Moses & Farrell

We get it!

Sending your children off to college is an emotional time to prepare for. Sometimes, it can feel like as much as you try to prepare, it will never feel like enough. As much as we are preparing our children for the ultimate send-off to their next chapter in life, it’s essential to address how you, as a parent, are preparing for that also.

It is an exciting time for them to feel a vast new role of independence and finally to be on their own. It can sometimes feel personal how excited your child can be moving out, but at these times, it’s important to put yourself in their shoes and remember what it was like for you as a new college student.

The best way to keep your connection close and deepen your relationship is to let them know you’re always there…from a distance!

Setting healthy boundaries between you and your children will help strengthen your relationship and let them feel comfortable to come to you instead of you constantly checking in on them.

That will create a new sense of purpose in life, being able to focus on yourself as much as they get to find a new sense of independence in navigating college life on their own.

As we all know, time can fly! So, it’s good to start emotionally preparing for that transition to help navigate your emotions when the time comes at the end of the year.

What’s one thing you’re nervous about sending your child off to college for the first time? Share below!

The claim that it takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic comes from a frequently cited study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology in 2009 titled “How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world.”

The researchers Phillippa Lally, Cornelia H. M. van Jaarsveld, Henry W. W. Potts, and Jane Wardle aimed to estimate the time it takes to form a new habit. They defined a habit as being automatic, occurring without deliberation, and being difficult to control.

They tracked the development of new habits among 96 participants over 84 days. On average, it took 66 days for a new behavior to reach the automaticity criteria to be classified as a habit. There was significant variation among individuals and behaviors in how long it took habits to form, ranging from 18 days to 254 days in the study.

So, while the “average 66 days” figure has become a popular rule of thumb, the original study demonstrates that the length of habit formation differs greatly based on the person and behavior.

Helping your children develop habits in a small way can increase the development of routine with a positive outcome if the child can feel in control rather than being told to do something.

Helping them stay accountable for developing a habit with positive reinforcement can lead to the natural desire to stick with the routine and form habits for their school work.

For example:
📚Setting a consistent study schedule - Dedicate specific time blocks each day/week to study without distractions. Sticking to it routinely will help create positive habits for college.
📚Studying in short, focused sessions - 25-30 minutes allows better focus and retention than marathon sessions. Encouraging short breaks will decrease stress and feel energized to complete a task.
📚Find or create productive study spaces - Identify where they can concentrate best to help your child feel excited to study.

Try these out and let us know how it works for your family in the comments below! 🙌🏻

The capacity for honest and thoughtful self-reflection is one of the most valuable skills we can cultivate for personal and professional growth and maturity.

By consciously examining our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, we can gain crucial insight into our strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and areas for improvement.

However, self-reflection only enhances self-awareness if we are courageous enough to be completely truthful with ourselves, even when it feels uncomfortable or threatening.

Looking inward does not come naturally to most of us. The common reflex is to protect our egos by ignoring unflattering feedback or rationalizing our flaws.

When faced with our mistakes and shortcomings, the innate urge is often to make excuses, assign blame externally, or even retreat into denial. This avoidance, however, prevents us from acknowledging weaknesses, taking ownership, and learning from missteps.

If we cannot confront our imperfections head-on, we will repeat the same counterproductive patterns.

Here’s how to self-reflect on our thought patterns and see if we are using a fixed or growth mindset. A fixed mindset limits us from being able to grow our inner-selves, and become the best version of ourselves. It can also limit and set back ourselves when faced with obstacles.

Recognizing our fixed mindset and actively leaning in to mindfulness can help change our perspective and become self-aware with our growth and actions.

Here are some examples of a growth mindset vs fixed mindset and how we can encourage our children to focus on a growth mindset when facing challenges of their own in school, relationships, or personal growth.

Drop a comment below on what daily practices work best for you and your family 🙌🏻