For many parents and caregivers, this time of year marks a time of major transition: when a child begins their first year in college.

Your student has made it through challenges, including a worldwide pandemic. They worked hard and persevered. Your love and support may have made all the differences in realizing their goal of going to college.

Your student is about to have experiences that will serve as a springboard for the rest of their lives. They will hear new ideas, explore new concepts and meet and get to know new people who may be quite different from them. They will grow, and change, and develop into the person they were meant to be.

I remember my first day of college. I was super excited. I was also a little bit scared of what I didn't know. I wondered: Did I have what it took to succeed at college? Would I find something to study that I was passionate about? Would I be able to make friends?

I am happy to tell you that my college experience exceeded even my wildest dreams. I made friends with people who remain some of my best friends today. I learned that I had a passion for helping people, and that that passion could be transformed into a profession as a clinical psychologist.

Now that I am older and a parent myself, I know that parents of first-year college students are also scared. I know how challenging it is to let your child go. It may get even more challenging when your child encounters various obstacles along their journey, which I assure you, they will. We all do.

But, they will learn from navigating these challenges and will be better prepared as a result, especially if they are given the opportunity to solve the problems themselves.

So as hard as I know it will be, I advise parents and caregivers to hang back before stepping in to solve problems for their first-year students. Let them struggle a bit. You might use open-ended questions to invite your student to think through the solution to a problem before providing them with the answer.

Have faith that they will figure out what they need to do to solve the problem. Allowing them this autonomy and encouraging them to come up with solutions on their own will help them in growing and developing as young adults.

As a parent or caregiver, this is a monumental time in your life as well. The transition may not only mean experiencing your child being on their own for the first time, it will also mean changes in your home life. I know because, just a few years ago, I was in your shoes, seeing my own kiddo off to college.

My home life definitely changed when my child went away to college and started on his journey to adulthood. There were joys. But also challenges. I would encourage you to think about and talk with others in your household about the ways that life will be different. I would also suggest coordinating with each other on how you will support your student in their developmental journey.

As president of Lewis & Clark College, I also know that there is an entire work force of administrators, staff and faculty looking forward to getting to know your student at their college. These are individuals who will do everything possible to ensure your student's experience is outstanding and transformative.

This journey is a partnership, one that is among the school, you and your student. And that partnership is most likely to be the most productive if everyone is working together to support your student's autonomy and growth.

By doing this work together you just might find that, by the time next summer rolls around, your child is quite a bit more mature than when they left and well on their way to becoming the thoughtful adult you raised them to be.