Parental Guide

Attitude Building

There are lots of pressures arising in the mind of the parents related to the safety, health, study etc. of their children going abroad. It is necessary for parents to become prepared for their little ones to depart them for foreign studies. Following are the key points parents should consider to make their children study in USA:

Educate Yourself:

Do research on the country where your child wants to study. The research should include history, culture, customs, rules and regulations, codes related to social and moral values, language and dresses.
Learn some phrases and local words of the country along with your child.
Contact to such students who has gone to the same destinations in the past.
Do not feel shy to ask questions related to your child from the advisor or program administrator.

Letting Go:

Sending your child to abroad needs some type of letting go knowledge on your part. It is difficult but important for the career of your child.

Make the child eligible to take the correct decision on his own. Do not be a supreme for them, just be a good guide.
Provide your child an adequate amount of information necessary for taking the decision.
Do not think of calling him every day as it is not possible as it is very expensive process.
Contact to the parents and take some tips from them whose child has gone to abroad in the past.

Packing:

Help the child in packing so that he will not put an extra weight or unnecessary items.

Put some extra photos if the child needs to make another passport at times.
Make your child move around the packed bags to ensure that if they are capable to handle the luggage with them after leaving their house.
Put some extra pair of essential accessories like spectacles with your child so that it may be helpful if they are broken down during the long journey.
If the child is taking any medicine put some extra strips along with the prescription of the doctor. Also try to take the writen note from the doctor in order to avoid any consequences.

Communication:

Take the contact number of the person who has been studied in the country in the past for clearing any doubts,

Take some tips before departure as it would be helpful for your child for adapting the new atmosphere more easily.
Make a blog of your and your child for communication as it is a cheaper option than phone or any other medium.
The cellphone of your child will work only if it has T-Mobile, AT&T or Alltel and only if you contact the service provider and an international roaming system .
You and your child should both have a set of emergency contacts that can be accessible all the times which includes contact from your child school.

Finances:

Teach your child to handle their finances in different circumstances before departure.

It is necessary that your child should be capable to manage their personal money on their own before departure
Make a financial plan for your child which would be helpful in abroad. Make a column for "needs" and a column for "wants” and mention all the expenses that likely to be spend on them
In order to reduce the expenses and prevention from the loss, make the child understand the proper use of ATM. For example, allocate a day in a week wherein you can withdraw required money for each week.
Do not exchange the currency at the time of departure or reaching of your child.

Study Responsibility:

Help your child to know the responsibility which would be not only helpful during the study in abroad but also in general.

Let your child know about the financial, social and academic responsibilities.
Encourage the child to solve the problems on its own so that the child gets adaptable in solving the problems while they were at abroad.
Make a practice to your child to study enough and research even a little issues of day to day life. This will not only empower your child but will teach them to benefits of thinking a step ahead for every little thing. This will create a habit of analyzing the situation and choosing the best alternative for them.
Show the child that you trust on their decisions.

Food:

The only difference in the native country and the foreign country is the food.

Make your child understand that importance of eating in the busy resturant rather than eating in the non-busy resturant.
Your child should be known with the pasteurization while eating dairy products as it is quite different from that in USA.
Tell your child to eat only fresh cooked food.
Even though drinking is permissible in USA, tell the adverse effect of drinking to the child at both off-campus and on-campus.

Safety:

Safety is the most common topic of concern for almost all parents of students studying abroad. Educate your child the ways to stay safe in another country.

Students must be encouraged to cultivate and utilize their “street smarts” while studying abroad. Tell them to avoid political demonstrations, and take official taxis to protect their passport at all times.
Make sure that your child should have emergency contact numbers which are used at anytime when needed.
Use the State Department's website for keeping connected with the safety issues in USA.
Make the student understand about not to bring local backs to the place where they live. Remember socialisation should be done away from the living place.

Visitation:

If you want to visit to your child in abroad then do it in a legal manner.

Choose that time in which student is free. Don’t visit in first or last week of the semester or during exams.
Do not forget that your child still have responsibilities in their vacation time.
You will miss your child and they miss you, but for ultimate growth the students needs to spend quality time immersed in the culture and with the fellow students abroad.
Be prepared to switch roles with your child and allow them to show you a thing or two.

Re-entry:

Just as you must prepare your child for studying abroad and support them while they are away, you must also be sensitive to the possibility that your student could experience "reverse culture-shock" when they returns home.

Allow some space to the student after his/her first returning
Make them live independent in the first 2 weeks as they are adaptable for being independent while staying in abroad.
Students must be encouraged to meet and keep in touch with those people whom she/he met in abroad, stayed with, roommates, classmates etc. till the rest of their lives.
Listen to the experiences that the student has faced in abroad with the deep interest.