Listen & Learn

I survived my last college drop off this month.  Yup, Senior year.  Lots of learning the past 4 years.  Mostly great; sometimes challenging. Recently, my husband and I were driving home from seeing our son thinking of the things we would have “tried” to instill in our Gen Z child prior to entering college life. I share these top four as food for thought from a Gen X parent of a Gen Z child.

1.      Number one by far is to teach, train, and strongly encourage your kids to check e-mail. They do not do this. Don’t think they do because we Gen X’ers do. We grew up with e-mail. Not text, snap, DM’s. Most of the professional and business world, including professors, use e-mail. Get on a schedule to check it. Deadlines will sadly be missed, I promise.

2.      Get a visual, old-fashioned paper calendar. A wipe board monthly calendar is great. Why? Because Gen Z works digitally (Uhm … e-mail). They use their phone calendars which is great, don’t get me wrong, but it shows one day at a time. It does not easily show the week or month in advance.  Why does this matter? See #3.

3.      Understand that Gen Z generation is time flexible. They work in the world of “tell me the task and the expected due date and I got this” not working 9-5 because “that’s what we do”. Remember height of Covid and high school? Unfortunately, what they need to realize is many occurrences they are being held accountable to a Gen X’er. Meaning we have been trained to have routine check-in’s and regular accountability.  Are some of us changing? Sure. Are all of us changing? No. Our kids need to understand that reality.

4.      Tell you kids – Just because the assignment is due at midnight does not mean you need to wait until 11:55PM to turn it in. Big change with Covid with the shift to on-line classes. I personally love on-line flexibility but with a time flexible generation it is easy to get behind. You would think it would be the opposite, but many kids are struggling because the flexibility in time has not taught them good time management skills. This one is a difficult one. Honestly, my kid is a 11:55PM turn it in student. No changing that now.

These next four are primarily for the parents. Kids need to be aware, but these were SO new to me I must add:

1.      You don’t need to, nor should you buy books prior to day one unless this is specified in the syllabus. (Oh yes, tell your kids to look at that.  They don’t by the way).  I remember lines at the campus bookstore with schedule in hand looking for used books with highlighted important material. Remember? It’s not the same. Some classes have no books. I know, right? And did you know you could rent books? I do now. It’s ok to wait on this one.

2.      Dorms are not guaranteed all four years. Freshman year, usually. After that you are often on your own.  I stayed in dorm living 3 years at college. But son moved to an apartment sophomore year as he was basically told on-campus housing would not be available to upper classmen. Is this every college? Probably not but it was a shock to me.

3.      This may be unique to my son’s city college, but apartment leases go quick and sign early. He had to decide in October/November where he was going to live the following August. YES – 10 months in advance! A lot changes in 10 months, especially if you have roommates or maybe consider school transfer. Be ready for crucial conversation early school year.

4.      Cars need a place to park. Parking places cost money. Lots of money possibly. And spaces are not guaranteed through the college. A few of my son’s friends pay over $300 per month, some even more. Research this before telling your kid it’s ok to take their car to school.

The world is changing just like it always does. I hope this makes it a bit easier navigating this change. Comminication is key. We might not all be in the same boat but we are in the same wind. Help your kids adjust their sails.