So your child just graduated high school. Here's 4 ways to help them navigate what's next.

If there is a finish line for hands-on, intensive parenting, then graduation from high school (or reaching high school graduation age) would have to be it. After 13 years of school and all that it entails (daily lunch boxes, we’re looking at you), your child reaching the end point is momentous. 

Whereas once, a million years ago, your conversations centred on pocket money and playdates, Shaun the Sheep and sleepovers, it’s now decidedly future-focused with the big question being: what now? Helping your child to navigate what comes next is equal parts tricky and exciting. 

Here's four ways to help them plan their next move with their one 'wild and precious' life.

Explore all the options

Back in the olden days (cough, the late '80s and '90s) when I was a high school leaver, the options for what came next were fairly limited. University, a small selection of TAFE courses or, you got a job. Fortunately, things have changed for the better and current day school leavers, be they high school graduates or not, have a veritable avalanche of options to explore. 

From gap years to internships, further study to entry-level jobs, school leavers and Year 12 graduates have more choice than ever before. Encouraging your child to investigate all their options is the ideal way for them to get a feel for what they might want to do next. And that might not mean jumping straight onto the career path they think they want to pursue. 

After 13 years of formal education, some kids will need time to recalibrate and embrace the world outside of a classroom. Even those who have a clear idea of what they want to be ‘when they grow up', can use the time after school finishes to play around with what they might like life to look like for the next short period. 

Is it going to university classes? Getting a job to save for travel? Trying out an internship to see if that industry is the right fit? The options really are unlimited and it's important for your child to make the most of them.

Learn more about tertiary study

Back in my day (who else loves saying that? Surely not just me?), we were kind of expected to just... know what we wanted to do once school finished, and promptly jump onto that path. There wasn’t a lot of space for exploration of different options or to enjoy the relatively blank canvas you had in front of you. Applying for university was a bit like the blind leading the blind. 

We didn’t really know anything about uni, only what our career advisor told us. And our knowledge of courses, study and different options that might suit us was limited. Not so anymore. 

University Open Days, like those held at ACU, can give high school leavers (and their parents) the chance to immerse themselves in everything university has to offer. Got questions? ACU Open Days let you ask all the questions to both ACU teaching staff and current students, who can speak with experience. High school leavers can learn first-hand about things like what their dream courses offer, the application process, pathway options and entry programs. 

Essentially, Open Days really allow school leavers to see what's possible, and can open their eyes to options they may not have known about or even considered before.

ACU Open Days are free to attend (registrations are open!) across their campuses in NSW, Qld, Vic and ACT, and are coming up from July to September 2024.

Encourage ‘the pause’

Parenting a school leaver or high school graduate is a whole new experience. You’re entering a new phase of your relationship as they move towards adulthood and — without being too dramatic — the rest of their life. 

School provides a lot of structure and sets expectations not only for things like behaviour, but also for day-to-day life. The day begins and ends at consistent times, there are designated times for recess and lunch, teachers are there to provide support and guidance alongside learning; in a nutshell, you’re kind of told what to do without the need for too much critical thinking. 

When that disappears, many teens and young adults may find themselves slightly adrift. They can wake up whenever they want! Wear anything they choose! Eat at whatever time suits! 

But with freedom comes great responsibility, and it's likely your child will be grappling with what comes next. They may feel like they need or want to jump straight into the next thing, be it a gap year for travelling or work, purely because they aren’t quite sure what else to do with themselves. 

This is the time to have open, honest conversations about the future and the importance of 'the pause', otherwise known as 'not jumping into anything because you think right now that it's the best thing to do only because your best friend said it was and you can’t actually think of anything else'. Teenagers and young adults are still learning to think critically. They can still be very easily led and struggle with making their own informed decisions. 

Encouraging them to take some time to pause and reflect can help give them the time and space to work out what matters to them the most. Maybe it is doing what their mates are doing, but maybe it’s something totally different that they need your support to follow through with. Either way, they’ll only be able to make that decision if they take the time to really think through what goals they want to aim for, without rushing into something first.

Encourage them to still do the things they love

Some of our greatest learnings come when we're doing something we love. Encouraging your child to continue with that sport, hobby or activity that they love can help shape their identity and, indirectly, give them some ideas about what they may want to do with their life in the future. 

As 'proper' adults, we often think wistfully about how much we loved XYZ but how ‘life got in the way’ and it stopped being part of our life. Just because your child is no longer school-age and making the big decisions about what comes next in life, it doesn’t mean incorporating what they love is off the table. 

Encourage them to continue with whatever it is that brings them joy. It could be an activity that ends up being part of their study experience, a side-hustle or something that connects them to others in their workplace. It may even lead to them uncovering a career option that they previously hadn’t considered.

Ideally, it's ensuring downtime doesn’t become a thing of the past, which can help your child to move into their next phase, filled with plenty of change, in a healthy, well-rounded way.

Register now for an ACU Open Day in NSW, Qld, Vic or ACT.

Feature Image: Getty.