Thursday 25 September 2008

The Unremarkable Son

AT the recent breakfast for Blokes we looked at the Middle SOn in the Prodigal SOn story. He was the responsible son identified by being:

Unremarkable - he was the responsible one who always did the right thing. he didn't do anything which brought him into the limelight. He simply was a good kid.

UnRewarded- He was not noticed so he wasn't remembered. It is true in life and in families that those who stand out and achieve success or notoriety gain our attention and our reward.

UnFinished - he still had more to do yet he felt that there was no point, no one was encouraging him so he simply stayed and kept on being responsible.

This situation is common and often within each of us is that same sense that we do what we do and no-one notices and no-one cares if we have dreams and hopes as yet unfinished.

The challengr for us who are parents and mentors is to notice all of of those in our care and to support and remember them. Sometimes it is easy to get lost in amongst all the other stuff and overlook all those who need our support.

For ourselves? It is important that we notice who we are and what we need and take positive steps to achieve a greater sense of our own value, to ourselves and to others.


Also Waren provided and excellent breakfast - something completely different to the norml men's breakfast!!! He remined us that men do not always value and spoil themselves and we ought to. On that theme the final breakfast in November will be a mini-degustation breakfast courtesy of him and Ian. More information later!

Next Month - Saturday 19th October

Monday 8 September 2008

Sleep Deprivation

Over the laast couple of days the newspapers have been full of stuff relevant to those of us with children (or grandchildren). First in the Saturday papers was an article that announced most children in Australia are sleep deprived and warned of the future problems. It squarely lays the blame on technology and the presence of that technology in childrens bedrooms. Mobile phones, computers, game consoles and more are temptations which prevent young people from doing what they should be doing - sleeping.

A man I knew put a computer screen above the cot in his daughters bedroom - perhaps a little too much! The article went on to say that all this stuff should be in the lounge or games room where everybody can enjoy and monitor it during normal recreational hours. An excellent solution which I would heavily endorse.

The other is ann excellent article on education by Tom Hawkes - well worth reading at the link below.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/ten-key-skills-schools-must-start-teaching/2008/09/08/1220725904072.html