10 Questions Parents Need To Stop Asking Uni Students
Any other student hate when their parents bombard them with questions whenever we come home? Sometimes we don’t even receive a “hey, how are you doing” before we get interrogated about our lives away from home. The questions are endless. In order to come up with the most frequently asked questions that kids simply do not want to hear, I asked a few of my friends. Here are 10 questions that all parents need to stop asking uni students.
1. Are you revising right now?
This is the most frequent question I receive from my father. It is also my least favourite. My dad will call me, somehow always right after I get out of class, and ask me: “Are you doing your work?” I reluctantly tell him the truth (“No”) and there’s usually a hint of attitude with my response, but hey, a girl is tired. Parents, stop asking uni students this question because the only thing going on in my exhausted mind after I get out of class is food and sleep; not revising the hour-long lecture I just received from my professor.
2. Are you in a relationship?
Yeah, with my Netflix account and my bed…*coughs* it’s pretty serious. I have a lot of friends who get asked this question by their parents and they hate it too. Life is hard enough as is without having to search for a significant other. We did not come to uni to find our “one true love,” we came to be great and further our education. If that lucky person so happens to stumble into our already crazy packed schedules, GREAT! If not, well…sucks to suck.
3. You’re eating pizza? AGAIN?!?!?
I can’t tell you how many times my mother has called me…sometimes yelling at me about this. My response is always the same, “Mom, I’m struggling.” I wanted a fattening greasy pizza to help cope with the trauma I endured while revising for 3 exams, soccer practice, and a paper I neglected to write until the day before. So yes mother, I am eating pizza..AGAIN!
4. What are your marks like?
This question is literally the worst…and everyone needs to stop asking uni students this. I always just tell my parents, aunts, family friends, and anyone else that feel the need to ask that, “Just be happy I’m not failing.” I can tell you one thing, my marks look better than I do. Pulling an all-nighter, three nights in a row, and napping in the library and/or not brushing my hair in 3 days; I look like death. But at least my marks look decent.
5. What kind of job do you want?
I want a job that pays me well enough that I don’t have to look at a price tag ever again. All this time and effort put into receiving this degree, I want a high-paying job, with month-long vacations and great health benefits, and that’s about all I know. To the lucky ones that know what they want to do in life, I truly envy you, because like myself and others, we do not have the slightest idea.
6. What are you going to do with your degree?
This question comes in second on the questions I hate getting asked. I have two older sisters that have both graduated from uni and they are the MAIN ones asking me this question. I just stare at them blankly, “like why are you asking me this?” Hopefully my degree gets me a great job!
7. How is uni going?
Have you ever watched a little kid try and put a triangular-shaped object into something that is square-shaped? That’s how uni is going. Trying different methods to keep my head above water and still somehow feel like I’m drowning. When there aren’t exams and papers to worry about, uni can be great, it’s just the academic part that blows.
8. Sweetie, you don’t think you’re going out a bit much?
Um no, I don’t. Going out is my way of celebrating making it through another hell week. Letting loose is good for the soul and it relieves the stress packed on by a school week. Parents PLEASE stop asking uni students this question, it doesn’t do anyone any good.
9. How did exams go?
When my dad would pick me up at the end of a term, this is the first thing he asks when I get in the car. Exams were awful because I got maybe 10 hours of sleep that entire week and my brain feels like utter and complete mush. It’s not even that bad of a question because my friends will ask me this too…I just don’t want to hear it from my parents after not having seen them for a month or so. Exams kicked my rear end dad, and I’m currently suffering from sleep deprivation.
10. Why are you always watching Netflix?
Because Netflix does not lecture at me, expect me to memorize the lecture, and later on require me to regurgitate the information I was given. So sorry mom and dad that I lock myself away in the solitary confinement of my room. Sorry I sleep for two days when I come home, my brain hurts and I still have nightmares about exams. I’m far too busy at school to binge watch my favorite shows, so home is the safest place to do it. I’m not sick or sad, I’m actually having a great time.
To any parents with kids in uni, give your son/daughter a break. We know you care and just want to remain in the loop in regards to our academic and social lives, but just know, there are some questions we would rather not answer. We’re tired, hungry, and just want to lay in bed and not think about our responsibilities.
