In the last post of this series on Chickering’s 7 Vectors of Development, we discussed intellectual competence. I think that for most students and parents, this is an easier task to embrace, since college has always been a place to expand your intellectual abilities. Achieving physical competence, though, is equally essential, because it involves a student’s ability to take care of himself or herself.
In my mind, this goes further than simply having an exercise routine and eating right. Those are just the tip of the iceberg. Other things to consider include sleep habits, personal hygeine, keeping the room clean, doing laundry, and managing daily life tasks (paying bills, managing finances, etc.) Here are some great resources that provide valuable advice and information on these topics.
Exercise & Fitness
- College Fitness is a social networking site where students can share and find exercise routines, and track their fitness goals
- College Eating and Fitness 101 on YoungWomensHealth.com offers some great advice for eating right and fitting exercise into your daily routine.
Eating Right
- The University of Oregon offers 10 Healthy Eating Tips for College
- YourTotalHealth offers advice for Healthy Breakfasts
- A good book on the subject is Mindful Eating 101: A Guide to Eating Healthy in College and Beyond
Sleep Habits
- CollegeView has a good article on how good sleep habits contribute to both health and cognitive performance
- The Better Sleep Council offers 10 Tips to Better Sleep
- eHow offers advice on How to Adjust Sleep Habits for School
Personal Hygeine
- Simmons College has a brief brochure on student hygeine available as a .pdf.
- Some students have trouble adjusting to the realities of shared bathrooms in the halls. CollegeBound.net offers some tips on how to prepare yourself for Shower Shock
- Ehow has a good article on How to Improve Personal Hygiene.
Keeping Your Dorm Room Clean
- How to Clean a Dorm Room Quickly on About.com
- DormDelicious has some good tips for impressing your friends and neighbors by having a clean Dorm Room
- For those who really need to keep it simple, DoItYourself offers 3 Quick Tips to Keeping Your Dorm Room Clean
Doing Laundry
- WikiHow has a very comprehensive guide on How to Do Your Laundry in a Dorm
- Whirlpool’s Institute of Fabric Science has a great College Laundry 101 guide that even has tips for dealing with common laundry stains one might encounter in college.
- CollegeTips has a good page on doing laundry as well.
Managing College Finances
- About.com has a lot of great information about managing finances whiel in college, including Leaving College Without Credit Card Debt and a useful College Budget Worksheet
- GoCollege offers some good advice, including ways to save money in college, building a credit history, earning income and staying out of debt.
- UniversityParent has a good page about Building Money Management Skills.
Hopefully, these resources will help you prepare for the challenges of developing Physical and Manual Competence in College. If you know of other good resources, tips or advice, please send along to me at sean@higheredlifecoach.com and I will consider posting to the blog. Or you can add your thoughts to the comment section.
Thanks for reading, and good luck creating the college life you want.
Coming Soon: Developing Manual Competence: Tips for Parents.
Related posts:
- Developing Competence
- Developing Competence: Ideas For Parents:
- Chickering’s 7 Vectors of Development
- A Different Kind of Freshman 15, Volume 2
- I Can’t Believe My Baby is Growing Up!: Some Basics About Student Development Theory for College Parents
Sean Cook has 15 years of experience working in Higher Education, as a Student Affairs Professional. He is a Certified Life and Career Coach through the Life Purpose Institute, a program accredited by the International Coach Federation. Sean also writes about career issues in higher education for our companion site, HigherEdCareerCoach.com and is a periodic contributor to the Student Affairs Collaborative Blog.
