Dear LPG, 

If I were to ask what your worst subject at school was, what would you say? 

I was having a recent conversation with my 8-year-old grandson, which started with my asking him what he wanted to be when he grew up.  He told me that he would be a racing driver, Formula One no less and even though childhood dreams often have little bearing on what the adult inside that child will become in later years, a few questions came to mind. 

My grandson also tells me that he could be a better fan of school.   He likes his friends and some subjects that he studies, while others are at the top of the list of things he hates, together with having to get up and out early every morning, and those students and teachers he would rather avoid.  

I am lucky because my children only live a short bus ride from me, and I see many of the generations for whom they are responsible.  I know many of my contemporaries whose children have moved far enough away to make such regular contact impossible.   This means that I have the advantage of knowing a lot more than most about those little day–to–day difficulties and obstacles they face.  Being there during those first ten years of their lives has left them asking me some of those life-searching questions that their parents’ added roles of career seekers have left their Mums and Dads less time to answer. 

I also have time to help with more than the occasional homework question and make my homework-help sessions more interesting than school might.   Most of us oldies have been grounded with sufficient knowledge to help with basic primary education subjects. There is a lot to be learned by asking the little ones how the teacher told them to approach their homework before wading in with their 194o, 50s or 60s educational size nine boots on.  

For the reluctant mini student, we grandparents can offer a lot of encouragement when it comes to helping them to bring a little of what they have learned at school home.  Just asking how they have been taught to approach the rudiments of a core subject, or two, can help them to reinforce what has been learned during their educational day and, while a chat about which schoolmates could be a better influence and the value of doing right rather than wrong while they are there are also essential grandparent/ grandchild topics of conversation, we grandparents have the academic basics buried somewhere down in the depths of our minds.  There is also something to be said about learning new ways of doing things as we oldies bring those core skills up to date.

They do say that learning anything keeps the grey matter healthy…

SC, Catford