The kids are allright

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

When you’re a child, you tend to think that the big people have it all covered. That they are in charge because they know what they are doing and that everything will be all-right because the grown-ups have it sorted. Obviously, this only applies to actual children and not teenagers, who are the only humans on the planet to know anything about anything.

Maybe the teens have a point, although I would never say that out-loud in my house, on the off-chance I actually got listened to. Look at the absolutely bloody mess that the grown-ups are currently making of the world.

Putin, with his insatiable lust for control over those parts of the globe he thinks should still be Mother Russia. Grown-up.

Boris Johnson, with his insistence that because he got Brexit done, the world will forgive him every other transgression. Grown-up

The Supreme Court of the United States, preparing to roll-back 50 years of women’s right to decide what happens to their bodies: Grown-ups.

Sir Keir Starmer, so determined to be the anti-Boris, and more likely, the anti-Corbyn, that he hasn’t come up with any actual policies or ideas of his own: Grown-up

David Cameron, who thought distilling the entire complex question of European Union membership down to a Yes/No vote would work, and then ran away when it didn’t: Grown-up

The bosses of P&O Ferries who thought that sacking most of their entire workforce via Zoom and rehiring cheap-as-chips agency workers would go un-noticed. As would cancelling all their ferry sailings, causing back-logs on Kent roads that residents are still suffering from now: Grown-ups.

Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber, pulling the plug on his Cinderella West End production, but not telling the cast or crew, leaving them to find out via social media. Grown-up

Youth and sports organisations tying themselves in knots over whether they should allow female-identifying boys to share the same changing rooms, dormitories and sports teams with girls. (In case you were in any way unclear, the answer is NO): Grown-ups

I could go on…Obviously, some of those hideously bad decisions were made by grown-ups because they were the sort of things that grown-ups get to do, in their grown-up jobs, and no-one is saying that any of this is easy.

However, sometimes you see something that makes you realise that children often have a clearer view of their world than we do. Sometimes, they get it right. They get it very, very right indeed.

Copyright: @SeburghSchool

When in doubt, be more like Bob’s friend. Or Bob’s coach, stepping back and letting the boys handle it. Heart-warming, cheek-wetting stuff.