Sometimes I think my 11 month old son Joey has a genetic make-up closer to that of a tank than his sister. Sure, they look similar as brothers and sisters tend to do and after an initial period of Miss 2 pounding the crap out of her newborn brother at every opportunity, they get on great. (If being friends with a piece of precision military equipment were possible.)

A friend recently attended his aunt’s 100th birthday party. It was a big affair and the lucky lady who is still in great shape spoke with great clarity about life. She said if there was one message she wanted to leave the assembled group, it was- ‘be kind’.

I have since dwelt on this message and it echoes as an eminently sensible and laudable aim in life. We all live in a tumultuous world where the pain and suffering of others hits us at every media report. As adults we struggle to make sense of the carnage and rage but essentially we all just get on with our lives hoping for some resolution of the conflict(s).

Here in Eastbourne we live in a relatively safe and sheltered haven yet our children are growing up in a more visibly hostile environment than we did.

Clearly the early experiences of children have a profound impact on their future learning.

Parents and teachers have to walk a very fine line making sure what they place value on is achievable and relevant at that time for the learner. Boys for example, can take longer than girls to get mastery over the early language links and their fine motor coordination which impacts on their presentation skills. However with appropriate support and advice, these skills can be steadily built without shutting down their thinking, risk taking and all round self belief.