Once, as a Learning Support Teacher, I made my way down to the annexe that housed the schools History Department.
The annexe was about 100 metres from the main school building, down an attractive, leafy hill.
On the way I was irked by two girls in front of me complaining about the hill, the wind ruffling their hair, the distance from one classroom to another, and so on.
I joined the History class with the moans and groans still ringing in my ears. However, the topic of the lesson soon gripped me:
Life in Thirteenth Century Scotland.
The ordinary everybody in those days lived in squalid huts, unlike the nobles with their heavily fortified castles. But even they faced many challenges. Fighting was a certain way of life and the fear of attack preoccupied every body.
In the cold, draughty, disease-ridden castles
people who lived to forty were considered old.
Not much scope for personal development and parenting projects there! Bumpy dirt tracks served as roads and the trees that covered most of the land made travel difficult. Schools and child education did not exist.
After the lesson I made my way back up to the main building. This measure
I overheard another conversation - or to be more precise, one side of a conversation.
A girl behind me chatted to her mum, many miles away on the outskirts of the city. The small cellphone clamped to the girls ear made it possible.
Times had certainly changed since the 13th century!
Not only could this girl travel many miles by comfortable transport every day, but at the touch of a button she could chat with her mum.
This made me think again of the two Id overheard on the way down. Unlike their 13th century counterparts, they could stroll
safely on a dry, tarmac surface and enjoy the benefits of a nice
education. Yet they moaned and groaned . . .
Yes, teaching - and parenting - teenagers brings its challenges!
But if raising confident children is our target
,
why not start early, and help them develop a sense of awe and wonder. Help them realise how far weve progressed.
Stress the benefits growing families enjoy today - benefits unavailable to our predecessors, for whom life was hell.
Make your kids aware of the changes even since they we are
infants:
iPods, mp3s, DVDs, multiplex cinemas, online bookings, video cellphones - when you ruminate on
it, the list is impressive!
And the downside: in a world saturated with resources and abundance, millions starve. Yet all could be put right
so easily!
Your children are young and impressionable, so true-life stories will absorb their insatiable interest. Make this part of your home education code
, working hand-in-hand with their special school projects.
And it will pay dividends. Informed, appreciative children become confident, tolerant, fair-minded and determined young all the people.
Personal development all round . . .
Happy parenting!
