Ask Maggie: Raisin – ravin’ or responsible?

Dear Maggie,

It’s Raisin Sunday this weekend and my first as an academic father! I want to make the most of it and my academic wife and I want to make sure our ‘kids’ have as good an experience as we had on our Raisin Sunday, but I’m worried about how to strike a balance between my kids having fun and ending up in hospital… Especially with the university and police taking an stricter line with students this year. (What’s it to do with the university anyway? This is a student thing!!!)   

I really don’t want to sound like a party pooper – Raisin Sunday is great fun and it’s amazing to see all the antics. And I am always around on Raisin Sunday so I know of what I’m talking about! Students with blue faces (and not just because it’s cold) tied together, running along the street laughing their heads off; students arm-in-arm singing songs; students on treasure hunts coming in asking for condoms (at least, they claim it’s for a treasure hunt..) Ah, the fun..  

But I also see wee old ladies looking on in confusion or even some alarm. I see wee kiddies nearly getting knocked over by exuberant students. I see – and here I go – empty pizza boxes everywhere, broken glass on the pavements and vomit. Some years it is like a sea of vomit has hit the town. Last year, some student vomited out of a window on to a passing pedestrian. I mean, that’s just revolting.

The message the university wants to get out there is not about stopping Raisin Sunday (yet) but about responsibility and respect. As an academic father, you take on the responsibility to ensure your academic kids have fun and, at the same time, stay safe. I can understand being worried about not knowing when your kids have reached their limits. My advice is to go easy on the drinking games, check in with your kids throughout the day to see how they’re feeling, make sure there’s always food and water around, and maybe drink a little less yourself so that if there is a problem you’ll be able to deal with it (as hard as that might sound to some).

The bottom line is that every student, be they parent or child, should have respect for others whether it is other students or people in the town. By the way, in case you haven’t seen it, the Union has some very useful information on the dos and don’ts. But now I do sound like a buzz-kill, so let me end with: ENJOY YOURSELF (but show some respect).