While you don’t expect your teen to be a perfect child, you do expect them to be prepared for adulthood when they’re moving out of their childhood home. It’s critical to strike a balance between providing enough advice and allowing your teen enough independence to best prepare for their future.
Here are tips to help you prepare your teen for adulthood.
Job-Hunting
The first thing your teen will need to do when they graduate from high school is find a job if they don’t plan on attending college or would like to attend college on a part-time basis. This means that they need to prepare the necessary documents to apply for jobs. Help your teen put together a resume and cover letters. Have them find reputable references for job applications as well.
Since the average individual workstation has shrunk from 80 to 39 square feet from 1992 to the present, your teen may be willing to find remote work as well. Freelancing, copyediting and copywriting, web design, customer service, virtual assistance, and more are a few remote opportunities your teen can pursue after high school if they’d be more comfortable working from home.
Finding an Apartment
Young adults who have successfully obtained their first job and located an apartment to rent in a new place may need assistance. First, they need to understand how to go about renting the apartment they’ve found. They’ll need to get together the following documents and information:
- Renting application
- Credit history and credit score
- Proof of employment
- Latest paystub
Talk to your teen about renting etiquette, too. They must pay their rent on time and not cause significant damage to the property. If they have plumbing, electrical, or other issues in their rented home, they must contact their landlord or property manager immediately. As for lease violations, landlords can terminate the lease if a lease violation issue is not corrected quickly, which means anywhere from three to 30 days.
Make sure your young adult also understands that if they don’t pay their rent on time or take care of the rented house, it will have an impact on their credit and their ability to buy or rent a home in the future.
Financial Responsibility
You don’t want your adolescent to believe that their parents’ bank will constantly bail them out of their misbehavior, so make sure they know you’re there to help them learn from their mistakes.
Your child will have no incentive to manage money appropriately if you are perceived as a source of ready cash. Create a family-friendly plan that specifies things like allowances, what they pay for, and what you pay for. This is especially important when they move out on their own in the real world and have to learn how to budget their income.
Staying Safe
Dr. James Meyer, an adolescent medicine physician at Marshfield Clinic, said, “It’s the parents’ obligation to guide and protect their teens. Allowing them to take on some responsibility while you still have the ability to make rules will prepare them to be self-sufficient when they leave home.”
A teen’s first outing without their parents is a significant achievement. Most teenagers want more independence, and parents are often concerned about what may happen if their children are not supervised. This is why it’s important to go over important information with your teen in a serious discussion before they move out.
This is an opportunity to go over topics regarding drinking and driving and staying safe while out on weekends. For example, a five-year study conducted by United Educators found a significant increase in the number of claims brought against colleges and universities by alleged perpetrators of sexual assault. In fact, 100% of the alleged perpetrators were male. Make sure your teen understands how to remain safe while out with friends.
Helping your teen prepare for adulthood is important. Utilize these tips to make the transition from high school to young adulthood easier for your teen as they prepare to find a job and move out. Also, check out The Quarter-Life Crisis Survival Guide for more ideas and tips.
