Loading

Passing the Baton of Decision-Making A few practical tips

What Parents are saying...

"I went with my son to meet his Professional Advisor for the first time. I realized as I was listening to the PA's questions and watching every time my child turned to me to hear the answer that I did not prepare him to be able to do this on his own!"

"Her mother or I have made all of the decisions. We signed her up, selected her housing and dining, and told her which classes to take."

"I'm worried she isn't ready to take care of herself."

"My son doesn't know what to do and I'm afraid he won't be able to take care of everything."

If these comments are in any way familiar to you and your family, read on!

God's Word tells us to train our child in the way he/she should go (Proverbs 22:6)

Here are a few tangible ways to help give Decision-Making over to your young adult student so that they own it

Create a journal that documents the thought process of Admissions, Financial Check-In, how you set-up their bank account, what questions to ask for when they need to visit a clinic for their own healthcare...and then, give them the journal at a dedicated place, like at a dinner or lunch.

  1. Identify the steps in the process
  2. Write down the questions you asked yourself at each stage of the process
  3. List the options and choices you discovered
  4. What webpages did you visit to help inform your decision
  5. What benefit or other aspect helped you finalize your choice -- what was important about it

Table discussions can be of help. If you have the kind of schedule as a family that includes dinnertime at the table together, then dedicate one night a week to an open discussion about the stage of the process, the questions you asked yourself, what informed your decisions, etc.

If dinnertime at the table is difficult to schedule, and you have been finding quality time in the car together, then that's your space! Dedicate some portion of the time to talking about how you made the choices you did, what informed those decisions, and what about it led you to make the choice you did.

Make it a celebration. There is value in a rite of passage. Whether your family chooses an informal or formal style is yours to decide. What matters more is that you have an opportunity to say "I love you, and here are the ways in which plans have been made to START you as you become your own advocate and manager of your decisions."

Familiarize yourself with Liberty's contacts and resources. Information about the many resources and contacts to the people on Liberty University's campus is available at your student's fingertips. Take an afternoon and get to know the Liberty ecosystem of webpages. Ask yourself what the main categories of a student's life may be on- or off-campus, and then save those webpages for reference later. In fact, one of the best webpages to bookmark is that of CASAS at www.liberty.edu/casas. CASAS is home to Advising Success, Academic Success, and Applied Studies -- all the resources are meant to come alongside your student to help them get through challenges to thrive on the other side. When your student has a question and isn't sure who to ask, remind them of their CASAS Professional Advisor who can answer questions, life coach them, and connect them to resources all-over campus!

As your student is becoming their own advocate they will want current, reliable information in order to make confident decisions. And, as you are leading and guiding from home, it will feel equally important to you to know that your student has reliable information to base their decisions. Their Professional Advisor is an excellent resource. For you, we encourage you to start with Parent and Family Connections at www.liberty.edu/family; the Frequently Asked Questions are designed to introduce you to the main departments that assist a student's experience at Liberty University.

Parent and Family Connections can be reached at (434) 582-2339 or email at LUFamily@liberty.edu

Credits:

Created with images by vectorfusionart - "Composite image of man passing the baton to partner on track" • Kevin Carden - "Open bible with man and cross"