Mind the gap.....

"Mum, Dad, I think I'll take a gap year"........

Words that are heard by parents across the world...although it appears very popular in the UK and the USA.

I'd like a year off before I start my University life.........I want to find myself,

Now, in my day there was no such thing as a gap year. Am I just envious? No! 

I have just watched a video where there two different attitudes to post 16 life. One which says two years of A-level, 3 years of  university, first job, marriage etc.....another talks about all the different options including gap years.

For me, a gap year sounds like getting your pocket money before you clean your bedroom.

We don't all start a new job and say that we'll take our holidays straight away.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with wanting to teach English to kids in India, it is an admirable thing to do as your parents spend their time worried about all the things that could happen as you have never been away from home before and didn't enjoy that camping weekend with the scouts.

Surely there if you wish to do good, there are loads of things that you could do with your own community to make things better without going half way round the world.

Whilst I understand that the financial costs of going to university and paying off student loans may take a shine off the start of your first job, surely spending your free time earning money would be a better thing to do to get you back on sound financial footing sooner rather than later.

It does sound romantic and is full of good intentions, but is it a way of avoiding the responsibility that others are willing to take on?

Gap years also seem to be spent in far flung, warm and exotic locations......places that many people never go to or go back to.

Surely we should be teaching our children the importance of responsibility and whilst a gap year may provide "life changing" experiences, more often they don't.

A new religion......

Karl Marx said that "Religion was the opium of the masses"

It's not.

It's commercialisation, shopping and the need to use up time on replacing things that don't actually need to be replaced.

Holidays.

A nice little extra to keep you going though the year. Bank holiday Monday, Good Friday, Boxing Day. All occasions where we should enjoy the extra time that we have been given to spend time with loved ones and celebrate.

I blame Homebase

Why do you need to paint or wallpaper rooms over a long weekend? What's wrong with the current decoration that has seen you through many good years? No! You don't need to......wait a minute....there's a Sale on.....there's a discount price just for the Bank Holiday weekend....ooh, go on then.....

You see...too easy for us to get up off our sofa and grab our wallets.... But what about that sofa...there's a sale at DFS

Why do you need a new sofa? Has the one you have been sitting on as you watch the tv adverts "stopped working"? I mean, what do you need from a sofa.....sit comfortably...check....yeah, it's still working......"but we've changed the curtains and they don't match the sofa" .....why did we change the old curtains?.........did they stop working...opening and closing...no they were fine too.

....and I love  a good marketing myth.....like the new "rule" for a mattress.......you need to change it every 8 years.......since when?.......if you spread the story often enough it will become the truth and for married couples to avoid the 7 year itch, invest in a new mattress in time to freshen up your marriage.

When does a DFS sale end? It would be nice if they took out an advert to say so......it appears that when one holiday sale ends, another holiday sale begins.

I could go on and on about this but I've got to go into town for a bit....it seems there's a sale on.