Inspire or Aspire that is the question…..?

I was lucky enough a few years ago to be approached by my local Chamber of Commerce to become a mentor to schools… they didn’t sell it to me initially as I was told I would have 2-3 days of training, then I would have to commit a further 3-5 days of my time at various intervals mentoring to different schools in my area..

 At this time I was self employed so when I added up the amount of time lost and what it would cost I have to say sceptical was an understatement… however then I had a think about it, this was all around spending time with Year 10 and 11 students delivering a personal development programme helping to prepare them for their future, either at school, work or at home.

It was all around giving something back to the community and ok it was going to cost me but in a society so engrossed with take, take, take was this such a bad thing?  I was also intrigued as to how it might help me in my daily life too as it was all around developing:

• Listening and oral communication skills
• Adaptability and creative responses to obstacles or setbacks
• Self esteem, confidence & self motivation
• Empathy
• A responsible attitude to own actions
• A can do attitude

  Now I’m the worlds biggest believer in having core values and most of the above had big ticks beside them for me so putting my ‘can do attitude’ hat on I signed up!

Now we can all pinpoint certain times in our live where we have a ‘bit of a revelation’ and mentoring to these students was when I had mine..

My training consisted all around teaching skills and how they differed when the audience were a bunch of teenagers instead of the finance managers I was used to.

We spent time learning and understanding the importance of EQ (Emotional  Intelligence/Qualities) and how these skills can be equally as important as the more academic qualities.  

All of this training spilled over into my own personal life, it made me look at what motivated me and made me realise how different things motivate different people. One big key area was being responsible for our own actions, accountability… we live in such a blame society and when that spills over into the workplace this can have devastating results on staff morale and consequently the business !!

Each area of the workwise programme was developed to be fun and inspiring to the students, we did role plays, we got them to all come in dressed for an interview, we arranged motivational speakers and at the end of it we had a great party…

The first day of the programme we were introduced to a bunch of 25 girls and lads and as we stood at the door shaking each of their hands and introducing ourselves, each limp handshake was accompanied by an uncomfortable shuffle of shoes, a muttering of a name and had me looking at the floor as this is where each of their gazes were fixed !

We spent the next few days together sharing highs and lows, lots of laughs and lots of stories. I was glad we delivered the training in 3’s as there is no way I could hold their attention for such long periods of time and it made me realise what a demanding job teachers have !

The last day was very emotional for all involved – the one thing we tried to encourage the students to do throughout the course was to follow their dreams or in the words of William Arthur Ward ‘If you can imagine it you can create it. If you can dream it, you can become it’..

We had treated them like responsible adults and they had become responsible adults, we had treated them with respect and they gave us respect in return, most importantly we advised them on how they could follow their dreams and they left us believing that anything was possible.

When we said goodbye not only did I have a tear in my eye but each and every one of those students shook my hand and looked me confidently in the eye and thanked me for such a great week.

I can truly say the time I spent with these students was life changing for me, it made me realise how much time we spend teaching children to conform and getting them to do what we want.

I’m not saying that 15 and 16 year olds should be given carte blanch to do what they want with their lives, but it made me realise that next time my teenage daughters said they wanted to do something, my immediate reaction shouldn’t necessarily be ‘NO’ but instead be ‘WHY’ !  Then when I understand ‘WHY’ I can now sit down with them to explore ‘IF’ and ‘HOW’…… !!

If you would like to be involved in mentoring to pupils then IMJack have developed a revolutionary module called CAFE – Careers Advice and Further Education, which allows people to post a profile and answer some questions as to what their job involves as well as give an insight into what a typical ‘day in the life’ of that job might be.

We are interested in hearing from people in all walks of life but in particular anyone who has an inspirational story to tell or an unusual job.. please contact kathleen.parker@imjack.com for further details.

CAFE Careers Advice and Further Education

IMJacks CAFE  – Careers Advice and Further Education goes live next month. With its launch comes a whole new way of introducing school children to the world of work.

