If you leave campus at every opportunity, you might have a harder time establishing the school as your new home, making your homesickness worse instead of better. A lot of students are probably dealing with the same feelings of homesickness you are experiencing.
By talking about it, you can more easily process your emotions. Mental health services can be incredibly beneficial. Plus, if homesickness is a symptom but not the root cause of the issue, a medical professional can help identify the core condition and develop a proper treatment plan.
As a parent or family member, it may seem like helping a homesick college student is simple. You might be tempted just to have them come home, as that looks like a logical solution. In other cases, you might think that frequent visits are a great option. If your student comes home too often or you visit too much, your student might be less likely to develop a support system at school. This can make the situation worse, not better. Similarly, if they visit you regularly, they might not view their college as their new home, and that can also make their transition more challenging.
Instead, you want to focus on being supportive, reassuring, and encouraging without being too present. If you are trying to figure out what to say to someone who is homesick, focus on being supportive. That way, you can identify areas where your student is struggling, allowing you to focus your response in the right areas. Next, you can make recommendations that help them turn their college into their home. You might want to suggest they participate in social activities to help them build a strong social circle or sign up for activities that they enjoy.
You might help them evaluate clubs on campus or encourage them to join study groups. Advising them to keep an eye on bulletin boards to learn about events is also wise. Living in a new city can be intimidating. If your student is struggling, encouraging them to explore their new city can be a good idea. This can include getting to know their campus, finding the best restaurants for lunch, or learning where the best park is so that they can thoroughly enjoy a sunny day.
This can potentially make dealing with homesickness easier. As you speak with your student, make an effort to be reassuring. Let your student know that homesickness is common and, to a degree, normal on occasion. My fellow writer and college parent, Lucy Ewing, adds this: "Homesickness can take the form of lovesickness when high school romances become long distance relationships.
Students in LDRs should be encouraged to strike a balance, giving each other space to study and enjoy their respective campuses. It can help if they schedule regular times to talk. Well at least reading this I realize that most of what I have been doing as my daughter is crying on the phone may be the right things. But it is the hardest thing I have ever done - it was the same feeling as putting her out the car crying in Pre-K.
She is having such a rough time and Covid is making it worse! She joined a sorority her last pick but I told her to try it anyway - might have been a mistake and she has an on campus job, but that is where her college life ends. The sorority is not allowed to meet or have functions - all of rush was done online so not really an idea way to meet people.
The students are written up if they gather in a group anywhere on the campus. Just about all of her classes were moved online so now she lives two hours away basically just to go to work and one in person day in a math class.
So no real possibilities to make friends or interact with people. I don't know how to make her feel better about this because encouraging her to make friends is not even possible. We are currently working on some articles to address this difficult time in our students' college experiences and hope to provide some concrete help very soon. Please check in with CollegiateParent periodically to make sure you don't miss it!
Tracy, just following up. I hope you shared your story in our Facebook group because other parents may be able to provide comfort and even some ideas. We understand how painful this is at CollegiateParent — a number of us have college students ourselves including one freshman. Meet Adina Glickman! Get engaging stories and helpful information all year long. Join our college parent newsletter! Home » Student Life » Helping with Homesickness.
Get stories and expert advice on all things related to college and parenting. Tags: Homesickness. Laura Hanby Hudgens is a freelance writer and part-time high school teacher who lives with her family on a buffalo farm in the Ozark hills. The college calendar offers breaks you can use to return home, with some schools offering a fall break in October. Holidays typically mean a long weekend as well. If you're only a short drive from your family, you can use those breaks to go home and catch up.
But college life doesn't stop on Friday afternoon — you may need to study or work during the weekend. Weekends also offer opportunities to get involved in clubs and organizations on campus. If you attend a school more than a couple hours from home, returning more often may pose a financial hardship.
Strike a balance between returning home and settling into your college home. Take advantage of opportunities to share your new community with your family or friends by inviting them to visit. Playing tour guide can help you become familiar with your college town and feel more at ease with your living situation. Colleges offer many opportunities to get involved , meet new people, and make friends. Forging friendships can help you adjust to your new environment and keep you from dwelling on missing home.
Making friends requires you to take some initiative and put yourself out there. Keep an open mind, be yourself, and ask genuine questions to get conversations started. Your school's campus activities or student life office should plan events to help bring the community together.
Your dorm or residential life office can also help connect you with other students. Additionally, you can seek out students with similar interests by joining a campus club, student group, or fraternity or sorority. Your major may even offer a student organization.
If you enjoy art, music, or acting, check out opportunities to join groups focused on those activities. Campus fitness centers typically offer exercise equipment, fitness classes, and intramural sports leagues. Some schools organize camping trips. Take advantage of the chance to try new things. Exercise can also help distract you from feeling homesick at college. Researchers define homesickness as feeling separated from family, a familiar location, or culture, with distress related to that separation.
Students may miss family back home, old friends, or a relationship. Feeling homesick at college can last a few weeks or several months. Homesickness can also return, even after you think you've gotten over those feelings. Adjusting to your new environment will take time. Strategies for dealing with college homesickness can help you overcome those feelings.
Keeping in touch with the people important to you can help with your adjustment to college. If you live close enough to return home occasionally, you can go back for holiday weekends or important events.
However, make an effort to stay on campus so you can meet people and build relationships. Instead of going home, consider inviting your family and friends to visit you. Homesickness can show up in different ways.
You may have trouble sleeping or lack an appetite. Homesickness can impact your productivity and cause you to withdraw from others.
You also may feel anxious or depressed.
0コメント