4 ways to bridge family and campus life

first generation and low income college students are more likely to have a family, so balancing family life with college life can be tricky sometimes. One was to help with this balance is to involve your family in campus life when it makes sense.

Yeah, I don't have kids yet, but I've worked with enough student-parents to know that these suggestions work. So, here are 4 ways for bridging the gap between family life and campus life:

Introduce them to campus. Arrange a campus tour for your family, usually through admissions or visitors' center. If a pre-arranged tour is not an option, do it yourself. Bonus points if you can talk and walk backwards at the same time.

Plan a picnic. Bring your family on to campus and eat a meal. If your campus has a center or quad area, the heart of campus is a great place to host a bite. If you kids are old enough to make a meal, let them plan the menu.

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Read a book. You are doing a lot of reading, and hopefully you are encouraging your family to read as well. Bring your family to the campus library and check out a book or two for them. Talk to the librarians to see where appropriate books for your kids are or if there are other age-appropriate resources around.

Make a play date. Although a lot of campuses are not set up for playing, taking your family to campus to play can be a great outing, especially with younger kids. This is also an opportunity to be creative and get your kids' imaginations going. If you campus has a craft or activity center, bring your kids there for some arts and crafts time.

It also might be a good idea about to talk to your family about what you are experiencing as a college student. Anyhow, I hope you have a fun time with your family on campus.

Got questions? Please feel free to ask The Advisor about it.