Inspirational Teaching

Youth are far more capable than we think

This video is amazing and very inspirational.

Delayed gratification an indication of Future Success

Our job as Parents is not to do what is easy!

Following on from my review of the great book The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genes, Talent and Intelligence is Wrong: The New Science of Genes, Talent and Human Potential by David Shenk, I have some information about a great piece of learning for me.

I have always known that as parents our job is not to do what is easy, but to do what is right and I have suspected that we need to step back more and allow our children to fail; this was all affirmed in the book. I also suspected that giving in too easily could have massive consequences later on in life, but I was not sure why until I read this book and then it all made sense.

The book talks about an experiment involving children and marshmallows. The children were left in the room and told that they could have one marshmallow now or wait a while and have two. I don’t want go into the ins and outs of the experiment but the interesting bit came when they went back to the children later on in life and found that the ones who waited and had two marshmallows had far exceeded academically those who ate the marshmallow straight away.

What this study showed was that children who could delay gratification early in life were more likely to be able to put in the persistence required to succeed in life.

It affirmed for me that frequent rewards will not give children this persistence as they will give up too easily. And delayed gratification is an early indication for a tendency towards self discipline needed to do well in exams. Interestingly, the study also found that the children who delayed their marshmallow eating craving also had fewer social problems.

What they also found in the study was that children can be taught to delay gratification, for example being told to think of the marshmallows as pictures and to not see them as real decreased the number of children who ate the marshmallow straight away.

In a world where everything is instant, it is so important for us as parents to think of how we can teach our children to wait.

Here are some tips from the book on teaching delayed gratification.

1. Be a model of self-control

Show your children how to do it by not giving in to all your wants and desires.

2. Help them practice

Give them opportunities to practice and wait for things.

3. Don’t give in to everyday pleas

Just because your child wants it now does not mean you should give it. Don’t give in so easily.

4. Let them deal with frustration so they can teach themselves

Don’t rush in to make a sad child happy; let them learn for themselves how to deal with frustration.

And my gem from the book…

True failure is to give up and sell your children short.

We are not supposed to make things easy for our children, we need to present the problem, monitor their response and moderate the behaviour for next time.

What is wrong with our young girls?

Why so much foundation?

OK, I had the pleasure of going into town on a Saturday with my daughter, something I hardly ever do. As we sat on the bench eating and watching the world go by, I was struck by two things.

All the youth looked the same and looked so miserable!

I asked Bronte what she noticed when looking at all the young people walking past. After telling me to stop staring, she said, “They all look the same don’t they?” They sure did; foundation plastered on, black eyes, skinny jeans and low t-shirt type tops. “Why do they all look like that?” I asked her. “So that they don’t stick out!” she answered.

As we sat and pondered more and, much to Bronte’s horror looked at them more, I began to wonder who their role models are, who are they trying to look like. I went through all the female actresses and pop stars I could think of and it wasn’t them. Then it hit me – they all looked like glamour models, even the same miserable expressions! They were all mini Katie Price!

Why on earth would they choose to copy her looks? Perhaps, to young people, it looks like she got where she is without any work, perhaps just wearing loads of foundation gets you noticed! I was at a loss.

On the way home I shared my thoughts with Bronte, who with a look of horror on her face agreed with me and promtly asked me to give her make-up lessons when she got home.

How often do our young people follow the crowd without ever thinking why?

TV is catching up with youth

TV and the Gen Y Influence

I recently sat on a panal discussing families and the future of TV. TV has so mnay opportunities to transform and change and I think it is a very exciting time. Here are a few things that show how things are chganging and give a glimpse a the possible future of TV.

Firstly the release of the first ever on-line TV series aimed at teens “I kissed a vampire” cheesy, camp and funny at at the same time kids are devouring it!

While I certainly do not really get this at all, I can see how it will appeal to the younger generation. It shows the struggle that every teen has about fitting in. It is slightly effeminate, which will appeal to most. I have to say that the characters appear to me to hark back to the 80’s, which I am not sure I would wish on anyone! However, I think what they will like most about it is the fact that it is not on mainstream TV and therefore is something they can adopt without the ears and eyes of the adults. Oh, and it’s kinda fun and cheesy which, lets face it, makes us all feel better.

Then Simon Fuller announces  a new reality TV show that follows contestants 24/7 and streams live Fuller’s intention is to become the first reality TV hit driven by social networking

“I am determined to continue pushing the boundaries of mainstream entertainment,” Fuller has said. “The next frontier is the video world of authentic real-time interaction. It is time the public got to see the truth behind what it takes to launch the careers of young artists.”

And then we have chatter a free social television application for the iPhone and iPod touch that presents real time Twitter-fueled commentary about your favorite TV shows.

Looks like TV is finally catching up on the game.

Here are some other posts that make soem very interesting points on the future of TV.

Razorfish Report on The Future of TV

Infographic: Television Viewership By The Numbers

Getting your kid out of bed

How to wake your little darling up without a slanging match.

Missed the first article read it here Teenagers and Sleep

Here are my suggestions for getting them up.

• Go in at least an hour before they have to get up and open their curtains – natural light is a gentle way to bring someone around from a deep slumber.
• Get a very loud alarm clock in their room and set it for thirty minutes before they have to get up. Put it somewhere where they have to get up to switch it off.Then, if they are not up, go in five minutes before they are due to get up and in a stern authoritative voice, tell them it is time to get up.Do this two more times and then leave them to it.

  On the last occasion tell them that you will not be coming in anymore.

  A side note here is that making them go to bed early to get up early may not be a solution. Melatonin levels (which induce sleep) kick in much later with adolescents and sometimes will not peak until one or two in the morning. So even though they may go to bed, their pleas of, “I can’t get to sleep!” may actually be true. They are just not wired the same as we are when it comes to sleep.

   

Being alone on Valentines Day…..

How to be single and enjoy yourself..

For many people and inparticularly teenagers, Valentines Day is a huge thing, I remember it well, how many cards did you get, who from and what are you going to do on Valentines night?

However, for the single teenage girl, or the single parent for that matter  the pressure of being alone can be unbearable. So if you or your teenager are in this situation, , here is what to do.

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