Help my child is graduating from High School!

Since it is that time of year I would like to talk a bit about high school graduation. Here is what I know for sure:

It is up to the parents to launch the child into young adulthood. This is the most difficult task you will do as a parent.

Here is what we told our sons from the time they were in middle school, a lesson learned from my clinical supervisor the late Dr. Barbara Lynch; You have two choices when you graduate from high school:

1. You can leave and go to college,
2. You can leave.

The young adult needs to hear that you trust they will make this transition into adulthood.  There is a very short window of opportunity once one graduates from high school.

If they have no plan for after high school, chances are they will have no direction which may last well into their late 20′s. Setting clear boundaries with the young adult is crucial, otherwise you may have them living with you at 24, with no future ambitions, unemployed, out most of the night, and sleeping most of the day.