Behindtheheadlines PARENTS’ GUIDE TO SURVIVING FRESHERS’ WEEK

As students get ready for uni, parents prepare for weeks of worry. Here’s our guide to what student life is really like to help put Mam and Dad’s minds at rest

THOUSANDS of studen ts ar e pr eparing for their first few weeks at university. And their parents are preparing for the weeks of worry that lie ahead. For many parents the mer e mention of freshers’ week can spar k a mixtur e of stomach-churning dr ead and empty-nest syndrome, with visions of students passing out in fanc y dr ess as they do wn J agerbombs with people they’ve just met. Plenty of par ents can alr eady say “been there, done that, g ot the sick -covered Tshirt”. But fr eshers’ week isn’t j ust about drinking ludicrous amounts of alcohol and signing up to lectur es with blinding hangovers. Thingshave ch anged a lot in the past couple of years. Here’s a guide for par ents whose kids ar e j ust about to embar k on what might be the best three years of their lives.

1 Your kids are going to get drunk – but it’s OK

It wouldn’t be a fr eshers’ week guide unless we mentioned this – a week full of solid partying before lectures begin. It’s a rite of passage and your little lamb might walk in to the odd lamppost or be refused entry to a club for not quite being able to focus on the moody door man asking for his NUS card. But it’s really not as bad as you think. There’s more to freshers’ week than getting drunk – it’s a chance for students to let their h air do wn befor e all the h ard wor k begins. It’s an oppor tunity for them to settle in by going out , enjo ying themselves and making new friends – so try and go easy onn them if they call you and they’ve got a raging hangover. And rest assured, you’ll probably be ablee to follo w ever y mo ve of their nigh t out t through the pictur es they post on I nsta- gram (which usually follo w the pa ttern of f pre-drink selfies,taxi selfies,first bar self- ies, toilet selfies, kebab shop selfies and d home-and-in-bed selfies).

2 Student accommodation has changed a lot

Far fr om the damp and dingy sh ared d houses you r emember, studen t h alls ar e now a whole new world. In fact, they’re probably nicer than mostt of our homes and closer to posh hotels. With cinem a, par ty and g ame r ooms,, quiet study areas, courtyard gardens, pooll tables and lots of posh comm unal l chilling-out areas, it’ll be a wonder if your r kids ever want to come home. Many of the r ooms h ave been cr eated d by interior designers and provide studentss with double beds , war drobes, flat-screen n TVs, study spaces , kitchens and surpr isingly spacious shower rooms.

3 Money won’t be as tight as you think

It’s not the 1970s , when you h ad to hitchhike fr om a r oundabout to some gr im town hundreds of miles away where you’d try to get your nutrients from the cheapest pint of dark you could find. Yes, your kids will have bills to pay, and yes, they migh t h ave to give up some of their luxuries. But th at’s wh at university is all about , and th at’s the gr eat thing about being a student – you learn to adapt and you learn to survive on what (little) you may have. It’s one of the mysteries of student life – your kids migh t phone telling you they can’t afford to eat, but almost ever y week they’ll still h ave enough cash to hit Revs on a Wednesday.

4 They won’t be lonely

In fact , they’r e pr obably going to make friends for life – or will already have before even starting university. Moving away from home no longer consists of turning up a t your h alls and a wkwardly in troducing yourself to your house-mates for the first time. These daysFacebook, Twitter, university for ums and housing even ts mean students can meet the people they’ll be living with before actually starting university. It also means they can ar range nigh ts out beforehand to get to know one another – and wh at better wa y to get to kno w someone th an o ver a couple of pin ts of cheap lager?

5 They’re not going to spend all day in bed

You’ve pr obably got this im age in your head of students rolling out of bed around late afternoon, after spending all nigh t drinking beer and ea ting D omino’s in front of their PS4s. “Tracksuit slobs ” people ar e calling it these days. You might have spent your days munching sa usage r olls and dr inking cans of cheap lager , but toda y studen t spor ting facilities are better than ever, with a number of hi-tech gyms , classes and outdoor activities on offer. There’s also a whole host of societies , encouraging students to join up and take part (and probably get a little bit drunk afterwards). And if th at wasn’t enough , university grounds are often home to beautiful parks, tracks and open spaces wher e studen ts can get some fresh air or go running.

6 People will be there to help

Starting university, your kids ar e going to get lost , str essed and m aybe a bit sick (yes , fr eshers’ flu is an actual thing). And as par ents, you’r e not going to be there to mother them , feed them L emsip or give them a cwtch. But it ’s OK , beca use ther e’s plen ty of support at universities to help students. From studen t r eps to online for ums, universities make sur e they take car e of their studen ts (and so they should for £9,000 a year!). Student unions also pr ovide a whole range of suppor t for studen ts, including academic, non-academic, health and well-being and just generally being a cool place to hang out.

7 And just remember...

Your kids ar e going to university to learn, to better themselves and to car ve out a career path for the future. They’regoing to spend the next thr ee years meeting new people , enjo ying themselves and figuring out who they ar e and what they want to be. It’s the start of the rest of their lives, and as m uch as you wan t to keep them wrapped up in th at little bubble – you’ ve got to let them go. At the end of the da y they’r e the ones who ar e going to h ave to look after you when you’re old, so m ake sure they get a job good enough to afford a decen t c are home.