Tell Me What You Think.
22-06-2019
Last week I wrote about encouraging children to flex their inventive muscles, and exercise their ability for creative and imaginative thought.
My point regarding the inherent fear in spontaneous action or communication has been echoed this week in news that our young people are developing anxiety around the mere act of talking to one another.
When you stop and think about it, it’s not such a great surprise. The rise of texting as the chosen method of communication has meant that our children get used to having time to consider what they want to say. The element of on-the-spot creation is removed, and replaced by the kind of editing they are used to absorbing through so many outlets of social media.
Are we losing the ability to converse?
Well I don’t think so, but there’s no disputing the fact that many young people are feeling pressure when they are called upon to put their thoughts into words, to articulate their opinions, without preparation and in the moment.
On the other hand there is the inspiring rise of young people engaging with political and environmental issues with the kind of energy that only they can apply to a cause - it puts the rest of us to shame.
So what’s going on here and do we need to be concerned?
The important thing, as ever, is to keep the conversation open. Make sure that you engage children in discourse, show interest in what they think and feel, and actually listen to what they say. It sounds obvious, but we’re all guilty of not making enough time, enough brain space, to have a proper, focussed, stimulating chat with our youngsters.
It’s usually up to us to take to lead, and as the grown-ups, we really should be interested in how the younger generation are thinking, and where they might lead is in the future.
Your Starter for Ten
08-06-2019
When was the last time you asked a child a truly profound question?
Last year, the comedian Joe Lycett wrote a Guardian column in which he mentioned asking a ten year old girl, to whom he is close, “What do you think art is?” She replied, “It’s trust. If you trust something’s good, then it is.” Brilliant. As Joe says, that is exactly what art is.
Letting Modesty Prevail
01-06-2019
Fashion is a slippery master. It pervades almost every aspect of our lives, not just music and clothes, but attitudes, values and personality traits. These days the tenet that ‘you can achieve anything if you want it enough’ is all pervasive. Similarly I see a trend towards ‘loving yourself’ gathering momentum. Less in favour are the not-so-thrusty attributes of modesty and humility.
Three's a Crowd
26-01-2019
There are some difficult lessons to be learned about human relationships during a lifetime, and we have to deal with some of the toughest ones in our tenderest years.
Generation Bored
12-01-2019
We glibly talk about how the cycle of life brings us back to a childlike existence once we reach our dotage, but I had this brought home to me last week, through a very specific example.
I was on the phone to my elderly mother, and once we’d made arrangements to meet for lunch, she said, “Well, at least that’ll give me something to do.”
I asked her if she often found herself with nothing to do, or at a loose end, and she told me that these days she regularly got really bored.
