Tips for College Grads Boomeranging Back Home

Are your college grads getting ready to move back home?

In Monday's post, we started a list of tips for parents busy cleaning up their college seniors' rooms before heading off to graduation. If boomerang kids are about to become your new housemates, here's some practical insight you can share as they begin to look for work in this tough economy:

Rely on your instincts. Listen to the advice of those you trust. But look inside for answers and find your own voice. Don’t jump at money or do what others think you should - define success on your own terms. If you feel you’re moving in the direction of where you belong, believe in what you’re doing. Emotional discomfort can be an opportunity to grow.

Discover your passion. With our society and the job market in flux, you may have to reorder your priorities for now. Keep busy and try to make a contribution as a volunteer or mentor where you can use you talents and energy to be of service to others. You can tap into your compassion and courage to find a larger purpose.

Increase your resiliency. At times it may be difficult to maintain composure under trying circumstances. Take one day at a time. Develop strategies to manage stress and build your confidence. Call on your faith or spirituality. Step by step, you'll turn your hopes and dreams into reality.

Your recent grads may not be sure of what road they’re on or whether they should have taken it. Perhaps they’re having doubts or second thoughts: if only I had applied to law school, what if I had majored in engineering? It’s common and normal to have ambivalent emotions - the desire to hold on and to let go, excitement as well as fear about the future.

The 20s are still the defining decade of adult life and your emerging adult kids are living with an unprecedented amount of uncertainty. Let them know you have their back. Encourage them to reach deep for the resolve to face their situation squarely - in time, they can’t help but grow from their challenges and experiences.

Breaking Free: Changing Your Career

Here on the blog we're always talking about how boomers in the sandwich generation can manage the challenges of parents growing older and kids growing up. And for many of you, work is a major part of that equation. So if you're less than thrilled with your career and have been thinking about making a change, we have a treat for you.

This week we're featuring Caryn FitzGerald, a guest blogger who will discuss her career change and offer some tips so you can make some changes too. Here is Caryn's view out of the window of her home office and her story:"Fourteen years ago, I graduated from college ready to take on the world. After two decades of education, I walked across the stage, received my master’s degree and into the world of corporate America. My corporate career didn’t last long though as mentors began to share the possibilities available to me as an entrepreneur and I allowed my heart to be open to receive this knowledge, changing the direction of my life’s path forever.

If I had known the details of the options available before I went to college, would this information have made a difference in the path I had chosen? Probably not. But it would have allowed me to be better prepared for what was in store for me upon graduation. It would have given me the ability to make better choices, not be fearful of creating a lifestyle instead of living a life. I would have learned sooner that I had options instead of believing that, in order to survive, I had to be tied to corporate America as an employee with a job.

Jim Rohn once said JOB is an acronym for "Just Over Broke." This is what the vast majority are conditioned to believe is the only means of making a living. It is very rare that a child is told, "don't worry about going to college, find what you feel passionate about, follow your heart and money will flow into your life."

What if there was a way to have the ability to earn as much income as you desire? To decide how many hours a day you would devote to creating an income? To grant you the ability to spend time with family and loved ones without worrying about having more money left over after the bills have all been paid in full? What if the secret to entry into this lifestyle was 100% yours?

The secret lies deep within each of us and, although often brushed against, it is not always recognized or acted upon. Unfortunately, the voice of fear speaks loudly, and many will give in, conforming to the societal norms of working a job instead of following their hearts desire.

What if you could take small steps each day that would allow you to break free from the corporate world and live the life you dream about when you close your eyes each night?

This is possible." Log on here Wednesday, readers, to find out how!

In the meantime, if you want to get started, learn more about Caryn FitzGerald. And check out this website where you'll find lots of articles about career change, from to how to make a hobby work for you to adapting your career in a tough economy.

Generativity is word coined by Dr. Erik Erickson in the 1950s - it describes a stage of psychosocial development when people want to give back to future generations. Here's a Huffington Post article by Marc Freedman, CEO of Civic Ventures, about boomers transitioning to an encore career of public service.

Last week we began to talk about ways to connect with your aging parents and perpetuate the values they hold dear. Here are some more suggestions to guide you in this process.

Talk with your parents about their past and the stories of their lives. Their tales will become a part of how you remember them. Through you, the history of your parents will be preserved from generation to generation. Look through their old photographs and listen to the memories they evoke. Video tape these conversations to have a lasting visual and oral record of them. View these family photos and videos as a slice of life - a gift for the future to be enjoyed by your children and grandchildren. Sarah loved seeing the pictures of her mother as a teenager, having fun with her friends at the beach. "Mom always worked so hard – she had two jobs when we were little – and I think it aged her tremendously. My children see her only as very old and infirm. When I show them pictures of her as a girl, full of energy and enthusiasm, she seems more real to them."

Identify what you consider to be your parents' personal strengths and talk with them about the strengths they remember in their own parents. Create a family strengths tree, focusing both on strengths that have been passed down and on those that are unique to each family member. You will have a concrete visual profile of your ancestors' virtues to guide you and your children. Toby recalled the impact that her father's character had on her. “He taught me so much about how to be a good human being just by the way he treated everyone around him. I try to live up to his standard of morality every day in the way I live my life.”

Consult with books or Internet websites to help your parents create an ethical will. Your family will be enriched by their legacy - knowing what they believed in, their values and rituals, and how they lived their lives. Remaining emotionally open during this interactive process can help you better understand your parents as well as yourself and your own personal goals. Shortly before he died, Lynn and her father wrote down some of his thoughts and answers to the questions they had discussed. Now when she feels troubled, she spends time rereading her journal. “Dad lived to age 92. He is always in my mind and I have the words we wrote together to ground me. He was the only one who could make me feel stronger, and I always think about the way he would want me to handle myself in difficult situations.”

Going through the process with your aging parents may even give you a head start on thinking about your own ethical will. What values do you want to pass on to your children? How can you role model these for them today? How can you live your life now as if these values really are important to you? How you answer these kinds of questions to yourself can help you create your own legacy of meaning for your children and grandchildren over the next decades.

If the writer in you can't wait to break free, check out the following opportunity - Boomer Women Speak JUNE-JULY Writing Contest:

A Lesson I've Learned

We've all had them. Those “life lessons” that make us stop and think, possibly see the world, our environment, or even ourselves in a different light - the lessons we'll never forget. Some call them “Aha” moments.

Who was your mentor? Was it a teacher, a parent, or your best friend who helped to open your eyes and heart to learn? Maybe even a boyfriend? Or was it man's best friend, a pet? No matter who taught you or how you learned, we all agree that, over time, they are truly unforgettable. What is that one particular lesson that stands out in your mind? Did it change the course of your life? Or maybe it wasn't life-altering, but it helped to shape the person you are today. Whatever you lesson, send us your story by entering our contest and win prizes!

Deadline: July 31, 2007

Entry Fee: NONE

PRIZES:

The winner's story will be placed in the Our Voices section at Boomer Women Speak and she will receive the following:

$50.00 CASH!

FREE membership or renewal for the National Association of Baby Boomer Women, NABBW, the only association devoted to addressing issues concerning 38 million of the healthiest, wealthiest and best educated generation of women to ever hit midlife.

Baby Boomer's Almanac, by Tim Brolus

What Happens Next, by Chloe JonPaul

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Throne, by Georgia Richardson

Guidelines at www.BoomerWomenSpeak.com