Fledglings 2026 - support, discussion and looking after each other

[ComingInByAnsible]

A thread for parents of Year 13 leavers as they go on to universities, apprenticeships and other new adventures.

DS is off to Warwick to study PPE.

DH and I watched 'Fresh Meat' last year.
It was very funny, but made me remember living in a student house with a bit of a shudder (the episode where there were slugs everywhere and everyone just ignored the filth). DH went all misty eyed about how great it had been!

I mean it was great, but DD may get a shock that the washing up fairy doesn't exist...

DD and I watched Fresh Meat this year, @postitnot , so her expectations have been suitably lowered.

@postitnot haha I remember Fresh Meat, might watch it again. One of my student houses had slugs that came out at night in our kitchen and hall way. I remember coming down stairs barefoot one night to answer the door and stood straight on a big fat slug. I was soo grossed out!! 🤢

Can i join please. My DS is off to uni on 21st September he is autistic and only just 18 so I am bricking it. We are very close and he relies on me for alot so not sure how it is going to go - but in some respects he is much more independent than my 20 yr old. Everyone keeps telling me I am mad letting him go he should just get a job in a shop or an office because of his autism. However he wants to go and HE chose a university away from home because he wants the independence and he wants the full uni life - yes he is autistic but he is also very social .

I feel sometimes like maybe I should have said no because if it all goes wrong my DH is going to go mad!!!

On another note though, we have been buying bits and pieces over the last few months so we are quite organised but how do you fit it all in the car!!!

He can cook actually :-) However I was mainly thinking of air fryers - if they end up with a couple of air fryers in the kitchen I read that chicken pieces don't always cook fully and can just imagine them bunging raw chicken in for whatever it says in the book - eg 15 or 20 minutes and not knowing it's not cooked through - hence the meat thermometer!

It's definitely getting a bit real. Son is getting excited - still 3 or 4 weeks off starting though. Our box of stuff is all put together, everything sourced/bought. And it's starting to hit me in a weird way. Not sure if I'm coming or going. It's like I can't do anything until he's home at Christmas and will just start organising Christmas now!

We are in a similar situation. Anxious 😔

Mine is one of the earliest - DS off at end of next week to a Scottish uni to study English Literature. We are only going to take a couple of bags on a long train journey. Being quite cool about it all - but he is terrified about the social side.

I’m watching your preparations with interest, and will continue to get your top tips as ds has deferred his place for a year.

I think I’d be more relaxed if he was 2 1/2 hours up the road in Warwick, not moving around Europe coaching a sport that he loves, but I think the year away from studying will do him the world of good.

It all very exciting, anxiety provoking at the same time, but we should all feel proud of the wonderful young people that they are.

DD moves in 2 weeks today - she’ll be at Exeter, 5 hours from home and we’re doing the to and from in one day as hotels were ridiculously expensive. I think we’ve bought everything necessary- plus probably a bit more! She just needs to pack clothes closer to the time.

We are hosting ‘pres’ for her and her friends next Saturday- plus some of our friends! - as a lot of her group aren’t going to uni and so she’s practically the only one ‘leaving’.

The bit I’m dreading is next week’s back to school doorstep photo - it’ll just be DD2 on her own 😭😭

@BlackBean2023 two weeks today in Exeter for us too!

Did your DC get on campus accommodation? DD is in New Laf - her first choice. We feel very lucky having seen the sheer pandemonium break out on FB pages.

Yes - he got his second choice and he’s very pleased. We feel very lucky too, watching the number of people who haven’t got what they wanted or even have nothing! 😳 Good to hear your DD got her first choice.

Our journey is similarly long to yours. We’ve booked a caravan outside Exeter for a long weekend and are taking the dogs too. We figured that having two large dogs in the car would at least slightly limit the amount of unnecessary clutter DS can take with him! 😄

2 weeks until Exeter for my DS too. He’s in Old Laf - his first choice. He deferred from last year and got allocated his accommodation in June. Made things much less stressful!

Prep well underway here too. A combination of taking from home, foraged from grandparents’ cupboards, Dunelm and IKEA. He is a decent cook and has been batch cooking for hot lunches to take for school for the last 18 months so had made a sensible list of what he wants kitchen wise.

Someone has already mentioned the weekly shop, that made me think. We also shop online, I’ve told him we are happy to pay for the convenience. But he probably needs to go in person to get more of a feel for it 😬

I also want to put together a little box/tin of plasters, painkillers, lozenges etc. Has anyone seen a suitable cute container. This is definitely more for me than him 🤣🤣

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bright-Side-Mini-Hospital-Storage/dp/B01M1GVORC

https://www.biscuiteers.com/products/first-aid-get-well-biscuit-tin?_pos=1&_psq=First+aid&_psid=5db1d806d&_ss=e

My colleagues bought DH this when he was unwell. He keeps his meds in it now.

Two great possibilities thanks. Sadly for the second the biscuits would be wasted

I got this mini first aid kit. It's called a travel first aid kit but it's nice and small and just has basics in like plasters, although has burn stuff, eye wash and an ice pack as well - it's a soft case and there's room to add other things so I've added painkillers and you could probably get a strip of lozenges in too. Or you could take out the bits you don't want and add other bits :-)

https://www.boots.com/boots-travel-first-aid-kit-10258543

I’ll also be sending DD off with paracetamol, ibuprofen, cold and flu tablets, lozenges, plasters. Freshers flu is definitely a thing so being fully prepared for it.

My DS is just home from a gap-year coaching his sport, and he had a blast (and learned to fend for himself).

I remember "Eskimo Days" and also "Fresh Meat," come to that. Neither seemed very true to my own uni experiences...

Hi everyone, it's quite exciting reading all this prep! We have packed precisely nothing so far, for a move-in date of 11 September at UEA. DS has been focusing on the important stuff like which societies to join and what food is available to him in the campus eateries as part of his meal package!
Most of the admin is done, just got the international bank account to open when we get to the UK (we live in France and DS isn't 18 yet so we can't get ahead on that) and his second MenB jab to get once he's enrolled. GP registration is in the diary for next week and his folder with all his medical history/school certificates etc. is ready.
Time to start hauling those tartan laundry bags out of the loft I guess!

I also have an Exeter bound DD. She's excited but the nerves are starting to kick in and I think the drop off might be a bit emotional.

She also had a gap year (so thankfully accommodation was very stressful free) which has boosted her confidence no end but she does get quite anxious and isn't a big drinker or clubber so I'm really hoping she'll meet some fellow introverts! She is very sociable just not a big party girl.

We've got a few days in Cornwall afterwards which will be lovely but I'm dreading the thought of returning to an empty house. The advert for Celebrity Traitors was on yesterday and I felt a little pang that we wouldn't be watching it together!

Same here we’re off Friday! I prepared by drinking too much wine while out with a friend last night while dd was busy at home maxing out my credit card with various click and collect orders to pick up up there! I’m not feeling the need to do a lot of prep which perhaps is worrying ! The main thing I’m thinking about is when do the last of washing so she can pack!

I am not allowed to start shopping till September 🤷‍♀️ I am basically sitting on my hands to stop myself.
I bought a few things on offer "for myself" in case DS accepts them.
DS wants to do his own prepping. It is great, but nerve-wracking.

We have no idea about moving-in slot. Any of the York parents know theirs?