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Parents of a certain Tribe… matters that we take more seriously…
I’m using the word “tribe” here as I struggle to come up with a better word, despite the risk of this word being open to all sorts of interpretations. In my three or so decades as a teacher in the English secondary education system, for half of which my role also includes being a parent, I’ve never met a single parent who does not care about their child. Every parent cares about their child, it just we do things in […]
Optimism in autumn term ; Nature or nurture; Fingers are not equal…
Following up from my last blogpost…. The notion of fingers not being equal should not be interpreted as some people being inherently better than others as human beings, as that is not only dangerous but untrue. Yes, some of us can do certain things much better than others; each individual has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. The eagle is happier soaring high in the sky whilst looking for its prey. If you want to sit in your lovely […]
Optimism in the air in the new academic year; nature or nurture….
Many parents actually enjoy the relative peace and tranquillity now that the children are back at school, particularly when they are working at home. It’s not only those who work in a school or college who will understand what I mean by optimism in the air at the beginning of a new academic year, parents do too. As a parent, I usually make the point of going with my son and daughter to school on the first day of the […]
Green and pleasant land; quality time; teenagers at home in the summer and all that…
I don’t know if the summer holiday in your household is any similar to mine? I’m beginning to get that familiar feeling, that “the anticipation of the summer is sometimes better than the reality of the actual summer”. This is not about the weather in the UK at present, so I’ll do my best not to dwell too much on that. Considering June was all very sunny, we should know better not to expect our good fortune to carry onto […]
Should teenagers follow their passion when choosing subjects or a degree course? Yes, but….
For me, yesterday was one of those days when events turned out differently than I had planned. I won’t say it is a wasted day necessarily, but I had to invest my time differently from the way I had anticipated, as I decided to go to a university open day with my seventeen-year old son. I had discussed the open day with him the previous evening and he assured me that it was all fine, that he could go with […]
GCSE & A-level Exams Parental support is never over until the last exam
It’s never over until it’s all over – not until the last exam paper is done … Now the summer exams have started for GCSE and A-level students, many are relieved as they have realised that it’s not as bad as they had anticipated it was going to be. Other teenagers wish they had been better prepared. As for the parents, we are not there in the exam room with them, so it’s difficult for us to fully understand what […]
Exam preparation – Is there much we parents can do to help the teenager at this crucial time?
Exam preparation – Is there much we parents can do to help the teenager at this crucial time? For parents who have children in the final year of their courses GCSE or A-level (Y11 or Y13 – 5th form and U6th), they will experience what goes on when their child is preparing for an exam twice. One at GCSE and the other at A-level, and I can only relate to half of that experience so far and I don’t know […]
The only thing to fear is FEAR itself
The only thing to fear is FEAR itself This quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt brought hope to the American people during the Great Depression. Like in any endeavour that is aimed at succeeding, there is an element of fear in the minds of teenagers who are taking GCSE and A-level examinations. There are a couple of other F words such as false and failure that are just as bad as fear. I suppose we’ve all been there as adults, and […]
The number one challenge faced by parents in supporting their teenagers to fulfil their potential
There are not many things that give me as much pleasure as speaking to parents and teenagers about their dreams and aspirations, and this is a journey that I’ve been on since 1993. It has been largely a tremendous experience and I’m glad to say that it’s been overwhelmingly filled with jubilations; however, it would be disingenuous to say there haven’t been tribulations along the way as well. The world is full of experts and many of them are very […]
Parenthood can be soul-wrenching sometimes
Last week, I met my auntie, I call mama, as in my culture it is rude to call her auntie, as your aunties and uncles are another mothers and fathers…. I was very pleased to see her for the first time in 13 years and she started by lifting my spirits. She said it is good to see me in person for a change, and not just my pictures – complimented me on how fit I look for my age, […]
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