WAKE UP! It is a new year, but our attitudes are generally still back in the past. This new world is fast-paced, it is full of demands, it has immense pressure that our young people of today cannot deal with effectively on their own. In fact, if we ignore the change that has occurred and is indeed occurring, in the way children experience their everyday lives, we will be storing up a pressure cooker for our leaders of the future.
Schools and colleges are slowly beginning to realise that what we have always done is no longer the right way, but the push towards helping our young people cope with their emotions is very hit and miss. Like so many services in modern Britain, where you live, what type of educational establishment you attend and their budget will often dictate the support network you will access. Yet another postcode lottery. We are playing with growing minds, minds who are shaping their futures, but worryingly these days, minds who have to deal with so much more than I ever did back in the 80s.
All my peer group bothered about was fashion, if you could call what fingerless illuminous glove colour to wear with which socks and how much sun-in to spray in the hair, fashion! This was just the beginning of the branded clothing must have and not an issue yet. We were not surrounded by drugs, we had free choice to smoke or ignore, body image was discussed, but most importantly, we could switch off from the world. Our bullying was in person, or word of mouth whispers or bundles in the playground. It was not a constant threat of social embarrassment spread like wildfire via various forms of social media. *Takes off rose-tinted spectacles – well that is how I recall it anyway!
Young lives are complex. I would not wish for one second to be back in my youth. The sheer amount of expectation to be the perfect size, look the perfect way, wear the right things, have the latest technology, achieve the best ever exam results, would melt my brain. Since when did we stop accepting people for who they are? But if that is what people experience on a world stage then we have no hope for changing these perceptions. Unless…
We have the power to change mindsets for a better future. Education establishments must undertake a responsibility to facilitate this change. Instead of young people getting to the point where they feel the only option is to crash and burn, we can take a step back and give the the tools for life; tools that allow people to cope and flourish whatever they look like, wear and believe in. I appeal to those in any position of power in education to investigate what you can do to make lives better. Childhood is supposed to be the happiest time of your life, bring back the happiness to our future generations.
“Happiness is the key to life. If doesn’t matter how much you have, what you spend, make, drive or wear. It all means nothing if you are not happy within yourself. Happiness is the richest thing we will ever own.”
Dream BIG, Sparkle MORE, Shine BRIGHTLY