Does Anything Really Change?

Does anything really change? Last week it was discussed in the news whether funding for youth related projects and schemes had actually made a noticeable or quantifiable improvement to the lives of young people or not.

It is hard when you read the headlines over the weekend of murdered teenagers to actually imagine that funding is helping but how do you gauge the national and overall success of a project when you have stories like this to contend with?

No matter how much good is done the news outlets will always highlight sensational and extreme news of the minority of young people committing crime. This will in turn lead people in to thinking that this is what young people are up to across the country.

Although we all hate figures, statistics and having to measure success I think in some cases it is needed. If you as a government are going to invest millions of taxpayers pounds they have to know they are getting a return for their money. It is hard to stop extreme cases like we have seen on the weekend but what needs to be done is to make sure that these stay isolated and minority events, it is when these incidents become the norm is when we have failed. One teenager dieing is far too many but you can’t stop wanting to better or to improve things as we only lose when we stop trying

These events need to remind us that no young person is safe and we all need to be doing are all to make sure every young person leads a safe life. We can’t rely on funding or education to solve the problems we all need to take an active role within our communities to make sure we are all safe.

When every young person has the same access to funding, education and support is when we will be able to judge change properly and see real change on a national basis. Success with young people is only temporary and we can never afford to forget it. That is why we need continual funding and continual monitoring for the improvement of young lives in the UK. Just because a project has been successful for a young person and changed their life it doesn’t necessarily mean that if support was pulled away that they would continue to be a success.

It may seem like nothing changes but it is a much better world than if funding and support was to be taken away from youth projects and programmes. Just remember that just because you may be reading the same headlines every year it doesn’t mean change isn’t being made or happening.

Do you think anything is changing in regards to the success of support for youth related projects and programme? We here at Talented Young People would love to know your views and you can share them by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=457

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The benefits of travelling

As you are all aware there was no blog last week because I was away on my travels to work in Israel for the week. Hope it has been a productive fortnight for you since my last blog. My experiences over the last week are the topic of this week’s blog and the topic is what travelling can do for your personal development.

In a world which is getting smaller and smaller by the minute where we have the ability to interact with, do business with and find out about people from other countries we can’t afford to lose our want to travel. You can learn a lot from your bedroom but the most important learning comes from experience which you can only get from actually going to another country.

By visiting another country you can find out about how people of a similar age to you act and behave. You can also find out about their attitudes and the standard of their education. It is interesting to see how young people who have more or less opportunities and support than you do cope with their own personal development. You can take bit from their approach to life which you can bring back home with you and sew in to your life to improve your self development.

One thing I noticed from my trip to Israel was that a high percentage of the population spoke both the native language of Hebrew as well as English fluently whereas in England there is only a small percentage of the population can speak two or more languages fluently.

By visiting foreign countries we have never been to or by going to countries in which we don’t speak the native language it gives us a sense of adventure. Putting ourselves in these situations challenges our problem solving skills which is a good skill to test but if you do plan on doing something like this be sure to do your research and to keep safe. To succeed in life we need to encourage our adventurous side.

Visiting other countries can give you inspiration. Seeing a famous landmark, beautiful scenery or experiencing something different that you can’t do or see back at home can be very inspirational. It can spark the inspiration to try something new when you get back home or to do better in things you already do.

And finally an important thing travelling does is build memories. Memories are a strong emotional factor which can help you achieve great things. The way you create memories is by trying new things and experiencing things you never normally would in a regular day.

So if you get the chance to broaden your horizons and go and experience new places you never know where it could lead.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Pushy Parents

In this week’s blog I wanted to address a topic that I haven’t addressed yet but a topic I find myself discussing on a regular basis which is ‘Pushy Parents.’ With the financial rewards for success getting even bigger and bigger and with more young people in the media spotlight is it creating more pushy parents?

For many years pushy parents have been associated with child models and child actors but now it seems there are Pushy Parents who are pushing their children to success in all manner of activities. Not only now is there great financial reward for success but social kudos for parents for having successful children and in some cases stigma around parents whose children don’t succeed as we as a society become more interested in what everyone else is doing and keeping up with the Jones.

With the media interrogation in to the lives of young celebrities their parents are becoming publicly known for their position as the parent of and have their lives interrogated. This has been highlighted by TV series like True Hollywood Stories and the tabloid press who need a story like a pushy parent to get viewers and even young celebrities are now getting in on the act by selling stories on their own parents to get media attention.

I think Pushy Parents still exist today but I also feel that now because young people are getting exposed to media earlier and because their interaction with media is more intense that they are pushing for stardom and success themselves and not because of their parents. Young people see programmes like Hannah Montana and High School Musical and see the popularity that the actors and actresses have and want that for themselves. Young people are now also more aware than ever before of the levels of income these young people make.

I feel that parents should encourage, motivate and push their children to succeed but in areas that their children want to succeed in not the areas they want their children to go in to. Children need the freedom to find their own dream and then the support of their family to make it a reality. Regardless of how high or low the financial reward for their dream job would be parents need to worry about how happy their child is going to be in later life not how much money they are going to earn. Too many parents try and live their dreams through their children using them as if they were puppets instead of loving them for the individual that they are. Helping your child to live their dreams and not to live yours is an achievement to be proud of which means a million times more than them living out your dreams.

So be a Pushy Parent but not in the way we think of when we think of Pushy Parents. Push your children to be as happy and fulfilled as they can be. Give them belief, give them strength and give them support to achieve their dreams as you the parent have such an important part to play in your child’s development and hard work now can help secure happiness and fulfilment for your child for life. Don’t let your chance to create a great life for your child go to waste. Being a Pushy Parent in the old sense of the term can do so much damage to your child that may never be repaired. Just because they may be seen as successful or a celebrity by the general public or just because they have lots of money it doesn’t mean they are happy or fulfilled. Some of the most so called successful people in the world are some of the most unhappiest. So help your child to be the most happiest and fulfilled they can be as to me that is the mark of success.

Have you got an opinion on ‘Pushy Parents’? Then you can share your views by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=443

Just as a heads up there will be no blog this week so our next blog will be published on the 21st of May.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com