1st yr college in the Phils, is age 16, is it so young to live independently?

Living alone at 16 years old is fine for me. It helps accelerate the maturity of your son. Imagine that adding up situations for him to experience will give him time to correct his mistakes and learn from there. Time is essential in learning and it is good that he learns at an early age. You are really doing your son a favor by letting him struggle on his own and experience things independently. You'll be surprised to see how mature your son will be after. However, there still some guidelines to living independently. If you feel that you have prepared your son to start independently at an early age and you have instilled discipline and values to him, you will have no problem at that. Just be confident for him that he will learn. Much like when he was still a baby trying to walk on his own. It is but natural. Always tell him that experience is the best teacher so he should use his time to experience and learn! Good luck to your son!

based on my experience i think its ok for a 16 years old to live alone. i just want to share my experience, after my mother gave birth to me she came back here in japan at that time my mother entrusted me to my aunt and i grew up with my aunt until 12 years old. after i graduated elementary, something happened and i needed to live alone, from 12 to 20 years old i did it, living alone doing the house things all by my self. until i came here to japan and still now I'm living alone cuz i get used to it. going to school at that time is a little bit hard when your friends is always there to ask you out but then i manage to graduate. the hardest part is when i get sick, no one is there, i need to cook for my self, and everything. just don't forget to be there for your son, your son is lucky because even though he's going to live alone his mother is still there in the philippines, beside him, compare to me that my parents is here in japan and I'm in philippines at that time and no body is looking for me. i think your son can do it, just trust him. its how you raise your son, the only person who knows this is you MOM. if you believe that he is a good son and you raise him good. then you don't need to worry, The keyword is "PRAY" a lot. just keep in touch with your son always. Good luck and God bless

I went off to college at 16, so did several of my brothers. I don't think 16 is very young to start to live independently. However, if the family life does not have a solid foundation, the young adult would most likely be influenced easier by other people. As for the educational system to be changed to fit some goal, I think it's purely unnecessary, I think they should rather do something about the budget or funds to pay for the educators and the supplies instead of add a few more years with the same type of support they're giving right now. I mean, what's the point of them extending it if they won't have more funds or money to support them. As for your question, it's not too young, we've done it for years. Have a great MyLot experience!

I remember the day during my first university day. I was just 16 when I went to Manila to continue my education in college. For me during that time, I already knew what to do, it seemed that my parents taught me how to be independent. So it was not a big problem for me though I was away from my family. You should learn how to teach your children how to be independent at the young age. You should treat them like an adult so that they can stand alone. So that when they separate from you, they can stand alone. Constant communication is needed too. Adding more years to our education is not the answer to this problem.

In the states kids start Kindergarten at about 5 followed by 12 years of school. Often college starts at 17. When kids start Kindergarten and when kids start college are the two times mothers a often nervous wrecks. And there are no support groups for these moms!!!!

As a father too I felt that but it depends on the level of training of our kids have been exposed to. I remember during my high school enrolment when my mother told me to go to school alone and register yourself. At 16, It was odd and scary but I managed after all so by the time I go to college it went own smoothly but how many young guys were like me? For sure a few only. The government's move to increase the number of years in the grades and college level is fine but we have to review our curricula. Our students are burdened with 28 to 31.5 of total subject units giving little time to study compounded by the long hours of travel from home to school and back.If we can reduce the total subject units to half just like other countries plus additional training of teachers and good facilities then we can never fail to give good education to our kids.

When I was 16 years to 18 years I lived at college during the week term time. At weekends and in the holidays I went home. That college had an indoor swimming pool and boats on the River Thames. I was able to grow up and I was very sensible. I worked by the age 18 years old at 19 year old I bought a home. I traveled around the world after getting made redundant. I then went to university and became a primary school teacher. I believe 16 years is the right sort of age to live independently if the person is a student.

I went to an exclusive Catholic school when I was growing up in the Philippines. We had the seventh grade, which was new and unusual to other kids I was growing up with. Due to the extra year of grade school, I started college at the age of 18 (17 for others, but they turned 18 in their first year of college anyway). I wasn't the only one who was 18 and a freshman. Although I could see how my age difference, albeit only year, makes me different from my new found friends in college. I had classmates who were 15 and 16 as well. They were smart but they weren't very prepared to interact with diverse groups of people. I think that the extra two years is beneficial. A friend of mine migrated to Canada and had to repeat his college degree because the number years required for education is different from that of the Philippines. It was waste, but he had to go through it. Also, the extra years gives kids enough time to adjust and discover themselves. High school and adolescence are essential things in one's life. To have it cut in the middle of something as intense as college is a bit too much. I hope that President Aquino pushes through with this move.

I think your right, I was 15 yrs. old when I started college and I was so clueless back then, I'm lucky though to have met good friends that didn't make me stray, aside from our occasional drunken feasts, I think looking back that if I were older I would have handled the pressures of doing homework, research...etc, and doing my own laundry and cooking/making sure I eat and BUDGETING MONEY!!!!

I think it's too soon for them to be living on their own. I really don't think I would have been mature enough at sixteen to get my stuff done on my own and take care of important things before fun, and I was quite mature for my age. There's always exceptions. I had friends that had moved out and were able to pay bills and take care of their stuff at sixteen. Then again, there were others who just went out and drank every night and didn't go to school half the time.