Strengths, weaknesses and Salmon

IN MY house, the recent national reading and numeracy tests saw me cooking up a storm out of salmon and the children getting fed up of me urging them to eat it because, "It’s good brain food and it’s tasty".

I couldn’t be in the classroom to help them, but I could at least pack them full of omega three and send them on their way with reassurance and a big hug (although recently my seven year old said I’m now embarrassing him in front of his friends and me saying that he’ll still be my baby when he is a grown up man of 30 was met with a look of horror with a dollop of withering – it is to be truly crushed to be so patronised and dismissed by your Infant).

I digress. The point being with the mention of the recent national tests, were thoughts around what we’re good and bad at. I use the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ words quite deliberately, because it is amazing how often those words are said to us and it is even more amazing to consider the power that those small words have.

I always thought I was bad at maths. I so convinced myself of this that I was a wreck doing my GCSE paper.

In later life I have had all sorts of occasions and jobs that have required quite an advanced level of statistical ability; data interpretation; financial forecasting and budgeting and yet I still say, "Oh I’m not very good at maths".

I’ve got it in to my head that I’m not very good at decorating but the reality is I just find it boring.

Recently my Mum and I took my daughter to Spit and Sawdust, the fab indoor skate park and purveyor of delicious burgers, in Cardiff. My daughter is a very cool skater girl and she glided, swooshed and ollied (if that can be a verb?), over ramps and half pipes with style, grace and speed. I was so proud watching her and she so enjoyed herself.

It’s the annual football presentations soon. My children play for different teams in the Vale.

I don’t know if either of them have any potential to go far in this field, but they both love it, the running, the friendships and learning new skills.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We develop at different stages. We learn in different ways.

I would never presume to speak for all parents, but for me I think it is important to let my children try. I think it is important to encourage them to keep trying and discovering new things and seeing what they enjoy.

I will encourage them to go out in the world and find out what they want to do, knowing that they have a home where they will always be loved and welcomed and reassured and certainly well fed, not always with salmon, although I do now have a whole load of ways of cooking it.