Raising a child of the world who remembers their roots
July 2, 2009 by Carol McNaughton
Filed under Parents
Blending the East and West Parenting Styles
As we prepare our children to face the ever shrinking world so that they not only survive but prosper, are we losing the ability to enthuse them with pride and respect for their roots? Do they even care about their culture? Or, are they more interested in fitting in with their friends? Many of our cultural traditions emerged from necessities of an age gone by, so is it possible to integrate them into our daily lives so our young people can choose to pass them onto future generations? Yes, definitely. With Y Generation we need to not only have these traditions in our lives but to take the time to explain and discuss them rather than saying, “Just do it.”
Are you a Parent Leader?
June 29, 2009 by Sarah Newton
Filed under Parents
How well are you leading your Child?
Parent as Leader. Parent Leadership. What does it really mean? Do you think that as a parent you are also a leader and if so, how do you go about that?
i have always found the words Parent and Parenting to be very emotive. For me, they bring up a feeling of exhaustion, frustration and a feeling of being stuck. I’m not sure if this is only me but I have never found these words at all inspiring. Let’s face it, bringing a child into the word and caring for them, ensuring that they grow up to be a fine young adult is so much more than about parenting. I remember saying to someone ages ago that I am not a parent; I am a relationship builder and that felt much more freeing for me. I then went on to replace this with the word Leader; I am a leader for my child. To me that feels more like a task to take, a result to achieve, an inspiring outcome to work towards.
Truanting Teen and Pre-Teens
June 20, 2009 by Sarah Newton
Filed under Education
Autumn truancy figures show rise
The latest truancy figures for England show another rise, with an increasing number of pupils missing school to go on holiday.
The absence rate for primary and secondary schools rose from 6.26% in autumn 2007 to 6.42% last autumn.
The most common reasons given were sickness and family holidays, according to data from the government.
So how do you get your truanting teen back to school?
Getting your truanting teen or pre-teen back to school can be a very challenging process. The government in this country is still fining and in some cases imprisoning parents if their child skips school. The question on everyone minds is – is this the right thing to do?
Inside the mind of a youth coach
June 17, 2009 by Sarah Newton
Filed under Parents
Will you allow your children to fail?
Parents so often step in when they shouldn’t, scared that their child will fail and things that need to get done will not get done. So to this end, let me tell you what happened in our house .
Bronte (12) decided that she did not want me to nag her (remind her) about what she needed to do over the weekend. She decided and declared that she was old enough now to manage this herself. Now, of course I could see what might happen and could see that she would probably fail at this, however I know that the learning from this is far too great for me to miss this opportunity. So I left her to her own devices. Needless to say, it did not go so well and it ended up at her at 9 pm not having her homework, not finding her uniform , not having a shower and not cleaning our her animals. After trying to convince me I needed to write her a note as to why she had not done her homework, trying to negotiate with Dad about cleaning our her animals, she began to realise that she has indeed failed in her quest, so much so that she got up before 6am this morning to finish the things she did not do yesterday.
How is business like going for a long walk?
June 17, 2009 by Sarah Newton
Filed under Professionals
Business Building for Parent/Teen Coaches.
OK, as most of you know, a few weeks ago I took to the hills and set out on a 79-mile long distance walk over 5 days. You can view the video to see what happened but basically, after 50 miles I was really, really ill and had to retire. In that absolute down moment of realising that I truly was not going to make it a strange thing happened. As we sat in a church ( it was cold and rainy that day) waiting for someone to come and get me I realised that how I approached this walk was how I approached everything in life, including my business, and that was a good thing. Let me explain why.
Is Good Education down to a good Teacher
June 17, 2009 by Sarah Newton
Filed under Education
I read a great article this morning by Rob Pitingolo and his thoughts on good and bad teacher. In this article he includes a quote from Malcolm Gladwell’s .
“Eric Hanushek, an economist at Stanford, estimates that the students of a very bad teacher will learn, on average, half a year’s worth of material in one school year. The students in the class of a very good teacher will learn a year and a half’s worth of material. That difference amounts to a year’s worth of learning in a single year. Teacher effects dwarf school effects: your child is actually better off in a “bad” school with an excellent teacher than in an excellent school with a bad teacher.”
This really got me thinking could we be blaming the student when the teacher may be to blame? What do you think?
