Helping your child adjust to “adulting” is easier than you think. Today we hear from Ferdoushe Laizu, mother of rising Rowan senior Mohammed Fuad (journalism); Brunilda Gomez, mother of rising Rowan senior Miguel Martinez (radio/tv/film); and Kathy Vause, mother of recent Rowan graduate Vanessa Vause (public relations and advertising). They will share their tips on how to help your child adjust to “adulting.”
There is no book in the world with instructions on how to properly help your child adjust to “adulting,” but if every parent shares at least one tip or advice that has worked for them then there is a higher chance you can help your child adjust to “adulting” properly. Here are three “adulting” skills/qualities that Gomez thinks is essential for your child to learn before entering college:
- Time management- “Being able to manage your time between priorities is important in the real world, whether that is for a job or just in general in life.”
- Respect- “Respecting your coworker or people you come across in life. Show what kind of person you are. If you respect people, they will also respect you.”
- Organization- “Just like time management, organization is something you will use in real life and being good at it will bring you a long way.”
Laizu’s piece of advice for students:
“One advice I would give is to tackle responsibilities like an adult and if you mess up, you have to learn how to take responsibility.”
Kathy Vause shares her own experience as a parent on how she helped her recently graduated daughter adjust to “adulting.”
“As a parent, I’m there for my daughter but I need to step back and let her live out her life. Yes, she’ll make mistakes and struggle but that’s what will make her stronger and give her the ability to grow. It’s important to find a balance of supporting, but letting your child learn lessons on their own.”
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Iridian Gonzalez, rising senior journalism major
“When you’ve been parenting for eighteen years, you’re just so used to having your student around,” says Cindy Bitzer, mother of two Rowan Students; senior business major Lauren Bitzer and senior computer science major Josh Bitzer. “It’s okay to be concerned about your student’s grades, social life, and other aspects of the college experience, but I’ve learned to recognize that you can’t manage their whole life.”
First-generation college students, Chase will major in biological sciences within the 
At Rowan University, we require at least one letter of recommendation and we accept up to five. So, who should be writing your student’s letter of recommendation?!
Around the time she discovered the article, Jo was part of a class called New Ventures Development, where students expand on an idea for a potential startup business or product, and experience the process of bringing it to life. “In that class, I came up with the concept of a personal filtration system within a water bottle, called RefresH2O,” Jo says. “Wherever you are – hiking, spending time outdoors – you can scoop up water from a nearby body of water, and it will be filtered fresh. This will alleviate our plastic usage, and make us wiser about how we source our water.” Another class, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, helped Jo finalize the marketing plan and details for her product, including the target market and purpose. “I wanted to make a product that even a three year old could use. Everyone needs clean water — it’s a human right, but not everyone is lucky enough to have that,” she explains.
Her future plans include owning her own environmentally sustainable holdings or manufacturing company, and possibly even attending graduate school for a degree in engineering management, to continue to grow. She advises freshmen coming into the field to not let the idea of ‘perfection’ interfere with your goals. “‘Good’ is good enough; just get your name and idea out in the world and continue to work on your idea as you progress,” she says. “And keep track of your commitments! Juggling school work, being on the track team and my internship, senior year has been the most challenging year yet, but planning it all out and prioritizing made it a lot better.”
“Participating in social activities is the best way to make friends,” says Ahmad Kindawi, a first-generation college student (now graduate!) from Syria, who rents a house off-campus, within walking distance of campus. Ahmad graduated with a master’s degree in history from the 
Commuter and first-generation college student (now graduate!) Cheyenne Rickabaugh of Cape May, NJ (Cape May County) says the best way to make friends at college is, “Show up to things! Talk in class! Not during lecture, though.” She also says that the best way to get the most out of your college experience is to, “Just get out there and do things! Have fun.” Congrats, Cheyenne, on earning your geography degree from the 
Coming in as an exploratory studies major really helped me to solidify what I wanted to do as a career.
was a high school senior I felt the pressure of this in the back of my mind. I picked the school farthest away in an environment nothing like my current one because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do. If I could go back and give myself any advice it would be to not pick a school for anyone but myself. I was too busy focusing on fitting the image, that I didn’t realize I wasn’t ready to go 8 hours from home. For some people going away is the fresh start that they need, but it wasn’t for me and that’s okay. Transferring to Rowan allowed me to grow and succeed in ways I never imagined. I’ve studied abroad in Europe, held local, state, and federal internships, and met some of my best friends. The biggest lesson to be learned is that there is no one size fits all college experience and to choose a college that best helps you grow.
share my journey. To see the first generation alums and get their support made me feel welcomed and a sense of belonging.
we experienced was guest policies, specifically people staying the night. But we talked through it immediately.” – Alayna 
“I chose Rowan because it was closer to home and I did not want to be too far from my family. I also chose to come here because of 
