Hands on Parenting

I have run lots of parent / child events. usually after school, they encourage parents to work alongside and in a team with their children and often rebuild relationships that had drifted apart. So much of young peoples lives are through mediums, toys, games, clothes, which overtly or subtly communicate the message that parents are uncool or 'not in the loop' and therefore having little worth hearing. Of course this 'buy me rather than trust those nearest you' culture is eventually outgrown by many and psychologists will tell us it is a natural part of human development, but in the extremely heavily promoted world of 'buy me' culture, parents can feel like an outsider in their own home, constantly buying new things to reforge the link with their children but finding these things separate them even more from them. Step forward Nintendo DS, Electronic Ritalin that shuts your children up for hours.. (Hate them, haven't bought them for my kids!)

Parent / Child events and courses reverse this. Most children crave their parents attention and look up to them, even during those teenage years when they appear to be all sarcasm and rejection... Get them together doing somethign that is new to them both and they start forging links again... In this time of budget cuts, real quality Parent / Child courses are getting rare, but if we lose that link between parents and children learning together and respecting / dicscovering their strengths, we lose the chance to benefit as educationalists from the support from home where students spend 60% of their weekday time

Totally unconnected, Found this wonderful product description on a website where this item, a hat, cost £120 and looked like a felt bag made by a donkey trader.. Read it and weep for those who see this stuff as so deeply important

(This Hat) 'explores the delicate balance of human forms, harmonising the ongoing dialogue between body and soul within his collection. Oversized, almost floating elements are meant to provide space between skin and garment, representing a new spiritual freedom. 'This Brand' eliminates the unnecessary, concentrating on the essentials of shape and form while a lack of buttons and trim heighten the wearer's appreciation of simplicity. Our relationship with nature is seen through colour. White symbolises purity, red is blood and energy and black is thoughtfulness -the beginning, the end and what is yet to be discovered. '

Hmmmmmmmmmmm