Daily Mail 18 June 2009

Femail magazine by Anne Diamond

"Within a week of my son James going to university, I got a text which proved that no matter how hard you try, you cannot prepare your children for every challenge in life.

"Quick mum - what can I do with an aubergine, two carrots and a chicken breast?"

...according to both my universtity age sons, most of their peers know hardly a sausage about the most basic life skills.

... The latest survival course, at the Surrey Hills Cookery School in Leatherhead, Surrey has been overwhelmed by the demand, even at £175 a go for quickie lessons in laundry, shopping, cooking and how to clean a bathroom.

"Most of them think the fairies do it". Says organiser Sara Gyngell, a mother of three.

She says students come to her from both state and public schools. I think its even worse than that. At one university I visisted with my sons, the warden explained the lack of microwaves in the kitchens.

"Exploding potatoes" she said.

...Sara reckons those children whose parents do try to teach them have a nagging proof 'firewall' which blocks out the information.

...It is reckoned that every year in Britain, three million students leave home for the first time and have no idea how to cook for themselves. In a country that is begining to understand the importance of nutrition, parents must give their children the best understanding they can of what is after all, a primary concern - what to eat,how to shop and how to cook- and of course how to budget." Anne Diamond

We would just like to add, 'How to Survive Uni without Mum', will at least mean your children cannot turn around and say "Nobody showed us how".

 

Cooking