By Robert Surcouf
TO quote a well-known song “I believe the children are our future”, but the question is are we teaching them well so that they can lead the way?
As a parent of two children I am often asking myself if I am giving them enough support and the space to grow. At the same time, I want to monitor how they are doing at school and try to ensure they are getting a rounded education.
While this is, I am sure, a very common desire for parents to have for their children it is not always easy depending on personal circumstances, especially during a cost-of-living crisis. To add to this, our children are growing up in a fast-changing world, especially when it comes to technology and social media which place new challenges in their way as well as opportunities.
In 1855, freed slave and statesman Frederick Douglass said: “It is easier to build strong children than fix broken men.” This is a quote that I have seen being used a few times recently and it does send a very clear message that I feel we must take on board as a community. If as a society, we have children coming to school hungry do we really feel they will get the best from their education? If we have youngsters that do not have access to necessary technologies to allow them to learn, will they flourish as we would hope?
There are many already working on addressing some of the major challenges that our youngest children are facing with amazing work by organisations such as the Jersey Child Care Trust and Caring Cooks engaging within the education sector and many others such as Brightly and Brighter Futures engaging at the family level. However, this will not catch everybody who needs our help and support. Some young adults do make poor choices. Whether that is due to nature or nurture I do not know but that does not have to define the rest of their lives if we can offer support.
In the parish of St Peter, which is mainly rural but does have a large central village, we have had a number of incidents of antisocial behaviour over the past few years involving some of the youngest in our community. This eventually led to security at the entrance of the main supermarket and one of the last 24-hour cashpoints being threatened with removal owing to vandalism. Traditional policing alone was not resolving the growing problem or preventing a greater number of young children being drawn into questionable behaviour.
As a parish we are very lucky to have a community centre and a very well supported youth service. However, many of the youngsters did not trust or wish to step inside and engage with the activities on offer. An opportunity arose for the parish to support the youth service in a formal outreach programme that allowed specially trained counsellors to go out into the parish in the evenings and engage with the youngsters.
While a very small number would continue with their antisocial behaviour, and perhaps this would escalate, many did make better choices after speaking with the counsellors and we have seen a material improvement in behaviour and a material reduction in vandalism and the need for security guards outside our shops.
Looking at some of the horrific footage from Philadelphia of looting and systemic shoplifting we must understand and appreciate the challenge that the current cost-of-living crisis is placing on families and the need for support especially for the youngest in our communities to make the right decisions.
We need to lead by example by showing compassion and empathy in difficult times. We should provide not only a good-quality education, which I know all teachers already work so hard to, but also outside-of-school facilities and opportunities to grow and develop, recognising that for many children the financial resources are not there to allow them to attend various paid activities.
Whether it is sport, music, drama or just a safe place to play games and hang out we need to ensure opportunities for all, and that they are inclusive for all our multicultural community. Our children will face challenges as technology develops and materially changes the way we live and work. They are becoming far more focused on causes such as environmental change and what life is really available to them. We need to listen to their concerns and work with them to develop solutions.
During the Democracy Week programme, I attended a session entitled Politics Matters and there were four tables where youngsters from various schools were in attendance. They clearly had an interest in politics and the future of our island. It was great to see their enthusiasm and the obvious understanding and intelligence.
However, the thing that struck me the most was how many felt that Jersey did not offer them a future and that to leave was their only option. These were clearly some of the young stars at their respective schools but if they felt that way it made me wonder how their classmates were feeling.
Hopefully, more of us can support some of the amazing charities that are helping to reach our young community to make the difference they need and, to once again quote Whitney Houston, show them all the beauty they possess inside, give them a sense of pride to make it easier.
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Robert Surcouf comes from a Jersey farming family, though his mother was Spanish and moved to Jersey in the 1960s. He became an accountant and now specialises in risk and enterprise management. A father of two school-age children, he still helps organise and participates in local motorsport events and was one of the founding members of Better Way 2022 before the last election. The views expressed are his own.
