Dealing with Parents
Part of the reason I committed to making this website so early on was my mother. She was panicked about the idea of my sister leaving home and not dealing well with it. My mother, naturally, couldn't forbid my sister from going, but she did (accidentally) make my sister very nervous about the idea of going away. My concern is that other parents may go further. I can't tell you what will work for your situation, but I think many of the things that worked for my family may work for others and bear considering in your own situation.
1. Get a list of their concerns and address every single one.
These are likely to be wide-ranging in nature, but probably also easily answered. One day my mother was worried my sister wouldn't eat well, which I answered by sending her information about the required meal plans. The next, she was concerned about bullying in dormitories, which I helped ease by telling her about resident assistants. A lot of my mother's fears came from a lack of knowledge (it's been several decades since she went to college herself, and she never lived on campus), so a simple Google search was enough to reassure her. Your parent's very used to protecting you, as their child, and may require many reassurances as to your safety before you go. In addition, this seems like it would work quite well if you have the opposite problem - not wanting to go to college, despite your parent's wishes.
2. Give them books to read.
One of the presents I gave my mother (and, by proxy, my sister) the year before my sister went away to college was a book called The Parent's Guide to College for Students on the Autism Spectrum. Had she read it, I think it would have addressed many of her concerns. As things were, she didn't actually read it, which served my purpose almost as well, since when she started worrying about whether my sister could go to college I could simply ask her if she'd read the book and she wouldn't be able to say anything. I recommend reading the book yourself, so to better ease their concerns.
3. Show them success stories.
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1. Get a list of their concerns and address every single one.
These are likely to be wide-ranging in nature, but probably also easily answered. One day my mother was worried my sister wouldn't eat well, which I answered by sending her information about the required meal plans. The next, she was concerned about bullying in dormitories, which I helped ease by telling her about resident assistants. A lot of my mother's fears came from a lack of knowledge (it's been several decades since she went to college herself, and she never lived on campus), so a simple Google search was enough to reassure her. Your parent's very used to protecting you, as their child, and may require many reassurances as to your safety before you go. In addition, this seems like it would work quite well if you have the opposite problem - not wanting to go to college, despite your parent's wishes.
2. Give them books to read.
One of the presents I gave my mother (and, by proxy, my sister) the year before my sister went away to college was a book called The Parent's Guide to College for Students on the Autism Spectrum. Had she read it, I think it would have addressed many of her concerns. As things were, she didn't actually read it, which served my purpose almost as well, since when she started worrying about whether my sister could go to college I could simply ask her if she'd read the book and she wouldn't be able to say anything. I recommend reading the book yourself, so to better ease their concerns.
3. Show them success stories.
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