If we learn to inspire, we can help youngsters to thrive whatever their background
Sun columnist says every young person deserves a chance, but we need to provide strong role models for kids to aspire to
ONE preoccupation of my working life has been the importance of role models.
Good, strong ones are crucial for young people who want to make something of their lives.
So it’s important that if you put yourself forward as a role model, you take that job seriously.
That’s one of the reasons why I’m such a passionate supporter of the Prince’s Trust, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and this week published a report about young people’s lives.
Many youngsters are lucky enough to take for granted a secure and supportive home. But this report revealed the degree to which some, very sadly, have no such thing.
More than half of those polled said they rarely, if ever, received help from family with their home- work.
And more than a quarter of those from poorer backgrounds felt their family did not know how to support them when they left school.
As a result, many young people feel less able to cope with their problems, are more likely to feel “destined to fail” and are more likely to end up unemployed.
The report shines a light on the importance of getting the right support. We all go through times that really challenge us and it’s the people around us who help to get us back on track. But what if you have no one to turn to?
Plenty of young people are ambitious but, for some, the barriers can seem insurmountable — be it family issues or financial pressures.
For 40 years, the Prince’s Trust has set up alternative support networks for young people who haven’t got the family help they need.
In the past year alone, the trust has done an amazing job of reaching out to support 56,000 young people. Over the past four decades, it has helped launch an astonishing 825,000 young people on to different paths than those they might have otherwise had.
Through my support of the Prince’s Trust, I’ve met so many people who have secured jobs, become entrepreneurs or re-engaged with education. The range and influence of the trust’s work is remarkable, whether helping youngsters to realise their potential, giving grants to help them start their own businesses, or helping them find work or get the training they need.
I was always ambitious, even as a child. My parents often reminded me that hard work and perseverance bring rewards in the end and that’s something I’ve never forgotten.
I went to a convent boarding school and aspects of my time there continue to shape my outlook today.
Every day was very structured. We were told what to do, what to wear and what to eat. I didn’t ever want to be in that situation again. I wanted my independence.
But I had a lot of guidance from my mum and dad and always knew they were there for me when I wanted to touch base.
After leaving school with my A levels I decided against university.
I didn’t really know what to do with my life but that crucial foundation of support I had at home meant I was confident, tenacious and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
I secured a job in advertising sales and seeing Dad develop his own business gave me an insight into that world and the vision to think big.
It was only when I became a mother that, like so many new parents, I realised just how fortunate I was to have been cared for and loved. My parents supported me and have played a big part in helping me get where I am. I also realised lots of young people don’t have that.
So when I first took on the role at Birmingham City FC, at age 23, I wanted to be a role model for other young people, especially women, and inspire them to see that anything is possible if you put in the work.
That’s one reason I’m passionate about supporting young people who may not have had the start in life I did. But more must be done across society. We need to listen to young people’s concerns, especially at a time when the UK faces so much uncertainty about the future.
No matter what their background or what challenges they face, every young person deserves a chance.
I have two children and, while I am there to guide and advise, I want them to have their own ambitions and work to achieve them.
But I also want to inspire other young people. As I often say, you can’t determine where you start in life.
But with the right support, you can determine where you end up.
Harry so brave to open up
PRINCE HARRY spoke impressively about how hard he’d found it to discuss his mother’s death until just a few years ago.
He was talking to Rio Ferdinand, whose children also lost their mother devastatingly early.
It was a brave admission.
This nation loves to give Prince Harry a bad rap about being a “playboy prince” but he is so much more than that and I like this young man.
He has real empathy with people, much like his mother.
I am sure she would be extremely proud of him.
It must be so hard to be grieving for your mother when you are contractually obliged to favour a stiff upper lip. But having the courage to speak now about his difficulty shows what a lovely young man he is – so solid and admirable.
Raving rapper
DID you see the story about the American rapper Kasper Knight, who shot himself in the cheek as a “stunt” for his music video?
“I felt like taking a bullet to the face,” he said, adding that the experience was only, “four out of ten on the pain scale”.
That, I guess, was an attempt to impress people with how macho he is.
All I can think is that he must have a screw loose.
Parents, look into my eyes
IT was hard not to laugh while watching Lisa Machenberg – a 56-year-old mother of three from California – discussing her parenting strategies on TV show This Morning.
She said she has had great results using . . . wait for it . . . hypnotism.
She swears by it helping her children with everything from potty-training to exams.
But the thing that really stood out was her claim that she hypnotises her children into doing housework.
Nice idea. But personally, I find one of my Apprentice-like stares moves them quickly into action.
C4 show is buff and nonsense
SERIOUSLY, is nothing sacred any more?
I watched a few minutes of Channel 4’s new dating show Naked Attraction (from behind a pillow) but had to turn it off pretty quickly because I was cringing too much even for car-crash fascination to get the better of me.
Channel 4 is trying to dress up the show – which is a bit like Blind Date, only naked – as a social experiment.
But all I can see is a shameless grasp at ratings from a channel that has lost its way since being set up in 1982 with the aim of being “innovative, experimental and distinctive”.
I was proud to sit on the board of Channel 4 for seven years at a time when it really was adhering to those aims – winning countless awards for brilliantly original shows such as Shameless and picking up Oscars for its films.
It’s been going downhill for a few years now but this is a new low.
Getting contestants who would clearly do ANYTHING for fame to stand naked and be assessed for nothing other than their physical attributes is exploitative and degrading to both contestants and viewers.
Reducing attraction to something so base and one-dimensional as the size of someone’s bum – or worse – is basic, superficial and shallow.
Of course, you could ask: “Which comes first – the chicken or the egg? The viewer or the show?”
But in this case, I think the show is a sad reflection of TV executives today.
It is the ultimate example of dumbing-down and low expectations.
The whole show is ghastly and I hate to think about what message it’s sending to young people. It feels like the lowest of the low.
Best just say: 'Yes, my dear'
NEW research from Goldsmiths, University of London, attempts to detail what exactly it is that makes a relationship work.
Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to analyse couples and identify their formulas for relationship success.
It includes talking about your relationship, being happy to do nothing together and your friends approving of you being together.
That’s all well and good.
But I personally find using the words “Yes, dear”, in response to everything, is the real secret to relationship success.
Bad luck Charm
WATCHING the glamour model Candy Charms on TV show Botched the other night was so sad.
Having had multiple surgeries, resulting in 32LL breasts, she said: “I realised the bigger they were, the more money I could make from them.”
She regretted the surgery because it made day-to-day life tricky. But when surgeons advised a reduction due to her breasts being in “great distress”, she refused, saying it meant losing fans and, I guess, income.
It’s a really sad reflection of our world that a young woman feels so sure her only value lies in surgical enhancement so extreme that she decides to prioritise “fans” over her own health.