10 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR DADS

By Jay S Khan. BA, MBA, CMgr

We will all remember the year 2020 for many different reasons and for those that are younger, you will in time learn all about this year as part of history.  Bereavement, tragedies, queues, daily news conferences, confusion, and the obsession for buying toilet paper are just some of the things that will stick in the mind for many.  It goes without saying that many endured hardship and obstacles unlike anything they have encountered before in their life.

The Covid-19 pandemic bought the world to its knees in a way not seen in modern times. It has been said that you would have to go back to the Second World War for a comparable time when the nation was destabilised like this. That in itself says everything about 2020 and, similarly to that period, adversity can often bring out the best in people.

Now however, with the announcement and roll out of the vaccine, there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel.  Let’s hope that this is the beginning of better times ahead.  

This lockdown can be a time of reflection. The iconography of the past year will no doubt shape the way we move forward. It is time to look to the year ahead and what will be the next chapter of your life. We often consider resolutions to be enacted in the New Year and, whilst before so many would have fallen by the wayside come February, 2021 should be the year that we try and properly indoctrinate them into our lives going forward.

Here are 10 simple ideas to get you started -

When making a change, always keep in mind what it is that will help to keep you motivated, and what is the outcome that you wish to achieve.  This could be anything from saving money, becoming healthier, or simply enriching your own and your family’s life.

1.         Eat healthy and Exercise more - Very common and popular and probably one of the most beneficial and most difficult to sustain but persistence and dedication is the key.

2.         Give up a bad habit – This could be anything that you consider as a bad habit and can include the obvious ones of giving up smoking, reducing alcohol intake, or as simple as stopping biting your nails.

3.         Be more Charitable with your time and money – Charity may not always be about giving money, it can be time, resources or expertise, so think about what you may have that someone less fortunate can benefit from.

4.         Learn or do something new – This could be absolutely anything from cooking, learning a new language, or something far more left-field such as bog snorkelling or taking part in a cheese chasing competition!

5.        Post lockdown spend more time with family and friends – This is one of the biggest things to consider coming out of an unprecedented year.

6.         Do that thing you always wanted – The last 10 months has produced innovation that otherwise may not have come to the fore as a result of job losses, lockdown etc.

7.         Take a chance and be adventurous – Once you hit a certain milestone in age, you tend to lose your mojo slightly, so aim to get it back and consider what adventure means for you, this could anything from hiking to taking part in boot camp.

8.         Make time for yourself and go for a walk or cycle – Resolutions don’t always have to be intense, do something more calming that allows you to be self-reflective more often.

9.         Resolve ongoing disputes with friends and family – As difficult as this sounds at times, the last 10 months has shown us that life is not forever and sometimes we may have to live with regrets for the rest of our lives. 

10. Reduce your screen time with a ‘No device’ day - This was one that was implemented in my house for a good 4 months about 2 years ago, and this is something I will again be considering.

When making a change, always keep in mind what it is that will help to keep you motivated, and what is the outcome that you wish to achieve.  This could be anything from saving money, becoming healthier, or simply enriching your own and your family’s life.

GET YOUR MASKEY ON!

By J S Khan

The announcement of job losses has become all too familiar over the last few months and, according to the Independent, unemployment in the UK is set to surge to 3.5 million this year.  Some of the UK’s biggest companies such as British Airways, HSBC and John Lewis have been forced to cut thousands of jobs. According to City A.M, UK companies are collectively set to make over 85,000 job cuts due to coronavirus, with over 120,000 roles being cut overall.

Whilst the government’s furlough scheme has helped to ease a UK unemployment spike, and provided businesses with some breathing space, it is predicted that the job loss rate will further surge as furlough ends.  The government is trying its upmost to kick start the recovery of the economy through various initiatives and we will just have to see how this year turns out.

Many existing businesses have been forced to be creative in order to ensure the sustainability of their business model throughout the pandemic and beyond. Whilst the immediate future looks bleak there are new and innovative businesses that have surfaced in the face of adversity and many budding entrepreneurs have come to the fore. None more so than Adam Freeman with his new business that is bucking the trend and creating jobs and opportunities.

I had the pleasure of meeting entrepreneur Adam Freeman (pictured below), CEO and founder of Maskey, who had his eureka moment when trying to find a suitable face mask. On speaking to his friend who owns a suit manufacturing company, Adam realised there was a connection to be made, hence the birth of Maskey.  

The two friends have gone on to repurpose an existing tailoring business in order to launch Maskey, the UK’s first-ever manufacturer to offer fashionable face masks for sale through a contact-less vending machine. Maskey was born in April 2020 and their first Maskey vending machine was set up on the high street in Chigwell outside of a local convenience store. It went live on 10th May 2020, and according to Adam “The response was beyond what we could have expected. Within four days we had exceeded sales forecasts and the first Maskey machine was featured in a full-page article in one of the UK’s leading newspapers.”

The London-based company specialises in washable face coverings and has seen demand grow because of the COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent mandatory face covering on public transport and more recently in shops.

