Different Voices

We should never underestimate the power of different voices, of listening to different messages delivered by a variety of people. For young people, there is the novelty factor as well as the freshness of listening to someone new. Parents the world over will recognize that famous 'glazed look' or the 'eyebrows raised' expression that would indicate that they are somewhere between a quaint artefact in a museum and a mute visitor from a neighbouring planet as they seek to impart yet more wisdom and advice! The famous, "Get their attention, Hold their attention and Let go of their attention' all needs to be accomplished in relatively short bursts where there is variety in pace, tone and content. For me, that's where there's a role for schools to play in supplementing the efforts of parents. That's presuming of course that schools are prepared to create the opportunities for young people to engage with adults in some sort of meaningful way.

The coach of the First Rowing Eight drawing lessons for life in his talk on rugby and the former Head of Rugby doing the same in his talk on rowing -all in the same week- now that's different voices leaving us all a little better at the end of it all.