Information for Parents

We have gathered some information for parents whose student child is moving away from the parental home.

This can be difficult on many levels, emotional, financial and particularly knowing how much involvement to have in the decisions your student child is making. Many things they experience on the learning curve of life may be difficult for you to witness and leave you in a quandary as to how much you should intervene. It may also be difficult to sort out their problems for them as your child is now an adult and legally responsible for their decisions and the consequences of how they live. Many people will not longer provide you with information or discuss your child’s matters with you. An accommodation agreement can be the most expensive purchase that your child will make during the year. They are likely to be living with other students as a group and the behaviour of each of them can affect the others.

Here are some things that you can do to prepare your child for living in a socially responsible way:

• Talk them through how to budget and how much financial support you can give them during the year.
• Ensure they know how to cook.
• Ensure they know what cleaning products to use for which surfaces and the importance of keeping up with cleaning – many deposit deductions are to do with rooms being left in an unacceptable condition.

You can support your son or daughter by providing level headed advice on how to approach problems they are having and point them in the right direction of who to talk to. Some of the pages on this website can give you the same information as we give to owners and students and will assist you with this.