Letting Go
Schools provide many opportunities for parents to be involved and work in partnership in educating their children. There are lots of occasions when you can share experiences with your adolescents and other families. Many of you will miss this close connection now that they are uni students.
So much is unknown to you about their daily environment. You don't know the staff, you don't know if anyone is monitoring their progress and watching out for them. Whether you went to university yourself or not, it's difficult to imagine what it's like now. And sometimes your imagination can make you uneasy.
At university it seems to parents, and sometimes to the students, that there is a lot of spare time that is spent not doing much. "Shouldn't you be studying or in the library or something?" Parents get very anxious about what seems like little action: sleeping in, missing classes, just hanging around the university, late nights, exposure to alcohol and other drugs.
Disagreements happen. It's all necessary, but can be scary for all involved.
It's hard sometimes to step back and let the students take full responsibility for their learning and their adjustment to this next stage in their life. However, now is the time to have confidence in the good work you have done as parents and give them the opportunity to fly (though there will be the inevitable crashes!) It's a learning experience for all, but vital in enabling you, and them, to move onto the next stage of relating as equal adults.