Parenting a High School Senior and Soon-to-be Graduate

Parenting a high school senior and soon-to-be graduate is an exciting and stressful season for both the parent and the senior. I know. I have a senior who will be graduating soon and this last year has been full of somanythings and somanyfeelings.

As we prepare for their graduation and launching them out into the world, there are countless details involved and endless emotions we feel, as our babies transform into young adults and prepare to take flight into their future plans.

Since I have been consumed in this stage, I’ve spent some time writing about my own experience with parenting my beloved senior. I’ve also considered what other seniors might be going through too.

The following articles about parenting a high school senior and soon-to-be graduate might resonate with both parents and their seniors, as they speak to the heart and soul of letting our kids go and the encouragement and guidance and love and support we want to share with them before we do.

Pick and choose what might apply to you and your senior, or read them all. If you’re not yet at this stage, save them for when you are, because I believe you will appreciate their timeless messages too.

To all the parents of high school seniors and soon-to-be graduates, I hope and pray you find joy and peace, and strength and hope, in preparing for your precious baby’s future- whatever that turns out to be. This is SO HARD. But it’s also so incredibly exciting. In the following articles, I write about it all…

Articles about parenting high school seniors and soon-to-be graduates!

When my daughter’s senior year began, I wrote this emotional piece realizing I had only one more year left with my girl…

I have only one more year to be your caretaker and rule-maker, your limit-setter and dream catcher. I have only one more year to walk by your side and tell you each day all the things I adore about you, all the ways you make me proud, all the beauty I see inside you, and how this world is gifted by you being in it. I have only one more year to tell you how special you really are and how much I believe in all you can do.

I have only one more year to teach you what I can and equip you with all you need to live life on your own. I’m running out of time, you see. Because I have only one more year to hold you tight and sleep at night, knowing you are right here with me.

I have only one more year with you, and I’m just not sure how I will ever let you go.

Read the full piece on The Girlfriend HERE. 

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This was one of those “SOB” moments I believe every parent of a high school senior has on more than one occasion…

She has an incredible adventure ahead, several states away, starting a new life, meeting new people, and learning and experiencing new things. She’ll stay busy, so I know she’ll be fine. She’ll be distracted with all the right things. She’ll be discovering a new life completely separate from this one she’s spent 18 years living. And it’s all SO GOOD. It’s all SO GREAT. I honestly couldn’t be happier for her.

And that’s how this parenting gig goes.

We spend all these years raising our kids, working so hard, and sacrificing so much to give them all that they need to grow up and stand on their own. And when our job is done, there comes a time…

Our kids will eventually leave us behind.

Read the full article on Collegiate Parent HERE.

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Parenting our high school seniors shifts through the year, and I wrote about the details and emotions that come with this difficult adjustment…

My senior already has one foot out the door, and really, both feet are often gone, as I wait to hear how things went, how she’s doing, and what’s next for the coming day. These are the days when parenting my girl has transformed into being her home base, her sounding board, her safe place to land. I’m at the ready to offer suggestions when asked, encouragement when needed, and praise when earned.

Read the full article on Moms of Tweens and Teens HERE.

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And toward the end of this year, I join fellow high school senior parents with this message about our kids’ suffering from “Senioritis”…

Whatever will come next is so much more important to you than what you must tend to now in order to get there. High school is old news and you are ready for all these exciting new things to happen. You have officially outgrown this season of your life, just a little too soon. You have entered the traditional rite of passage, a condition that hits seniors everywhere, every single year. The diagnosis is “Senioritis.” The cure is graduation.

Read the full article on Moms of Tweens and Teens HERE. 

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I know there are many seniors who are still unsure of their post-graduation plans and I wanted them to know this is ABSOLUTELY OKAY…

So, please don’t worry. Please don’t think you are different from the rest. No matter how strong and wise and perfectly presented others appear, no one, and I mean no one, has it all together whether it’s their senior year or fifty years later.  

All you need is an honest compass within, to help guide you through each new choice you make, as you keep correcting your course and tend to the ever-changing terrain you travel, day by day. 

And you will find the craziest thing- 

It all will tell your own unique and wondrous story in quite a remarkable way. 

Read the full article on Parenting Tweens and Teens HERE.

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And I have all kinds of advice I want to give to my high school senior and soon-to-be graduate, starting with this piece…

Dear Graduate, do your best to be wise and brave, responsible and kind, patient and hopeful. These character traits will grow if you allow them to. And through all the people you meet and the choices you make, through all the hard roads ahead and the lessons you’ll learn, they will help guide and mold you into the person you want to become, every day of your life.

Read the full article on Moms of Tweens and Teens HERE.

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And with all the stress and limitations of the Pandemic, I wanted to encourage seniors through their final year that looked nothing like they hoped it would be…

There is no way of recovering your special senior rituals and traditions, all these long-awaited accomplishments and celebrations.

You can’t get this year back, and from the deepest part of my heart I say, I’m so sorry.

I feel your sadness, your frustration, and your despair. You’ve missed out on the best parts of high school, and you feel cheated and neglected. It’s simply not fair.

But, dear senior, although your dreams have been stifled and your life limited, I want you to know that in the midst of it all, there’s so much you have gained.

You may not be aware of some of these things because you’ve simply been struggling to survive. But it’s important you recognize the extraordinary lessons you’ve learned.

Read the full article on Collegiate Parent HERE. 

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And lastly, more I need to say to my high school senior and soon-to-be graduate as her departure nears…

Sometimes I worry I haven’t said enough, taught you enough, loved you enough, but I hope that these years of raising you have given you the skills and wisdom, the support and confidence you need to be the very best you can be. 

Before you go, I want you to know some things… Things I’ve said over and over again, but they all bear repeating because you need the reminders and I need the chance to say them to you over and over again. There’s no need to roll your eyes and sigh, just take them in, smile politely, and realize that someday you might understand just how much these things matter… 

Read the full article on Parenting Tweens and Teens HERE.

God speed and God bless you all, parents and seniors and soon-to-be graduates!