Now one of the toughest transitions for parents
is when their children are preparing
to head off to college.
Now, Robin and I went through that
with our boys, Jay and Jordan.
Now, my next guess, Asunda, is going through that
right now with her 17 year old daughter, Aviva.
Now here's their story.
Now I got Satan and Lucifer, that's right.
My teenage daughters.
(crowd laughs)
I'm a comedian.
I love making people laugh.
Listen, I got this new joke.
My mom is infuriating at times.
She makes jokes to a point where it's just like (groans).
What's so stressful is my daughter Aviva
is just going crazy about
which college she wants to go to.
I want to study musical theater,
singing, acting, dancing,
but applying for colleges is so nerve-wracking.
I'm more stressed about Aviva
going to college than Aviva is.
Please, mom.
One of the most challenging things
is going to the doctor's office with my daughter.
She has this habit of speaking for me.
Let me speak!
I hate when people think they know me
better than I know myself.
I'm not gonna quit being a mom now
just because you go to college.
She'll always be my baby.
Can I get a kiss? Nope.
Well, joining me now are Asunda,
her daughter Aviva, and my good friend,
Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall, she's medical officer of Pfizer,
so thank you all for being here.
(applause)
Asunda, what are your greatest concerns
about her leaving for college?
I guess you have an idea. Yes.
Of how stressful it is thinking,
is she gonna be home tonight?
Is she with the right friends?
I wanna be in that loop, you know?
How do you feel about her
being "in the loop", as she says?
I'm sort of an independent person, at times,
but there's certain times where I
like to have business to myself.
Well, Dr. Freda, this situation is so typical,
so where does this go?
As a mother of three, I know that
you know, one of the most challenging
and exciting parts of being a parent is
watching and helping your child be their own person.
Going away to college is sometimes
one of the most challenging parts of that transition.
Asunda, I think you've mentioned
how concerned you were about making sure
that Aviva really was ready
to take care of the health aspects as she went away.
And so, the two of you
can actually do some things together
that would prepare Aviva to be more ready
to take an active role in managing her own health,
and to know what to do when mom's not there.
What's the best place to start?
Make an appointment to get a wellness check up,
which teens should have annually.
Make a list of the topics that you want to discuss.
This will help you be organized
when you get into the doctor's office,
but it'll also help Aviva
kinda raise some of the issues
that she may want to talk about
that she has her own concerns about,
physical development, sexual health, mental health.
We have a teen health checklist
on GetHealthyStayHealthy.com, which you can download,
so talk to your teen about the behaviors
that may put them at risk when they go away to school,
like living in close quarters,
sharing drinks, food, utensils, and makeup.
These are all typical teen behaviors,
but they're things that might put you at risk
for exposure to things like the flu.
Yeah, I think college students
have an increased risk for meningococcal disease, right?
There is extra exposure,
and you mentioned meningococcal disease,
which is uncommon, but serious.
And it can attack without warning, and spread quickly
through the close quarters like at colleges.
Now, this is a disease that causes
inflammation of the protective membrane
over the brain and the spinal cord,
and it can also lead to serious blood infections.
But early symptoms are very similar to the flu,
fever, headache, nausea, and vomiting.
So it's really important for parents
and teens who are at risk
to know those symptoms and to not ignore them.
Okay, so what can these two do now
to help protect Aviva before
she takes off for college?
There's a set of recommended immunizations
that you could start with,
and these may help protect against
influenza or the flu and the meningitis,
which we just talked about, as well as other things.
Hepatitis B, Human Papilloma Virus, and tetanus.
And talk to your doctor about
the vaccination schedule at the schools
that Aviva is applying to,
because these may vary from school to school
and state to state,
and it's also important that you do this
while Aviva is a senior in high school,
because most vaccines need to be given
before you get to college,
or they're given over a period of time.
And also, mental health is important to discuss.
Absolutely, don't shy away
from thinking about the mental health aspects.
And then there are some things that you can do
to help maintain your balance and reduce stress.
So you wanna get good sleep, you wanna eat healthily,
keep your exercise program up.
You wanna establish a good social network.
And then last but not least, the things to avoid.
Tobacco, drugs, and alcohol.
I also wanna suggest that you establish resources
for helping you manage your health.
So in addition to your family doctor,
you want to think about the pharmacist,
a nurse, the team at the student health center,
and you wanna get to know these resources
before you need them.
Mom, you might wanna help identify
an online health information resource that is trusted
so that you know where to go when you have questions.
You can start with GetHealthyStayHealthy.com,
and there's information there that'll help you
stay healthy as you go away to college and beyond,
and of course while you're there
you can sign up for the newsletter.
Alright, I wanna thank all of my guests today,
especially Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall.