Transition to a New Life

Academic:
The competitive academic environment at LUMS can be stressful to most students as they are used to being top performers at school. It is common for first year students to struggle academically and take their time to adjust with their demanding student life.

Social:
Starting university, most students will be leaving childhood friendships behind while establishing new ones. It is normal for first year students to battle with building social associations and finding people they can rely on. Meanwhile, hostellites will take their own time in adjusting to living on campus and managing social interactions.

Finances:
As your child transitions to adult life, they will learn to manage their own budget and become more financially responsible. Setting a realistic budget by communicating with them before each semester starts is essential for both you and your child in avoiding future misunderstandings. Many students will wish to find part-time work to fund their expenses and juggling this work along with academics can be tough.

Time Management:
Parents may be used to a particular routine of their child from their school lives. However, entering university, most students will have a significant change in their routines and the amount of time they are able to dedicate to their academic, social and personal lives separately.

Your child may wish to spend more time on campus and less time at home due to the various facilities provided here to complete their work efficiently as well as to unwind and relax with their friends after overcoming tiring deadlines. This does not mean they want to stay away from their family, rather that they are learning to manage things on their own.

Similarly, hostellites may not be able to visit home as often as you want or stay in touch throughout their day. Figuring out how to live on their own for the first time can itself be time-consuming for your child which is why they may not be able to call you often.

Role of Parents:

1.    Listen before reacting -
Your child may discuss their struggles with you just to feel heard. They won't necessarily be requiring you to give them advice or changing something about their situation. Most times, only listening to and validating their concerns will provide your child with enough strength to deal with their issues.

2.    Let them decide on their own -
Navigating through these new transitions will bring in many dilemmas in which your child may need to step up and take decisions. While they may consult you before decision-taking, don’t impose your choices on them as they best understand their entire situation.

3.    Be consistent with your support -
While many things may be changing in their lives, make sure your child knows that the safety and comfort of their home and family is always available for them, even if they make mistakes and not achieve what they set out for.

Identity Development:

Over the course of these years at university, parents should expect their child to become more independent, form their own opinions, and change how they plan their future life.
During this period, your student might frame new habits or seek to explain their qualities and convictions. It might likewise be a period for investigation and trial and error, and a period where your kid might address or challenge the qualities you instructed them. It is essential to perceive that each student will encounter their own unique difficulties and changes, similarly as each parent or relative will have various assumptions for and responses to their kid's university life.

Changing Interests:
Before starting their student life at LUMS, most students would be very sure of their likes/dislikes, what they want to study and the career path they want to take. However, LUMS provides numerous opportunities to its students to engage in academics and activities they may have never considered before. It is absolutely common for students to find new hobbies as well as want to change their major of study and career path.

Changes in Personality:
 As your child goes through new experiences, an ordinary piece of their improvement will be experimentation with a variety of roles. Interacting with several new people from different backgrounds at LUMS, your child will wish to establish their individuality. As a parent, this may be alarming for you, however, you should know that experimenting with these various roles does not mean that they have forgotten the values and beliefs learned at home; rather that they are forming their own unique personality.

Role of Parents:
It very well may be trying to comprehend and uphold the different changes happening with your kid. You ought to realize you can make an important contribution to their development by permitting them the opportunity to investigate different other options and reach their own decisions about things like academic major, vocation choices, companions, and other way of life decisions. It will likewise be significant for you to understand that in the end a portion of your kid's decisions will be not quite the same as yours.

Following are some ways you can assist your child’s development and time during university:

1. Encourage them towards new opportunities:

2. Being a LUMS student, your child will get numerous chances to try things they never got a chance to before. Travelling on their own, getting involved in extracurricular activities, going for weekend trips or even planning an exchange program abroad are some of the best learning experiences LUMS offers to its students. With your support, your child can avail these opportunities and transform into an independent individual you are proud of.

3. Have realistic expectations of them and their university life:

4. Students won’t immediately know how they are supposed to tackle the transformation to university life. They will make mistakes and even doubt their decisions. Being their parent, this is where your role is most important in understanding their concerns and offering whatever support they need - even if that is in the form of giving them space and time to work out their next steps. It is important to remember that your experience or knowledge of university may be very different from what they are experiencing.

5. Parenting from a distance:

6. Parents of hostelites may at times feel incapable of helping their child. However, you should know that even if your child is living on their own, they still need your support and guidance during these years. Make sure to stay in touch with your child even when they get busy as they need to know that you're there and accessible to discuss both regular occasions and troublesome issues in their lives.

Finding the right balance of staying in touch and giving them space can take time but having open conversations with them is the simplest way to figure it out.