Many parents in Singapore have a misconception that their role is over once the children move from primary and college level to university standards. But this is not actually true, and parents have to play a significant role even at the university level. After all they have a belief that university students are young adults and they are more independent to make their own decisions.
But this is not completely true, as university students are required to undertake greater responsibility for their studies in the form of help in completing their dissertation, and it definitely needs adequate support from parents. However, the ways in which they use to support their children at PSLE or O-level or A-level needs refinement, but support is definitely a necessity at the university level too.
This blog is aimed at understanding the ways in which parents can play a supporting role for their university level children to help them succeed academically.
Encourage Independence, But Stay Available
As your child grows up, it is likely but they would want to be independent with their decision-making process. As a parent, you should encourage your child by staying involved. It is mainly at the university level that your child has to learn self-discipline, accountability and decision making. It is important for you to:
- Positively encourage their choices with respect to selection of courses, and academic interests.
- Don’t force advice, rather listen to them.
- If results are not according to expectations, try to be with your child and support them, as it’s a part of their growth process.
It is always good to make them feel as if you are with them, so that they can feel safe and turn up for help.
Create a Supportive Environment for Your Children at Home
All round support is essential from parents, and one way to achieve it is by way of providing a supportive environment at home. Many university students in Singapore live at home, and parents can support them through a number of ways as mentioned below:
1) Ensuring complete silence to allow their child to focus on the study.
2) Assist them with their study schedules.
3) Provide them with necessary tools including internet connectivity, proper lighting and separate space to study.
These are small things but they can contribute significantly in terms of positive motivation to do well in their academics.
Give More Importance to Effort then Results
University life is very challenging, as students have to deal with multiple activities across different modules. Despite giving their maximum effort, sometimes students are not able to achieve the results they expect. It is important for parents to value their effort towards the studies and positively encourage them to do better in future. The extreme level of challenges in dealing with coursework and exams, research projects and managing internships and part time jobs may sometimes result in students struggling with self-doubt, mental health or burnout. As a parent, it is important to:
1) consider the reality of university life today before making any decision.
2) emphasize on the health and wellbeing of their child rather than their grades.
3) support them to remain healthy by taking adequate breaks, exercise and eating healthy.
Emotional support from parents is crucial, as it encourages students to give their maximum effort in achieving good academic results.
Provide Adequate Support through Financial and Academic Resources
Studying in Singapore is quite expensive, and it is important for parents to understand the financial needs of their children. There would be the need for adequate financial resources to cover:
1) the cost of tuition or textbook
2) to buy access to academic tools like scholarly articles, plagiarism checking software, Grammarly to proofread papers.
3) to invest in resources like laptops, subscriptions to different academic modules etc.
The final year is extremely challenging and students often require assistance from professional service providers in the form of help with completing assignment, essays or dissertation, and also with editing or proofreading their documents. This requires adequate financial support from parents to get access to the services of professional dissertation writing service providers. Parents should therefore make enough provision to support their child for all the financial needs in meeting out university requirements. Having adequate financial and academic resources would allow for uninterrupted learning experience and better academic performance.
Final Thoughts: You Still Have a Role to Play in Supporting Your Child in University Education
The role of parents cannot be completely ignored in supporting their child during the education at the university. The parents’ support may not be as equivalent as it was during the school years, but make no mistake by completely ignoring support to your child during the university learning. It is a crucial stage whereby students have to do independent research and adapt to new modes of learning. Parent support is crucial at this stage to ensure smooth transition of their learning process.
University students may not express their need for your support, but they still value your support. It is crucial for parents to encourage them by understanding their needs and requirements, and act as a friend that stands by their support even if the results are not up to the standard. It is therefore important for parents to evolve their support style across different stages of the children learning to match up with their individualised needs across each level.
