Students should stop texting Mum and learn lessons in life

It wasn’t that I didn’t care about, or had forgotten, them – there was just no need to call. They knew where I was, and that I was safe. I knew where they were and that they were well. So, apart from a very occasional call – maybe twice over the 12 weeks – there was no contact. It was the same for my flatmates, who also rarely called home.

When we did ring, we hated having to queue at the little phone booth under the stairs in our hall of residence. The sole payphone was always busy, usually with someone on a lengthy call to a boyfriend or girlfriend back home, trying to convince them that they were miserable and missing them, before heading to the pub with their new set of mates.

So, unless you could be bothered to find and use a payphone in town – and let’s not forget how payphones gobbled up your change – calls to family were few and far between.

Did this lack of contact do us any harm? Did it upset our parents? Of course not. Those were the days pre-mobile phone, when students carving out new lives many miles from home really were independent.

Not so now. Technology may have moved on, but it has made young people far more dependent on their parents.

Today’s young students find it difficult to fully fly the nest – sending 528 text messages a year to Mum and Dad, asking for help.

Grown-up children turn to their parents for everything, from cooking queries, such as how to boil an egg, to money issues, flat sharing problems and applying for part-time work, according to a study commissioned by Costa Coffee.

They even contact their parents to ask about where to find the electricity meter and stopcock in a house, and how to book an Uber. So clingy are some students that 61 per cent of parents feel as though they haven’t left home.

Money issues are another subject about which students contact their parents. Picture: Pixabay

Students starting out this month at universities across the UK are, by all accounts, among the brightest members of society, so how come they need help with what are fairly basic aspects of life?

Some of the blame has to be levelled at the advancements in technology. As I said previously, the only way we could contact our parents was by payphone, which was a hassle. Nowadays, with mobile phones – which parents are most likely paying for – children can call Mum and Dad anytime, or send a quick message on WhatsApp.

It’s a great shame. It’s hugely beneficial for young people to work problems out for themselves. It’s what people refer to as lessons in life. In fact, lessons in life would be a great GSCE subject. Areas covered could include managing finances – budgeting for the weekly shop and bills, plus information about rent, mortgages, Council Tax, credit cards and income tax. In other words, the cost of living.

A module on practical skills would be hugely useful, covering such things as cooking and using a washing machine, and DIY skills like putting up a shelf and changing a lightbulb.

Then there’s those general administrative skills that we all need to master – mobile phone contracts, meter readings and how to write a formal email. All of this would help towards carving out an independent life. Aside from that, today’s students have got Google and YouTube offering advice on everything.

As a student living 250 miles from home, I loved forging a life for myself. It wasn’t always easy, but we students were all in the same boat and, between us, we worked stuff out. My husband went to boarding school, so was already accustomed to long periods of no contact with his parents.

I am pleased to say that, despite having mobile phones, neither of my daughters sent frequent SOS messages when they left home.

We are, of course, always there if they need us; keeping in touch is important, but kids need to grow up and negotiate the trials and tribulations of the real world. They will be stronger for it.