Maskey has created almost 50 new jobs in the last 2 months with a further 20+ planned as demand for the product increases. In addition to this they are currently in the process of building a second mini factory based in London which will create even more jobs. With 50 locations already in place, including Hamleys, they will be opening their fifth shop later this month and have recently signed a distribution deal with WHSmith to supply Maskeys to hundreds of their stores.  In terms of production, Maskey is currently manufacturing 25,000 masks a week from its London factory.

Since the emergence of Maskey, there has been an overwhelming positive media coverage on the company from various tv broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV, and print media including The Huffington Post and the Metro, with further coverage on various radio stations.

Adam comes across as a very unassuming guy, dressed in a black top, jeans and trainers with an air of confidence, but speaking to him it was clear within the first 10 seconds that his mind is working on multiple levels. It was evident that Adam possesses all the characteristics of a brilliant entrepreneur and this is evidenced by other successful businesses that he has set-up in the past.   

I couldn’t help but feel inspired by Adam and his approach towards life and business. It was clear that money was not the motivating factor in this enterprise as Adam stated, “Money is just a by-product of a great idea and hard work”.

THE CHALLENGES OF HOME SCHOOLING - COVID SERIES

By Jay S Khan

Anna Dusseau, a teacher and home educator, mentioned in a recent article published in the Guardian online, that she felt her son and daughter were being ‘processed’ in school.  She is currently preparing to publish a book of advice outlining her own approach to home schooling her children, which includes 100 different learning activities that parents can try. Dusseau suggests that more families, including over 50,000 children, are rejecting institutional schooling for home education due to the “forced learning” in schools, the coercion of the national curriculum and the testing and results-driven English schooling system.

Whilst I don’t necessarily agree with all Dusseau’s findings, Dr Richard House has also suggested that current research gives further evidence that home-educated children achieve substantially better outcomes than the mainstream. Even more importantly, as Dusseau says, children are more able to discover “who they really are, and what they want to do in life”, as opposed to them having to develop a “false self” just to survive at the hands of a schooling system that is stultified by the soulless audit culture. Again I don’t necessarily agree with all the points as there is something to be said about children going to school and learning about the outside environment, particularly in terms of travelling, environmental structure and competition, and recognising the differences they have with their peers.

Many of you, I suspect, have taken to ‘Home Schooling’ like a duck to water whilst the rest of us dread our kids asking ‘Mum, Dad can you help me with my homework?’.  The panic starts and the sweat beads start to trickle down the side of your face whilst you try to retain some sort of composure.  Over the last few months, I have a much greater appreciation of those parents who home school as a way of life.  There are many aspects that need to be considered, such as structure, content, and discipline to name just a few.  This is in addition to getting your head around the school system of marking, grading, and examination boards.  There is a plethora of paperwork and red tape to endure and I tip my hat to those that have mastered it.

For many of us, attempting to put tried and tested structures in place, in addition to what we think is a good idea at the time, make us realise that not every home-schooling plan will be suitable for everyone and this will be dependent upon many factors such as the age of the children, home setting and availability of resources.

I must say that calling my attempts to tutor my kids ‘Home schooling’ is somewhat stretching it. Nevertheless, what I found in my own experience over the last few months is to give the children the freedom to express themselves, this will naturally be dependent on what key stage your children are at.  I have 4 children, twin 14-year-olds, boy and girl, a 9 year old boy and a 7 year old girl, and luckily for me none of them were at any significant key stages, allowing me to be able to have some sort of creative licence and experiment through trial and error.  With the twins it was relatively easy, even though they are at that awkward age with hormonal changes taking effect, as they were being set online work by their school on a regular basis, so it was more about monitoring that they were getting on with their work.  Although in certain subjects providing guidance was useful, what I found with them is that generally they were aware what they had to do and talking it through with them gave them the confidence to discover the answers for themselves. 

With the 2 younger ones, however, it was significantly different. Although the school provided some handouts for them to complete, I somewhat struggled to understand the work provided.  I therefore decided to create a weekly timetable, with the core subjects they were being taught in schools combined with additional fun activities which I put up on the fridge.  This included a ‘Choose your own activity’ which the kids really enjoyed and looked forward to as it allowed them to discuss with me and each other what they wanted to do. The home school day lasted 4 hours with breaks and lunch time.  I downloaded a lot of the materials from the internet and gave them folders for all their subjects. They were excited and took ownership immediately.  In the beginning I tried to implement a disciplined approach, routinely checking their work and losing my cool on occasions when they got things wrong, but I found that counterproductive.  I therefore changed my strategy to a ‘Have-a-go’ approach and allowed them to do the work themselves and told them not to worry about getting things wrong and that I will go through the work with them once they completed it.  This approach worked wonders for both of us, as they just got on with it and I was no longer losing my own discipline.  Although my approach is not ‘Home Schooling’ in its element or traditional sense, I knew it would be temporary and, as I stated earlier, I admire those that do it full time as it requires a lot of work, patience, and effort.