I was browsing through this website and found a letter which highlighted a sentiment which is close to my heart.

Rudy Morgan was the writer and his focus on the day was the fact that so many young children, especially young boys, often don’t have a role model that they can look up to.  (►►►)

It seems to me that the youngsters of today are so often influenced by TV celebrities, who appear to do no wrong because such celebrities only allow their best traits to be aired in public, or they find themselves trying to be like characters in the many films that don’t show their heroes in the best light and, which often show the violence and reversed heroics, but not the consequences for the characters.

I think that Rudy’s thinking with regard to his take on the world’s modern young men’s lack of someone to look up to is absolutely right.  His solution is also spot on and, if more grandfathers take on board what Rudy has to say in his last paragraph, the next generation will benefit.  My only worry is that perhaps Rudy could have stressed that really young means ‘really young’ more forcefully.

We need to be instilling these thoughts in the minds of fathers before their babies are conceived so that, as soon as they are born these little ones are beginning to see the value of having someone close and real to learn from, ‘warts and all’. 

So all I want to say is that we need to start lecturing our sons as soon as they become prospective dads, and if dad is too busy or not available, I suggest that grandads need to be there for the young boys as soon as they start to learn the ways of the world, as soon as they work out what an electronic toy does and well before they get to pre-school. 

CK, Bromley