Advising Your Children in Later Life

Helping your children can be one of  the most satisfying activities in laterlife. In many ways you never really stop! What we try to do in  'Advising your Children' is to provide a spread of information to cover the most likely advice you might be called upon to provide, be it financial, practical or otherwise.

What ever your child's aspirations, there are things they will need to know and need your help with. Moving out of the family home and setting up their own is a major step, and there are many useful sources of information in our Children Leaving Home section.

If your son or daughter is planning or thinking about going into further education it is worth getting the information to make an informed decision on the right thing to do. Below are a few websites that can provide the information you need, as well as current government policy and how it will affect prospective students.

Universities

UCAS - The Universities and Colleges Admissions System

This is the natural starting point for any search on university information. A vast amount of advice and resource for prospective students delivered by the professionals. Also the useful links section covers many of the additional sources you may require on professional bodies, and advisory services.

Although UCAS gives you a lot of information, the individual university websites (reachable through the UCAS site here) can provide more local and lifestyle details.

For current government policies and advice on Higher Education please visit the DFES Higher Education section.

There has been a lot of controversy over the use of league tables in education. However, more information never hurts. In terms of which league tables to use we won't make a recommendation, rather we will provide you with links to a few sources.

The Guardian Education University Guide
The Times Online Good University Guide
BBC Education League Tables

Careers for recent graduates

One of the most important events is that first step into the world of full time employment.

The web can be an amazing resource to help in this respect, as illustrated by this special recent graduate guide compiled for laterlife by Matthew a graduate who used this approach - as a result he had 4 interviews and a job offer within 2 weeks.

In particular he recommends using job fairs - did you realise that there is a programme of them going on for most of the year? You can find all the information on where and when these are happening in the recent graduate guide. 

Don Wilde, laterlife's independent career consultant offers the fruits of his extensive experience in our Job Search in laterlife section. Although Don has aimed his advice at jobseekers in their fifties and above, it is an excellent guideline and very relevant for a jobseeker of any age. Read his advice on CV writing, preparation for interview, planning your job search campaign and much more.

Relationships

There is a fine line between being there to help and being perceived as interfering in or controlling your child's life. Laterlife's relationship counsellor Maggi Stamp - a qualified and experienced relationship counsellor for Relate and in private practice - can help with advice on relationships between you and your child, and dealing with letting them go and their independence. You can see the articles she has written in the laterlife Relationships Article Index or email her for an anonymous repsonse to your question in her monthly column.

Visit our Pre-retirement Courses section here on laterlife or our dedicated Retirement Courses site