Letting Go is about what it feels like for parents when their kids go off to college. Karen Levin Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger provide a compassionate approach, practical information, and advice about the physical and emotional processes of letting go. They discuss the college-age child's search for identity, independence, and intimacy; give a succinct and accurate description of how college life has changed over the decades; and provide a year-by-year breakdown of what to expect. Plus, you can read about typical and not-so-typical problems including date rape, crime, eating disorders, drug and alcohol use, and sexual issues. Of special note is the focus on orientation and the freshman year, including the disorientation parents feel once the drop-off has been made.



"As the father of two children who have left home to attend college and as president of an institution that receives, each year, hundreds of young women and men who are leaving home for the first time, I find Letting Go to be a must read for parents of college-going students."



"A sensitive, informative, and well-written guide to help parents know what their children are getting into when they leave for college. Full of practical advice and psychological insight, it's a better antidote than Valium for the anxieties parents feel as they prepare to let their children go."



"The third edition of Letting Go is better than ever. It is must reading for parents embarking with their son or daughter on the college experience. Information is relevant, current, practical, and easy to understand. It introduces parents to college issues, challenges, and services available at colleges and universities in the 1990s."



"The original Letting Go has served as a seminal source of information to families and their college-bound children for many years. This updated edition adds contemporary elements (especially in technology and diversity of student population) which will make this volume invaluable for years to come."


Book Description

This bestselling guide, read by hundreds of thousands of parents over the past decade, is now better than ever, newly revised and completely updated. Based on real-life experience and recommended by colleges and universities around the country, Letting Go offers compassionate, practical, and up-to-the-minute information to help parents with the emotional and social changes of the college years.

When should parents encourage independence?

When should they intervene?

What issues of identity and intimacy await students?

What are normal feelings of disorientation and loneliness for students—and for parents?

What is different about today’s college environment?

What new concerns about safety, health and wellness, and stress will affect incoming classes?

These important issues and more are addressed with wise advice and time-tested counsel in Letting Go -- a realistic and reassuring source for meeting the challenges ahead, from the senior year in high school through college graduation.


About the Author
Karen Levin Coburn is Associate Dean of Students at Washington University and the co-author of The New Assertive Woman (more than one million copies sold) and Hitting Our Stride.Madge Lawrence Treeger, a long time member of the Washington University counseling service, is now a psychotherapist in private practice.

ANNOTATION

Insightful, expanded, and experience-driven, this bestselling guide to the college years combines the timeless wisdom of past editions with the latest research on campus life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This bestselling guide, read by hundreds of thousands of parents over the past decade, is now better than ever, newly revised and completely updated. Based on real-life experience and recommended by colleges and universities around the country, Letting Go offers compassionate, practical, and up-to-the-minute information to help parents with the emotional and social changes of the college years.

When should parents encourage independence?

When should they intervene?

What issues of identity and intimacy await students?

What are normal feelings of disorientation and loneliness for students?and for parents?

What is different about today?s college environment?

What new concerns about safety, health and wellness, and stress will affect incoming classes?