My son has just celebrated his 20th birthday. My son isn’t a teenager any more. There is a sub context there which is how bloody old that makes me, but more relevantly, how quickly he has become the fine young man he is now and how important the next decade is likely to be… Read More Advice to my 20 year old son
Hello Empty Nest – Hello new challenges! Your children, Edwina and Cuthbert, as we have lovingly named them, have now settled in at Readingham University, they have overcome first term flu, knuckled down to some work and may even have cooked a hot meal or two. In the meantime, after the initial spell of weepiness… Read More Enrolling in the University of the Empty Nest
Kids packed off to uni and suddenly the house seems a bit empty. Eerily quiet. And tidy. The initial thrill of the spotless interior gives way to a certain ennui. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little uncomplicated furry creature share that home with you? Or maybe a few years before this stage you… Read More It’s not just any dog….it’s an empty nester dog!
I’ve done that very rare thing of following my own advice and met up with some lovely parents since uni drop-off day to catch up with how everyone has been getting on. An entirely different occasion happened to be my high school reunion (30th – ouch!). Not only have these been fun evenings out (and… Read More 10 Things I’ve learned since finding myself in an empty nest
The uni drop-off “A child enters your home and for the next twenty years makes so much noise you can hardly stand it. The child departs, leaving the house so silent you think you are going mad.” —John Andrew Holmes Together with thousands of other parents all over the UK we dropped our youngest daughter… Read More Where we stand when they’ve flown the nest: from uni drop off back to the empty nest
In the short lifespan of this blog one topic that has come up frequently is money! Long gone are the days of grants or even reasonable tuition fees, so the subject of being clever with your student loan at age 18 is a hot topic in 2015. There are some very helpful websites out there… Read More Penny pinching at university – helping your fresher with money management
Is your fresher getting nervous about their start at uni? Help is at hand. A survey of recent graduates, unrepresentative and anecdotal though it may be, will give candid snippets of advice, even if it is just to remind them, that despite the varying exteriors, most freshers are as nervous as they are.… Read More Fresher tips from those who know best – recent graduates!
So we all knew that finding out your A level results is fairly nerve-racking, but a new joint survey by The Student Room and the University of Bradford ( Bradford University study on A level results day ) shows that students feel that August 18th 2016 will be the most stressful day of their entire lives… Read More Parents on Results Day: Keeping your head when all newspapers around you lose theirs…
In amongst all the preparations for uni which you may be planning to tackle after next Thursday, there is a more serious health related one you should consider. Freshers are an at-risk group for meningitis, due to their love of heavy duty socialising in crowded places with lots of new people: The Guardian: Teenagers and Students… Read More Meningitis awareness for students: Freshers are especially at risk
Hello empty nest... I've been expecting you! 