Hi I’m Mike.
I’m married with six children and ten grandchildren. I’ve been retired from teaching for 12 years and have just started being a public examination Invigilator. I have a multitude of hobbies and interests and I worked in Germany and Holland for eight years in the 1990s.
I’ve been working with my young person for some six months now. I learned about Change Grow Live from my eldest daughter and felt the need to spend time with a teenager having retired from teaching long ago. Not entirely altruistically, but being with young people helps keep you young in spirit I believe.
I’ve supported my young person by suggesting he look at getting a part-time job to aid his ability to integrate as he does self-isolate a great deal. I’ve chatted at length with him about his college work which he finds difficult and by discussing our monthly budget, he has clearly evolved in his ability to appreciate the value of money. I believe and hope that my visits are improving his self-confidence and ability to communicate. I also hope that they are starting to reduce his inertia and he is very gradually becoming more realistic about his future, which is crucial as he’ll be an adult in less than a year. I enjoy the chance to motivate him to do something with his life.
We’ve done a number of different activities together, mostly sport orientated which is his choice, but these clearly bring him out of his shell. Recently he beat me at mini golf, despite the fact that I play full course golf each week – he was ecstatic. We went indoor rock climbing and he was bemused and clearly amazed that an old bloke could climb so successfully!