Your son’s College Graduation is approaching quickly – This is an important milestone to commemorate!
Below are some ideas for ways to make his college graduation special!
What’s Occurring:
As your son graduates from college, he is officially transitioning into manhood – this is a great time for a father & adult mentors to confirm this important milestone in his life…he now is becoming fully independent and will have full responsibility to live as an adult, along with the consequences of his decisions.
Key Things for Dads to Do:
Your son’s college graduation is a great time to plan a weekend-long graduation celebration & invite select fathers & their graduating sons who know each other well. These men should be able to offer each boy sound wisdom for his life (see www.trailmapforlife.com website for additional perspective & ideas). Your son’s graduation is a more formal & significant occasion where he is celebrated & offered wise counsel about the importance of staying on God’s path throughout life & consistently making wise choices, as well as discussions on character, marriage, money, & friends.
WEEKEND GETAWAY FOR GROUP OF FATHERS & GRADUATING SONS: Invite a group of fathers & graduating sons who know each other well to a weekend away, to mark this milestone for each of the boys.
- As part of the invitation discussion, ask that each father be willing to write a special, customized letter to EACH of the boys who will be there (not just to their own son).
- Once at the dinner, one father will welcome everyone, describe the significance of college graduation for these boys – e.g. that this is an important milestone event, celebrating your son’s transition from being a boy to being a young man.
- Then that father will begin by reading the letter he wrote to his son (described below) in front of the others, followed by EACH of the other fathers reading the letter they wrote about the same boy (so that this one boy gets to hear each man’s letter written about him).
- Then the next father will read the letter he wrote about his own son, followed by EACH of the other men in attendance reading the letter they wrote about that boy…this continues until all of the boys have heard each letter written to them from each of the dads.
- For the letter from father to son – tell him:
- How much you love him.
- How he has what it takes to make it in life.
- Describe that he is now a man & provide some perspective & specific examples about what you have seen in him over these past 21+ years & why it makes you proud of him.
- Let him know that there are high levels of responsibility & behavior that are acceptable and fitting of a man. Although he’ll still make mistakes, you love him, you are proud of him, & are going to help train him along the path to life on his own.
- Describe in detail his strengths, special talents, & abilities…and describe how those will benefit him in life.
- Read this letter to him at dinner in front of the other men; then have each man read their letter to him…repeat this process for each son in attendance (starting with his father reading his letter to him first, followed by the other fathers reading their letter to him).
- Close it by thanking everyone for being there, not just this weekend, but over the years, and inform the boys that this is a group of friends and mentors who they can come to in the future if they ever need anything.
Need More Parenting Advice?
As parents, we all want to raise kids to prepare them for life on their own. We want our kids to build solid character who understands how to make wise choices. These choices include the core life topics such as friends, dating, money, health, drugs, and how they spend their time.
So we created Trailmap For Life, a non-profit program solely focused on helping people understand & navigate the 10 most important topics in life. Our Trailmap For Life eCourse is a quick 5 session program you get to do with your family for FREE that will radically help your kid have a fulfilling life. Sign up today!