PREPARING OUR CHILDREN FOR LIFE.

In this world full of skills and talents, what are the ones that should be most sought for? Today we are the millennials who are equipped with the resources to give the best to the Alpha generation that we have birthed.

So what is it that we should do for our children, when we have the will and resources to do anything for them?

Should my child learn music, dance , art ? Should my child get ready for the AI world and learn more robotics and sciences? Or should I expose my children to everything and give them the option to choose what they like?

Us Millennial parents are left perplexed. Should I send my child to an international school that I can afford, but think is ridiculously expensive, but my child will get the space and resources to discover himself? Or should I send my child to a school that has proven to educate well over time, but is now traditional and am not sure is right for the alpha generation? My child may learn to be tough, but would he have lost himself in the process?

I have been contemplating about all these questions for quite a while now, not just for my child, but for all those children, whose parents keep asking themselves the same questions. 

So every time I come across someone in this world who have defied all odds, and made it for themselves, are happy and conscious living beings. I like to know what helped them have this journey. It is almost like research for me. 

I met Stephen Mcgown, a few days ago. Stephen is a European descendant, who was born to a wealthy businessman, living in south Africa, spent his childhood in south Africa and moved to UK for work, in the banking sector. He met his wife (also from south Africa) there. When they were around 36, they decided to move back home and raise a family together, and live closer to his parents. They planned they would do their own business and settle back in South Africa. He had a childhood dream of biking across Sahara. So he decided to fulfill that. His wife decided to fly to south Africa, he told her I will meet you back there in 6 months. Little did he know he wouldn’t be seeing his wife for 6 years.

He was kidnapped during that journey, held as a hostage by Al, Qaeda for 6 years after that. The rest is his story to tell. A few things I learnt from him was that he always wanted to get out. “I always had a loving family waiting for me. There was no way I wanted to die.”

His parents always taught him to be good to people. “Attitude is everything. All people are people,  my mom believed.” It was his attitude towards the situation and experience he was in, that he was able to be in the good books of the ‘Al-qaeda’, which eventually may have led to his release 6 years later. Just deciding to treat everyone as people helped him. 

He spent his childhood with two very optimistic people, who taught him to be positive in life. “I always knew I would be free someday, whether it was by this birthday, if not then maybe by this Christmas. And if that didn’t happen there was always next Christmas.” “I never gave up on faith and hope.” 

“I had the best sleep there in the dessert. Unbelievable right?”, Stephen said to me. “Dreams were the one thing I was in control of. I learnt to work on myself, by working on my subconscious.” 

It was also important for Stephen to be resilient regardless of the situation. All these skills he learnt as a child helped him in ways he could have never imagined. His parents could not have ever imagined he would randomly get kidnapped by the Al-Qaeda while pursuing his dream of biking. 

We are a lot stronger than we give ourselves credit for. We are under expecting from  our children in the process. They are a lot smarter and stronger than what we give them credit for. 
Who knows what kind a world will this Alpha generation live in. What are the challenges that they may have to face, as a society but also as an individual. What their circumstances and situations will be, regardless of what we do for them. Shouldn’t we prepare them to handle any situation, at any time in life. To be adaptable, to have resilience, to be happy, grateful, giving, respectful, and more. And every time I think of how we can prepare them for this unpredictable life while equipping them with all these skills, the only solution that comes to my mind is one that all of us know of, but yet do not implement, which is simple but yet not so simple.. Is to practice these skills and way of being ourselves. Our children will just watch and learn.