Ever worried about kids future?

I, like many parents, have worried, grumbled and complained about my kids education, the system and their reaction to it. I have also ranted on about how we pigeonhole them and, for those that don't fit, give them some label to excuse their 'disability'. I have long advocated looking for their skill and talent and labeling them with their 'ability' which may not always fit in with the school curriculum - it could be a great memory, compassion or acute sense of smell.
I remember a TV programme some years ago in which Tony Buzan took on a class of 'unmanageable' young teenagers (huge respect for the brave headmistress of the School in Slough for taking this risk) and 'found' their talents, mainly just by asking them. This is a huge waste of our most valuable resource.
I have just watched a lecture by Sir Ken Robinson on the same subject Schools kill creativity.
Get a cup of coffee, make yourself comfortable and take half an hour - it could change the way we think.

My Mum has dementia - What a joke!

It's cruel to watch the very people who taught you to tie your shoelaces and read a book slowly 'unlearning' and forgetting. The few unrelated things that rattle around are often repeated, and I mean often.

I was invited by Jeremy Hughes, CEO, on World Alzheimers Day to an Alzhiemer's Society Awareness lunch in Canary Wharf earlier this week, hosted by KPMG (great lunch!), with representatives from Credit Suisse, HP, and others. The surprising  thing was that these people were not there to tick their company's 'social responsibility' box but many had personal experience of witnessing a parent or grandparent slowly disappearing to leave, like the Cheshire Cat, only a grin. . . . which brings me back to my Mum.

She remembers a joke, just the one. The problem is that she forgets who she has told this joke to and when. She has been telling me and the rest of her family this joke for at least 5 years and sometimes, over a sweet sherry in the pub, she has told me this joke 5 times in an hour.

As my Mum's grin is becoming all we have left of her, I thought I'd share it with you.

For the sake of your children, please start practising a better joke because it is likely that we will all end up sitting around telling jokes.

Happy Birthday Chessy (2).

. . . and now my contribution to your Birthday.

Love Dad

xxx

Happy Birthday Chessy!

Just so you know that we were thinking of you last night,
Mum says . . . 

. . . as were Rich, Caroline and Chris . . .

. . . as was I.

(but it seems 3 videos are too much for Blogger to handle!)

lot's of love from us all!

xxxxx