Preparing For The Holidays – and College?

When was the last time you read something that was written by your child? Students are always writing something or other for school. Do you get to take a peek now and then to see the kind of writer they are developing into? It is my sincere wish that you have been able to answer yes to these first couple questions. If your responses have been negative, start to turn that ship around now.

The single biggest complaint from colleges about the students that come out of our U.S. high schools is that they don’t know how to write. That is not a talent anyone is born with. For one thing, they would have to be born knowing words and how to read before getting to the writing part.

Anyway, if your teen is not forthcoming with examples of their school writing projects, have them write something especially for you. Do you know the major high and low points of the fall semester for your teen? Having them write about it is a good way to kill two birds with one stone. You get a summary of the kind of semester they had as well as being able to evaluate how effectively they communicate their points. Another telling project could be having your child write about their plans for the spring semester. Those plans can easily become goals that will act as a motivating road map over the course of the first five months of 2017.

These little assignments can serve as more than just information about writing ability. They can help you understand more about the direction your young man or woman is headed. Like it or not, if you have a teen in your house it’s at most five years before they are a legal, card-carrying, able to vote, adult.

If you can get them to write for you, it can lead to meaningful conversation, better planning selecting coursework, a basis for choosing extracurricular activities as well as meaningful summer activities. Now, don’t make your kids produce the beginnings of a novel over the holiday break – but don’t let them sleep till noon and stay up till 3:00 AM either. Use all that time you have in the house together to discover what your adult child will look like when they are ready to leave your house and go out on their own.