Books for Parents

Books

Don’t Tell Me What to Do, Just Send Money: The Essential Parenting Guide to the College Years by Helen E. Johnson and Christine Schelhas-Miller.

This book takes a “case study” approach to issues facing families and college students. It provides suggestions on how to frame responses and questions to your student most effectively and gives insights into how your student might be thinking about their experiences in college. The chapters on how to help students adjust to changes in the family while in college and how to utilize campus resources may be especially pertinent at this time of the semester.

Getting Ready for College by Polly Berent

This is the book to leave on your student's bed the day after high school graduation. Written specifically to students, this informative, easy-to-read book highlights practical tips and sound methods for smoothing the transition from high school to college. Valuable for parents and family members as well, this book covers topics such as clothes and laundry, managing money, how to adjust to a college social life, and tips on computers and phoning long distance.

Helping Your First-Year College Student Succeed: A Guide for Parents
by Richard H. Mullendore and Cathie Hatch

Parents may be the most powerful untapped resource for helping new students make the transition to college. This guide, published jointly by the National Orientation Directors Association and the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, offers practical advice on how parents can help their students make a successful transition to college.

Letting Go: A Parents Guide to Understanding the College Years
Fourth Edition by Karen Levin Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger

I’ll Miss You Too: An Off-to-School Guide for Parents and Students
by Margo E. Bane Woodacre, MSW and Steffany Bane

There are many stages and adjustments that students and parents experience during the transition to college.  In this book, a mother and daughter share their story, documenting their reflections on the rite of passage from high school to college.  The authors incorporate reflections from other parents and students to offer alternative perspectives about the college experience.  Their personal reflections range from the college acceptance period to offering advice about freshman to senior year experiences, study abroad, and ultimately graduation.  This would be a wonderful book to read as the stages of a son or daughter's college experience unfold.