With your children at university, you seem to have a little more time on your hands, but when the weekend comes around they arrive home with a welcome present that looks exactly like a pile of washing!
Parenting on Female First
Although you're happy to see your little nipper back on home soil, being greeted by dirty laundry isn't ideal.
However, according to a new survey almost a quarter of students send their dirty laundry home for Mum and Dad to wash, with one in six also sending them their dry cleaning.
It's not only washing that they want doing, CollectPlus also found that students want their broken mobile phones, laptops or tablets fixed.
Doting parents return the favour but are more thoughtful when sending their offspring a parcel. Half have sent an item to their son or daughter needed that was accidentally left behind.
Parents are really there when in need with one in four sending their child something to cheer them up when they have been homesick.
The research revealed 31% of parents have had to send their child a parcel within a week of them arriving at university - and 8% within a day - with items including:
- New clothes - 31%
- Books - 26%
- Cheques and money - 22%
- Clothes, that have been washed, ironed and sent back clean - 21%
- Electronics, such as tablets, mobile phones and cameras - 19%
- Personal hygiene products - 13%
- Bank statements or mobile phone bills - 11%
- Shoes - 10.7%
- Photographs of family/school friends - 8%
- Music - 8%
Catherine Woolfe, Marketing Director at CollectPlus, said: "The traditional process of sending parcels can be frustrating and time consuming. When you have work and other commitments, such as childcare, to juggle there's nothing more annoying than spending your lunch hour standing in a queue. People want a convenient and easy way to send their parcels at a time and a place that suits them and a way that fits into their day rather than their day having to be planned around sending their parcel. Our Send service allows people to do just that, by printing a label off online and then taking the parcel to a local participating store."