A Lesson in Life

Written by Ria Brookes

Imagine if the National Curriculum for secondary education had a mandatory lesson called ‘Life'...

Imagine a lesson that would equip children with the necessary insight to achieve their full potential without having to fall in life's potholes.   A lesson that taught the value of hard work, pride and achievement over a life spent looking over their shoulder for rival gangs and police. 

Imagine a subject that encompasses finances – how to manage their money.  What a debt is, credit, APR.  The difference between an asset and a liability.  A subject that informed teens on what it takes to run a home.  Mortgages, council tax, utilities.

But should it really be left up to the educational system? 
What about parents? Isn't the role of a parent to not only impart morals, values and life skills but raise children to be fully functioning adults capable of surviving in the real world?  The pressures on parents to materialistically provide should not outweigh ensuring their child is not a statistic.  Are our teens really too young to know about life's pitfalls?  Or is it better for them to be mis-educated by peers and the media?

Our children are having children, dropping out of school, committing crime and dying senseless deaths.  Their behaviour is unfortunately, reinforcing negative stereotypes and perpetuating cycles of fearless ignorance.

We need to acknowledge how quickly the youth are growing up and start to equip them with the knowledge that will allow them to make informed decisions and be wise to the consequences of their actions.  They need to leave school believing they are armed with the right tools and awareness that can see them achieve anything their heart desires.  The world is their oyster.  They can not only be anything but do anything.  Create, invent, build and own anything. 

It's time to stop allowing our children to enslave themselves.  Give them a lesson in life and empower them to be all that they can be.

2as1 supports parents by providing access to high standard universal support in the form of information, advice, training and signposting to other services.  

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