As children we all have dreams and aspirations of what we want to be ‘when we grow up’ (do we every really ‘grow up’ or do we just ‘grow old’ ?… that’s a blog for another day !!)..

I can remember mine, through various stages of my childhood through to teenage years… I went from wanting to be a Vet, Nurse, Teacher, Writer, Hairdresser and ended up doing my basic training in the Army to go onto Officer Training College…

However I never quite made it and ended up getting married and starting a family… then years later when all my children were old enough I rediscovered my career path and had a serious think about what I wanted to do… I ended up studying to become an accountant and finally ended up in IT !!

At no point in any of my career path did I end up doing what I actually set out to do !

Looking back I realise now there is a little bit of me in all the things I wanted to be when I was younger, but I never had the advice or guidance pointing me in the direction of where I should go to follow any of these paths effectively.

IMJack has got together with the SSAT (Specialist Schools Academies’ Trust) to develop the CAFE…. this is a place where pupils can engage with mentors from the world of business, ask them questions on what a job involves and find out all the good (and bad) things about a particular career.

They can go on and find out all about the types of careers that children dream about, they can find out if they have the right kind of personality to do this type of job or is there something else out there more suited they had never even thought of! They can watch videos of people doing their everyday job or find out about a ‘day in the life’ … by capturing their dreams and nurturing them at an early age we are helping the children who are our future, explore ways they can move forward to become more confident and motivated individuals.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor and creating a profile of you and your job on the IMJack platform which will be distributed in schools around the UK then please contact our CAFE team on 0870 836 8936 or email kathleen.parker@imjack.com

With exam time looming closer and closer…

With exam time looming closer and closer take a look at our tips to help pupils cope with the stress of revision.

Dont get stressed out as this will just keep you awake and cause you problems revising.

Keep a positive attitude, eat healthy – lots of brain food…. oily fish and whole grains are the best possible ways of sustaining a healthy diet. they aid both digestion and concentration.

Whole-wheat bread, cereals and pasta… a tuna sandwich is one of the best snacks you can have. Fruits such as banana’s and blueberries are full of anti oxidants that boost brainpower.

If you’re really stressed don’t keep it to yourself – share it with a parent or a teacher, explain your feelings and see what they suggest.

Get up and walk about every so often, if its a nice day don’t sit there looking out the window wishing you were outside – take your books out there and revise outside. Get up and jump around – sitting staring at a book will wear you out after too long.

Record your notes and pop in some ear plugs and go for a walk – reading them aloud helps you remember and listening back again and again will mean they sink in eventually!

If you find yourself having a blank moment don’t sit there and beat yourself up – go though the list until you find the ones you can answer, then work your way back to the more difficult ones. That way you are feeling in a more positive position to tackle the more challenging questions.

Believe in yourself – think positive have more of an ‘I will’ attitude ….and in the words of Dr Seuss..

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.
And you know what you know
You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

We was brung up proper !!

After my post the other day ‘Are we protecting our kids the right way’ a friend sent me this reminder of what life was like when we were kids …. hope it makes you smile as well !

WE WAS BRUNG UP PROPER!!”And we never had a whole Mars bar until 1993″!!!
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930’s 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s !

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonald’s , KFC, Subway or Nandos.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn’t open on the weekends, somehow we didn’t starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy  Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because…….

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY,

no video/dvd  films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time…

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn’t have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT  

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully’s always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn’t invent stupid names for their kids like ‘Kiora’ and ‘Blade’ and ‘Ridge’ and ‘Vanilla’

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL !

You might want to forward this on to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Are we protecting children the right way?

On my way down from Leeds yesterday I was listening to an article in the news about how children are not having the same kind of freedom we had when we were young (by ‘we’ I mean any of us who are able to remember when playground games consisted of ‘stuck in the mud’ and ‘Chinese skipping), instead of swapping music and pictures on mobile phones)..

