Gap year? Try growth year.
The elusive gap year, to some parents the word sends chilling thoughts of young matriculants loafing around the house while their peers get a head start in the big daunting world of work or study. Others still, wholeheartedly endorse this experience as an opportunity to grow and embrace the world in all its chaotic wonder. Which side of the fence you sit on is usually a reflection of personal experience or perhaps borne from the understandable desire to see you child achieve autonomy and drive. In my personal capacity and that of an Educational Psychologist in Cape Town I have experienced and witnessed first that, if done right a gap year can be the kind of experience that has a lasting and meaningful effect on an individual. Parent can be forgiven for wanting their child to go straight into University. Sometimes this may reflect a passing bursary opportunity or the understanding that finances are, at best, unreliable so study well its possible. However a potential problem...