Almost Grown: Launching Your Child from High School to College

by Patricia Pasick

A time of tumult, your children's transition from high school to college can also be a time of growth. This book shows you how. Almost Grown is a guide for parents to the final years of high school and first years of college, offering intelligent counsel not only in practical issues such as developing a college search plan or handling questions of money, sex, and substance abuse, but also in the psychological issues that arise during this family transition. Writing as both psychologist and parent, Patricia Pasick tackles the key question of how mothers and fathers can foster adolescents' growth and autonomy while maintaining family connections and stability. She also explores the unexpected: the impact of the changing family on younger siblings, the benefits and frustrations of college students' returning home, the challenges and opportunities that nontraditional families face, and more.

Pasick delves into another critical yet underplayed aspect of the college transition: how parents' lives change. Almost Grown guides readers through this major step in adult development and new start to adult partnerships.

Almost Grown contains advice from high school and college admissions counselors across the country and, at the heart of the book, stories of personal experience from parents and adolescents who are making, or have made, the transition.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evenhanded account of emotions and behaviors appropriate for parents and students. Covers 10th grade through college. Useful reality check for parents who are wondering if they and their student on on track for college.

[Mimi · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those books I had stashed around the house and read a page or two at a time. Kind of dated (the child I'm about to launch was born the year it was written) and focused on those who are sending their children to an Ivy League College, but had some interesting insights.