Table of Contents
How to Ready Your Teen for the Real World
Online high school better help prepare your team for the real world.
High school is stressful, fun, confusing, and every other emotion you can think of. But once it’s over, will your teen be truly prepared for what’s to come? Does getting a diploma and turning 18 really mean they’re an adult? Many teens don’t have a plan for what to do after graduation. You may know exactly what they should do and be pressuring them at this very moment to follow your dreams, but in the end, they will end up doing what they want.
Ultimately, it’s your job, as their parent to help prepare them as best you can for the real world. Make sure they know (at least somewhat) what to expect, how to make decisions for themselves, and what to do when times get rough. While preparing your teen for the real world may seem daunting, we came up with the following tips to help you. No matter how old your teen is, it’s never too late to start applying some of these tactics:
Give Them Freedom
Ever heard of lawnmower parenting? It’s a thing now for parents who are too scared to let their kids deal with the hard parts of life. Instead, they lawnmower over any potential problems, making the ride nice and smooth for their children. Though these types of parents have the best intentions, they are truly hurting their kids more than helping them. Sometimes you have to allow kids to fall if they’re going to learn to walk. As they grow up, they’re going to want more freedom and may even make some choices you do not agree with. Consider letting them make some mistakes (nothing too serious), and deal with the natural consequences. Want them to be more responsible? Let them forget their assignment, get in trouble, manage their own schedule, etc. One way to do this is to enroll them in online learning. Student can take online high school classes at any time, which allows them to create their own schedule. Let your child try online learning for a semester, instead of traditional high school in order to encourage a part-time job, responsibility, and wise time management. They’ll soon realize what the real world is like and be that much more ready for life as an adult.
Let your child try online learning for a semester, instead of traditional high school in order to encourage a part-time job, responsibility, and wise time management. They’ll soon realize what the real world is like and be that much more ready for life as an adult.
Teach Them How to Manage Money
One of the main surprises for teens after high school is how complicated money can be. Credit cards, banks, loans, monthly payments, and more can be confusing and expensive. Many teens don’t realize how much everyday things cost. Let them take the reins on buying groceries for a while and creating meal plans. Encourage them to find a part-time job and save money for college, putting portions of their earnings into different accounts. High school is an excellent time for students to get a job. Something simple and nearby where they can learn about people skills, hard work, and money management will help them be prepared for life after high school. If you’re worried about them not having time to go to a traditional high school while working, consider allowing them to graduate early or attend an online high school so that they have a more flexible schedule and more time to adjust to the real world.
More Real-Life Skills
Classes with High School of America can help teach your child about money management.
Aside from money management, teens need to know real-life skills if they are going to have a chance of surviving in the real world. Little things like how to do laundry, cook a meal, create a budget, and make doctor’s appointments. Teach them how to do these things and then let them. If their laundry starts to pile up and you’re tempted just to do it yourself, stop and let them experience the consequence of having no clean clothes to wear. They’ll be much more motivated to do their own laundry, and that will be less work for you. If they aren’t sure what they want to do with their life, teach them about real-life skills that they can apply to future jobs. Help them find their passion through individual online courses that help them determine what they love to do and what they’re good at.
Whether you are wishing the day never comes when your teen has to move out, or you are counting down the days until they do, they need to be prepared for the real world when they leave, or they might come running back home all too quickly. Helping them be successful, responsible adults is the best way you can show your love for them, and when they do come home, it will be to tell you how much they appreciate you. The real world doesn’t have to be scary and preparing your teen for what to expect is simple when you allow them these things:
- The freedom to set their own schedules and make their own mistakes
- Money management skills such as saving, budgeting, and planning while still paying the bills created for each day.
- Arming them with everyday life skills that will not only help them do day to day tasks but will help them discern what their passion is.
Helping them be successful, responsible adults is the best way you can show your love for them, and when they do come home, it will be to tell you how much they appreciate you.
High School of America and Preparing Your Teen for the Real World
Contact High School of America about enrolling your teen in online classes today.
Here at High School of America, we offer different course options that will allow your child to learn about all the above steps and help prepare him or her for the challenges that await them after high school. Here at our online high school we can help teens be more prepared not only for college and furthering their educations, but the skills learned through our school are transferable to all aspects of life.
Freedom: Online high school classes allow students to set their own schedules and learn at their own pace. This does a few things for a teen’s freedom. It allows them to have to manage their own schedules. They must plan times for classes, work, and extra activities giving them a since of control while teaching them time management skills they will need in the future. These same online classes make it so that your child will have to manage their own course work and complete assignments and get them turned in. This will help him or her be more self-motivated in the long run. In these ways and more, enrolling your child in online high school will help improve their time management and self-motivation that they will need for being a successful adult.
Money Management: By going to school online, your child will be able to get a part time job. This will allow him or her to have their own money. You can start teaching them to save a certain percent, donate a percent, and utilize a certain amount for bills for which they are responsible. This will help to teach them the value of their time, and how to properly use their money.
Life Skills: High School of America offers career focused courses which can help your child have a better chance at succeeding in a career field. This means if you have already shown your child some life skills he or she will need for the future and they have decided that one of those skills is a likely career path for them, they may be able to get a leg up by taking focused online classes here.
If you feel that your teen could benefit from extra time management, money management, or life skills, High School of America could be a great fit for them. Contact us to talk to one of our advisors to learn more about enrolling today!
