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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

When student DC come home for the holidays...

55 replies

Bobochic · 14/11/2016 11:14

What are your expectations of you and of them regarding hygiene (personal, bedrooms, clothing), participation in family life, freedom to come and go as they please?

OP posts:
senua · 23/11/2016 11:56

I'm curious as to how other families sort these issues out

You lay down ground rules. I said to the DC that the relationship had moved on; I wasn't their minder any more, it was up to them what they got up to but as a courtesy I'd like (a) to know if they wanted feeding at dinner time and (b) to tell me if they weren't coming back after a night out, so I wouldn't worry.
In your situation, if DSS woke DD at 4am then I'd make darned sure that I woke DSS at 8am and ask him how he liked it. 'Do as you would be done by' is not a bad motto.
They are used to living with other students who keep strange hours. Remind them that it's different at home.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 23/11/2016 12:26

Showing up on time for family meals and mentioning if you are going out late is just general courtesy though isn't it? Presumably they paid attention to the basic niceties before they went to University so why they forgotten them now? Do they think they are adults now and therefore somehow unaccountable to anyone?

I imagine your DH shows up on time for meals and keeps you informed of his plans. Maybe point this out.

Needmoresleep · 23/11/2016 13:22

A polite adult to adult conversation at the start of the day. When to do plan to come home. Do you want dinner. We are having...

Then leave it to get cold if they don't appear. If they complain, remind them that they failed to phone to say they would be late. If they don't like what you plan to cook, negotiate on your terms, like using chicken rather than salmon if you have both in the fridge. But if the salmon needs eating up, that's what is being cooked by you and they can cook something else themselves.

If washing is in the basket and it is no trouble, add it to the machine. If not, their problem.

In short, treat them like adults. Treating them like spoilt children will do them no favours in the longer term. I hope your husband can see that.

I used to work full time, run a business and keep an eye on elderly parents, with no money for cleaners etc. It was very hard, but now see advantage in the fact the rest of the family had to muck in. If neither of us were around, and at one point I had to spend the better part of three months sorting out my mum, the kids had to boil their own pasta and heat a sauce. I guess it evolved rather than us think about it. But it has clearly saved us some heartache down the line, to DCs benefit as well.

Needmoresleep · 23/11/2016 13:31

Ultimate stealth boast. Gap year DD is currently baking some bread as we have run out. And I am too lazy to go out and buy some.

Manumission · 23/11/2016 14:53

Wow, that's very personal and very rude, isn't it? Where did you get that information from, OP? All of our experience of being at university is a generation ago, surely?

Oh don't mind BoBo. Personal and rude are her USPs Grin

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