Friday's child
June 25, 1999
Recently, Jonathan had a problem. He had forgotten his
maths homework, so he got a telling off. When he still
couldn't find it, his dad wrote him a note, so it was OK.
Also, his girlfriend Sally chucked him. They had been going
out for six months and she just said she was bored. It was
upsetting, so he cried all over his mother. Then he told
his dad and cried again. Then he went to sleep. In the
morning, he felt awful, so his mum let him have the day off
school. She came back early from work and took him to the
pictures.
Next day, life didn't seem so terrible, and on the bus he
noticed that Jadine from the year below was definitely
interested. Plus, Sally didn't seem all that cheerful
either. And his dad said not to forget they were going
sailboarding that weekend and did he want to bring a
friend?
Of course, it is a bit stressful doing your GCSEs,
especially when your parents say you can't go out more than
once a week. But Jonathan's parents have been going over
some of the papers with him and they seem to think he will
do all right. Anyhow, if he doesn't, what the hell, he can
always try again. As his dad says, there's lots of second
chances in this life. And the football team he plays in
rose four places up the league table, thanks - as his
brothers say - to his brilliant goal-keeping.
He has got awful spots, mind you. But his aunt says there's
this brilliant spot lotion she's read about and she works
in the chemist and she's bringing some over on Saturday,
which is also the day he works in the record store (pretty
good, hey?). Saturday is usually a good day because he gets
paid and they all have a bit of a laugh, but he does miss
going to the football with his dad so next season he's
going to get a different job, either at the football ground
itself or with his dad's friend who prints the programmes
and gets some free tickets, which would be wicked.
After GCSEs Jonathan will probably stay on. It makes sense,
doesn't it? He should get reasonable marks, even good marks
if he applies himself, which he is going to, some of the
time. His mates - there's a group of them who like the same
music and support the same football team - say it would be
great to go to university. Lots of free time and you get a
good job at the end of it. Jonathan's not quite so sure -
it sounds like a lot of hard work, but on the other hand
he's enjoyed his time studying at school and the careers
teacher was sure he would do ok.
Jonathan is a can-do boy, a success story identified
recently by Adrienne Katz in her impressive survey of
teenage boys, called Tomorrow's Men. Britain's can-do boys
are a group - a quarter of Ms Katz's sample of 1,400 13 to
19-year-olds - who are set to do well at school, better
even than the most successful girls.
A leading lad like Jonathan has high self-esteem, a good
relationship with his parents and a father who's involved.
He's a boy who views school favourably and is viewed
favourably by it. The worst comment he ever had on his
report was: "If Jonathan wasn't so relaxed he might
surprise us all." When he looks at the world he thinks:
"Yes, I can do that." Luckily for us all, he probably will.
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