I can remember at the tender age of 12 being allowed to go over the park and hang around with my friends till dusk when the keeper would kick us all out….or walking up to the swimming pool with a bunch of friends and staying there all day and getting the bus back in time for Charlies Angels.

More than anything I can remember those long summer days when you just had to be outside, playing footie, cycling around and not a mobile phone insight – just a promise to be home in time for dinner.

Now a parent of 3 daughters I have faced the same dilemma again and again, how much freedom should I give them? (according to them it’s never enough). We drive the youngest 2 (who are incidentally 13 and 17) everywhere, I wouldn’t dream of letting them walk home alone and heaven forbid if I knew they were just ‘hanging’ around the streets or parks.

With constant news stories of children being abducted, attacked or abused we are protecting our children to such a degree we are taking away their childhood. However…..

We seem to have no qualms whatsoever in letting them loose to a whole wide world of dangerous content. We let them chat to ‘friends’ some of whom they have never met but think they know, purely because another ‘friend’ introduced them.

We allow them to publish where they go to school, where they are meeting their friends on Saturday, personal information that if read by a stranger could easily be used to build up a profile of our child’s habits and movements.

I can remember whenever anything slightly provocative came on the TV my Mother would immediately get up and turn it over (to my Father’s disappointment)… however we allow them to have full access to internet content and internet content is totally uncensored. Because of this, children surfing the Web can be exposed to sexual, malicious, racist and violent content in e-mail messages, chats and social networking areas.

IMJack are dedicated to providing a safe and secure enviroment where children can still communicate online but without all the dangers of unregulated sites. Read IMJack’s Ten Tips on how children can stay safe on the internet, invest in some parental control software where you can monitor and control what a child does or doesn’t have access to.

Where there are younger children in the family don’t allow them to have computers in their room, 1) it makes them very unsocial 2) allows you to make sure they are doing homework and not surfing, chatting, playing games or worse.

Make sure if they are using social networking sites they are regulated and secure, IMJack only allows children to communicate with other children in their secure community, it monitors for key words that could identify bullying and allows them to use today’s web2 technology without all the dangers.

Remember IMSafe~IMJack

Welcome to IMJack’s blog !

Welcome to IMJack’s blog! come and  visit us regularly or subscribe to keep up to date with topical issues in Education and Secure Social Networking.

Social Networking is here to stay and with the whole concept of adding ‘friends of friends’ it means you are opening up yourself to many hidden dangers.  By providing information about yourself through publishing on profiles, blogs, chat rooms, emails or instant messaging you are opening up your world to a whole new circle of friends. However be aware of all times of the dangers this can bring and remember that the people you meet may not always have friendly intentions.

We wanted to put together some simple tips on how kids can stay safe on the internet and social networking sites so take a look at out top ten tips !!

1.  Never give any personal details to anyone you do not know offline personally, this includes phone numbers, school, location, clubs, photos/videos of themselves or friends… any of this information can be used by a complete stranger to help then pretend they know you.
2.  If you use a social networking site take some time to understand the privacy settings, try and keep people in groups so that not everyone has access to your profile
3.  Never open content/attachments unless you know what it is and you trust the person who is sending it….  it could be a virus or an inappropriate picture or video
4.  Just because someone says the know you doesn’t mean they do, only accept friends from someone you know offline or from a trusted source
5. If  a conversation online ever makes you feel uncomfortable then tell someone or ignore/block this person
6.  Never give out your password to anyone unless it’s a parent or a trusted adult like a teacher or carer
7. Don’t make plans to meet any friends online – it could be somebody else using their log in. Always call them with a trusted number and arrange on the phone
8. If someone does start asking lots of questions then be wary of this person , trust your instincts if it makes you feel uncomfortable tell someone.
9. If you are being bullied or feeling threatened by anyone online or you know someone who is,  then always tell a parent or teacher you may prevent someone else from becoming a victim
10. Only post information about yourself you are comfortable with everyone seeing, it could be a parent, teacher or even a prospective employer reading it ! AND REMEMBER       ‘IMSafe    IMJack’