Ever wondered what it would it feel like to go back in time? Today, parents, is your lucky day: you get to experience just that by turning back the clock for a day and joining your children in their most mundane, jovial endeavors. With bells ringing, feet shuffling, and classroom doors opening, you can immerse yourself in one of the most far away yet simultaneously relatable spheres of life: high school, in all of its mundane glory and gore. Welcome – it’s good to have you back. 

As you make your way through the crowded hallways, look around and observe. These are the floors your children walk every day, the teachers they look up to, and the students they cherish. But these walls and classrooms are also the places that sizzle your children’s anxieties, insecurities, and regrets. This around you is your children’s world, or a representative microcosm of it, to the very least. So look around and observe, carefully, lovingly, critically. Take this day to learn your children’s routine, challenges, comforts, and fascinations. And most of all, use this day to truly understand first-hand your children’s experience; then use this fresh knowledge to support them and revel in their personas, regardless of what grade or stage of maturity they may be in. 

To Prep parents: support and guide your children as they embark in what could one of the most daunting transitions of their lives. Plunged into a new academic and social environment, your children could be feeling the most wide array of emotions, ranging from excitement to fear to loneliness. Understand their struggles, but don’t aggravate them or overcome them. Let them defeat their own anxieties and come out of their battles more resilient than ever. 

To Lower Mid parents: this year represents a transitioning year into more challenging classes and greater social freedom. Encourage your children to pursue their interests through extracurricular activities and challenge themselves through academics while staying balanced and healthy. Dissuade them from choosing the extremes – whether that may consist of undertaking a strenuous workload or spending too much time socializing. 

To Upper Mid parents: this year marks the gradation toward greater responsibility both as an academic and social leader at the school as your child makes the transition from a lowerclass student to an upperclass student. Support your children as they learn to manage their time more efficiently and act more dutifully. Don’t place too much pressure on them, and celebrate their achievements.

To Senior parents: this year symbolizes the culmination of your children’s work, social endeavors, and time at the school. Even though most early application deadlines are less than two weeks away, don’t empty your worries in futile stress or set concrete expectations for future goals. Instead, encourage your children to enjoy their last year together and become their best selves by living freely yet responsibly. 

This is your day, and this is their life: unite them and make them come to life.