household belongings. From essential go-to recipes to the ability to keep their clothes clean no matter their living arrangements, your college student will certainly thank you for passing along these vital gems of wisdom.
