Wealth of Wisdom

CHAPTER 38A Ritual to Send Children off to College

Andrew Doust

Leaving home for college is without doubt one of the most formative and challenging experiences of life. It's up there with marriage, having children, and getting your first job.

Away from the constraints and familiarity of home, college offers a rare opportunity to redefine ourselves. There is freedom to try new experiences, pursue new interests, to choose new friends, and to decide who we want to be in the world.

Our college years reveal and shape our identity. Our worldview, our character, and our values are all tested in new ways, and the decisions we make in those years have lifelong implications.

Perhaps like me you've seen too many young adults head off to college without a solid grounding, unprepared for the choices and challenges they will face, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Some time ago I was engaged by a family to help prepare their G3 children for college life abroad. Raised in a sheltered culture, the family was concerned that their children would be overwhelmed by their new culture and could quickly lose their way. I recalled my own experience of being sent by my family, which inspired this simple College Send-Off Ritual.

The following ritual assumes that the family is funding the tuition costs, although you'll find elements of it useful even if that is not the case. In families where there is an expectation that college fees are automatically paid by the family, I have found there is great ...