Is university the right or only answer? The debt is bad enough, but the job prospects after graduating are bleak, too. If your children aren't going to be lawyers or medics or academics, what is the point? I'm pretty sure my boys are intelligent but I'm not sure they have the bite and drive that will get them to the top of the class. Plus they have their own individual gifts which are still fledgling. Early days, I know. Who can say how they will have developed come year 9 when they have to make their choices? To date Ed hasn't thought about a career, though I'm sowing the seed of a paper round for starters. Or running a babysitting cartel. He could make a killing on a New Year's Eve..Dom wants to be a saxophonist, but resents the practice that that entails. I think he can start off busking in the town centre when he's old enough, and see what response he gets.
As for the jobs I would like to see them doingas adults, well, I've raised eyebrows by saying it would be fun to have a hairdresser in the family, and definitely a chef. Whatever they do, it needs to be training while earning. Everyone mocked the McDonalds degree, but why? The hospitality trade seems to boom even as we are all cutting culinary corners at home (see later blog about feeding six people on half what a London couple I know lives on), so surely that is one area to explore? Hard graft, but restaurants bars or hotels seem to be the way forward in these hard times. The Hotel du Vin, my favourite chain, do training courses I believe. Being a baker, or cheesemaker seems pretty cool. Another idea is graphic interior design, if that were possible without the architectural/mathematical side of things. Designing people's interiors on the computer. Ed would like to have a Saturday job stacking shelves or working in a furniture emporium, so he can arrange the goods himself. Taking words from the wise eldest son who is doing well as a graphic designer, Gabes reckons that everyone should be computer savvy and particularly in web design because everyone and every business needs a website now and that is not going to change.
What about erotic writing, I hear you ask? Er, no. It's a hobby that barely pays, although watch this space for Primula's new offering later in the year..
As for the jobs I would like to see them doingas adults, well, I've raised eyebrows by saying it would be fun to have a hairdresser in the family, and definitely a chef. Whatever they do, it needs to be training while earning. Everyone mocked the McDonalds degree, but why? The hospitality trade seems to boom even as we are all cutting culinary corners at home (see later blog about feeding six people on half what a London couple I know lives on), so surely that is one area to explore? Hard graft, but restaurants bars or hotels seem to be the way forward in these hard times. The Hotel du Vin, my favourite chain, do training courses I believe. Being a baker, or cheesemaker seems pretty cool. Another idea is graphic interior design, if that were possible without the architectural/mathematical side of things. Designing people's interiors on the computer. Ed would like to have a Saturday job stacking shelves or working in a furniture emporium, so he can arrange the goods himself. Taking words from the wise eldest son who is doing well as a graphic designer, Gabes reckons that everyone should be computer savvy and particularly in web design because everyone and every business needs a website now and that is not going to change.
What about erotic writing, I hear you ask? Er, no. It's a hobby that barely pays, although watch this space for Primula's new offering later in the year..
