How My Beautiful Tilly Is Coping With College

Last Updated on: 16th October 2026, 08:39 am

Coping With College

Tilly started college in September, and now we are a couple of months in, and we seem to be getting into a routine. But the first week was so bloody stressful that I breathed such a sigh of relief when it was over! Tills always wanted to be a photographer, but it turned out she absolutely hated the subject when she did the GCSE. It turned a love of taking photos and turned it into something she hates doing now. She never takes her camera anywhere these days. So she accidentally fell into childcare when she did a couple of days of work experience. So how is she coping with college?

We All Remember The First Day

I may be 53, but I remember that first day at college….. that first day at a new job or that first day meeting new people. It is hard, especially if you have anxiety like many of us. The thing about Tilly is that although she has amazing friends, she chose to do a course that none of her close friends did. She even chose to go to college, when her other close friends chose to stay at school. I like to think that her travel has given her confidence, and she is always ready to face new situations, even though she is struggling inside. She knows she has anxiety, but she pushes herself every day.

So, on that first day, I had to send her on her own. I watched her Life360 app as she walked the mile to town. Then swapped between the bus app and Life360 to track her every move on the 22-mile journey. She had gone from walking a 2-mile walk to school to pulling on her big girl pants and getting that bus by herself.

The Anxiety!

As soon as she got on the bus, I could feel the anxiety building inside her. ‘I don’t know where to get off?’, ‘The bus is so crowded’, ‘I don’t know anyone on the bus’, ‘I’m going to be late’. Every few minutes, my phone pinged with another message. And as a parent, I just felt hopeless. I kicked myself for not getting on the bus with her. But then if I had, she would have had to do it herself the next day. Sometimes you need to be ruthless and let the kids sink or swim. But by the time she got off the bus, I was wiped out. I was feeling so many different emotions. I felt sad for her; I felt guilty, worried, a failure, and so much more. But she did that first bus journey, and we both survived it.

That First College Day

She arrived at college half an hour late because of the bus. But she headed to her classroom, and then she sat next to someone she didn’t know. Within that first morning, she became friends with that girl. And they went off together for their break so they didn’t get lost. She settled in really easily, and within days she had a few new friends. They might not be the friends that she keeps all through college. And they might not be the friends that share her journey through adulthood. But they are the friends that are there with her now. They are the friends that will support her through this time of her life. The people she needs in her life right now. They are the people who will be there when I can’t be.

Where We Are Now With How Tilly Is Coping With College

She has a few more friends; she has figured out the buses and gets a really early bus to college. She shouldn’t have to, but the local bus service won’t put on another bus. The bus she was getting was so full that they were cramped in like sardines. There was standing room only, and it was dangerous as the bus went down the A2. So the earlier bus works out safer and better for timing. Getting to college earlier means she can relax before going into her classroom. We all hate being rushed, and being late puts us in a mood for the whole day. It makes it a long day for her. But she is settled in, and she is loving life. They are looking into her dyslexia, after Goodwin Academy ignored my pleas for help for years. They left her to struggle as she tried to study for her GCSEs.

I Am So Proud Of Her

Tilly has grown up so much over the past few weeks. She is adulting in the best way possible. She seems to be settled in college and comes home with stories of her new friends. At the end of the day, she tells me what she has learnt, and she is excited to be starting her work experience soon in a nursery. I am so proud of how she has dealt with the whole college process. The way she just gets on with it. She never complains about getting up at 5 am. She never complains about getting home at 7 p.m., and she never complains about how tired she is. And she is coping with college so well.

I feel like she isn’t my little girl anymore, but she is now more of my best friend, an adult navigating her life and dealing with obstacles in her own way. She is amazing, and I am grateful to have her in my life every day.