How old is young?

What do terms such as a youth, young person and young adult really mean? What ages would you have to fall between to be classified as one of these? And if it is based on being a particular physical age, should it be this that is used as a quantifier?

Ask a hundred people in the street these questions and I am sure you would get an absolute myriad of answers on what defines you as being young. I know some people who think being young means being in your early teens but I also know people who still see you as a young person if you are in your twenties.

I think personally that being young is about your intelligence, your experience and your maturity. I have known some very mature teenagers with a ton of life skills but on the other hand I know some people in their twenties who aren’t ready to leave home yet and have the same attitudes and maturity that you would associate with a young person.

I don’t think an age range should be put on the term young person although I would like to see some unified clarification on the term. I think that people should be treated as an individual and not be forced in to a new stage of life just because they have reached a certain age.

One organisation trying to do a lot to make sure people in their early twenties get support and aren’t just expected to fend for themselves at 16 is Catch 22 and they currently have a “Ready or Not?” campaign that I urge you to get behind, to support it follow the link below:

www.catch-22.org.uk/ready-or-not-campaign

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

TV, Internet and the 21st Century

This week I want to talk about an email I got this week from some of the guys working on the E4 series Skins telling me about competitions they are running for young people to get their music featured on the show and to secure speaking roles. This got me thinking for my blog this week.

I think its great how TV companies are integrating their services with an online arm and they are using their online side of the organisation to encourage members of the public to get involved and create media. The internet has made it so quick and easy for young people to create recordings of their music and videos of their acting or producing which is encouraging more young people to try their hand at these things and enter competitions like this. Back many years ago people would have to make a tape of themselves and then send it off to an address to enter competitions like this which would put many people off who had the talent and ability to do win competitions like these.

Many shows have asked for people to upload videos for competitions for acting roles but not many have offered the chance for young musicians to have their music featured on a show. This is ingenious because now young people will get the chance to have their music featured on a show which is popular with young people and a series which will be repeated, available online and possibly on DVD which is a great advert for their music.

The TV companies also get rewards for running competitions like this as they get free promotion and encourage their fanbase and potential audience members to interact with the show and feel more a part of the show. Not only this but music rights for TV programmes can be an expensive business so to get hold of music which isn’t from a major label or music company is a lot better for the producers financially as they have to pay through the nose to use music from established stars on their show.

I think we will see more competitions and opportunities like this in the near future as it is a win / win situation for all involved.

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Still lots to be achieved

As the year draws closer to its end, thoughts turn to Christmas and as the nights start to draw in it can be a time that many people start to take their foot off the pedal and get caught up in the season. It is so, so easy just to let these last couple of months go to waste and to relax but this week I want to use this chance to encourage you to get the most out of the end of the year.

You may have achieved some great things this year. You may have achieved more than you expected or wanted to achieve. If this is the case you can’t afford to get complacent just because you have achieved this year it doesn’t mean that there isn’t any more for you to achieve this year. Now is the time to press on and to not settle for what you have already achieved now is the time to find out what you really can achieve this year.

On the other hand you may not have achieved what you wanted to and what you wanted to achieve may seem impossible to achieve by the end of the year. If this is the case you need to reset your goals and end this year on a high by getting as much achieved as possible so that this year isn’t a waste. You need to learn from this year and use these next two months to put you in a better place to achieve your goals and targets for next year.

Try not to get distracted by things happening around you and don’t get sucked in to that attitude of just looking forward to Christmas. Your Christmas is going to be so much better and come a lot quicker if you are busy over the next couple of months achieving more great things. Let Christmas be a time where you can look back and honestly say hand on heart that you achieved the most that you possibly could with the year, that feeling is the greatest Christmas present you can give yourself this year.

We here at Talented Young People want to know what you are trying to achieve before the end of the year and you can let us know by joining in our topic of the week which you can find by clicking the link below:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=588

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

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

Underdogs

This week I wanted to talk about being an underdog. If you are a football fan you will be very aware of underdogs as this season it has been the year for the underdog with many lower league teams beating Premiership opposition to make the later stages of the FA Cup. In my opinion the greatest underdog achievement though came last weekend as my team Queen of the South from the Scottish First Division made history by reaching their first ever cup final by beating Aberdeen 4 – 3 in a thrilling semi.

An underdog is someone or a team that people don’t think will win or succeed against their opposition. It’s not just in sport where you get underdogs but in everyday life. It’s like when some young people are written off from achieving anything because of their background or the area they live in, they then become underdogs to achieve as few people believe in them.

Being an underdog isn’t necessarily a bad thing as when you are an underdog nobody expects you to win so you don’t have their added pressure on your shoulders. You can go out and do what you want to do in your own style or way. The only time when being an underdog is bad is when you start believing what everyone else thinks and start believing that because you are the underdog you can’t win or achieve.

Being an underdog just means you need to try harder than the rest and always do everything with 110% effort. That to me is why being an underdog at times is so great as in that position you know you have to give it your all where as people who are so called favourites or likely to succeed don’t always have that same drive or concentration as they think you will be easy to beat.

The greatest achievements in life are those that were hard to achieve and required real effort. When an underdog wins it means more to them than a favourite as they had to work harder and in the process shown people just what they are capable of. The minute we start thinking we are going to win everything and achieve in everything is the moment we will probably fail as you can never take success for granted.

Never be put off by the underdog tag as it’s not what others think of you that counts it’s your belief in your ability that does. If you are labelled an underdog use it to your advantage, use it to give you drive to succeed and let your opponents think like that as it will make them easier to beat.

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Welsh Tragedy

If you live in the UK you will be aware of the current situation in Wales, which is grabbing the headlines where twenty-one young people have died of suspected suicide in the last year. The people of Britain and the police have been left scratching their heads to what the reason could be for so many young people taking their lives.

One suicide a year is unacceptable so to lose twenty-one young lives is a tragedy. Now the Police may be doing their bit but to work out why these tragedies occurred but it is up to the people of the UK to do more to make sure their deaths were not in vain.

Teenagers need more support than they are getting. During your teenage years you are asked to deal with emotions and experiences, which you aren’t ready to deal with, and it can be one of the most frightening and scary times of your entire life. During this period you build your emotional strength, character and identity which will stay with you for the rest of your life. More needs to be done to help young people during this important time of their life as without the support they may not be able to make the most of their potential and end up being a problem for society or causing us tax payers money in their adult life.

If you are a young person and you are having problems dealing with life the thing to remember is that you are not on your own, many other young people will be feeling the same as you but suicide is not the answer. If you are depressed or having problems dealing with life talk to someone about it don’t deal with it by yourself. You are a much stronger person for talking about your problems than keeping them bottled up inside.

Many people are blaming the media coverage and social networking websites for this crazy number of suspected suicides. Yes the media and social networking websites need to be monitored and need to think about messages they are sending out but parents, friends, carer, teachers etc. need to play a more active role in the lives of young people. Adults like parents and carers need to talk to young people about issues affecting them or websites they may visit as well as noting any attitude changes or changes in character. Every young person is important and individual and we need to start treating them as such. Every young person is at risk and we all need to look out for each other.

Our thoughts here at Talented Young people go out to all of those who have been affected by these tragedies and we are saddened by the loss of twenty-one young people who could have helped changed this world for the better and achieved many great things.

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com