Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), Fred DeLuca (Subway) and David Geffen (Dreamworks) are four of the richest people in the world and one thing that they have in common is their lack of (or limited) formal education.  Being raised in a family where education was highly valued and sought-after, I still believe in the value of the education system, however, I realise that the real life experiences play a big role in shaping a child and preparing him for success in the real world.

One of the problems with a lot of schools these days is that too many are guilty of teaching children how to follow but not to think for themselves.  If you want your child to succeed in life, it is becoming more important for them to learn to be street-wise and not rely solely on what they learn in school. 

Helping your child to break away from the herd mentality and how to think outside the box often requires sending them to the school of hard knocks.  With the advent of the internet, this is getting easier to do with less risk.  It used to be that if you wanted to foster your child’s entrepreneurial spirit, it meant sending them out to the street corner where they could sell lemonade for a few cents a cup.  Nowadays, you can use electronic methods to educate your child on the ways of the world.

Admitedly, in the days of lemonade stands, parents had a lot less to fear about the dangers imposed on their children for being out on the streets.  These days, with rampant kidnappings, child rape and murder in the news, a parent could be forgiven for being over protective.  Even the internet is not free from paedophiles and unsavoury characters whom no parent would ever want near their child, but the benefit of using the internet is that you can still monitor who comes into contact with your child if you take the appropriate measures.  It allows you to offer your child a real-world education to run alongside their formal education.

Rather than focussing entirely on formal education, hubby and I have decided to adopt a more relaxed attitude towards school and allow Gavin to choose his own profession.  I believe that if you make education fun and relevant, a child will be more interested to learn - just look at a toddler and how he learns through play. 

Even I have realised that learning becomes so much easier when I am keenly interested in the subject rather than being required to learn it.  The ability to excel increases manifold simply because the attention applied is much greater.  When I think back to my school days, most of the lessons that remain firm in my memory are the ones that I had a keen interest in, while the ones I learned for the sake of learning have fallen by the wayside.

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