Retirement

What Are Your Plans?

What are you going to do? What dreams are you going to follow? Which of the plans will you carry forwards and fulfil?

Giving Back

Giving something back is such a hackneyed phrase but it has always been something that I wanted to do when I retired and I now reap such rich rewards from volunteering in my local primary school, that I wanted to spread the word and get more people involved with what is, after all, the future of our country.

What Comes Next?

Retiring at 60 was the dream of all my working days but after about three months the stark truth struck me – what was I going to do with my time? When you are working all hours, running a home, bringing up a family; time becomes the one resource you do not have enough of but retirement gives you a gift that you can either use or squander.
So I thought I would tell you the story of my journey after retirement from a very busy and responsible job in the exhibition world to voluntarily teaching children on a daily basis.

Do Something Different

I want to give others the incentive and inspire people to go out there and do something. Whether your interests encompass young people, old people, developing your hobby to another level or just wanting to meet other people, there is something out there for you. It is just a matter of finding out what suits you.

A Love of Reading

I love reading and cannot imagine what a life would be like without that skill and pleasure so I approached by local primary school and got a meeting with the head who agreed that I would become a “listener”. I would sit with children, listen to them read and help them to understand our very complex and beautiful language. Hopefully I will instil in them the love of books that I have always had.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Children are very amusing and here are three stories of incidents that happened to me.

Checking Up

One delightful little girl of five was reading and came to an exclamation mark. She paused and asked me what it was. I explained that it was put there so the reader would know that they had to emphasise those particular words; but she had read it very well and had emphasised the “Oh No!” perfectly. She stopped and gave me another strange look and asked me if I was sure that was what it stood for? I told her that I was sure and she should carry on. Again she paused and looked around the class and then whispered “Would you like to go and check up on that?” I assured her that I did not need to and she carried on but I secretly think she did check with her teacher that I was telling the truth.

Running Out of Words

Another day I was working with a small boy who loved to talk and I told him that he should stop talking and carry on with his work. He stopped and put his hands on his hips and wearily told me that I was just like his mother. I asked him why that was and he informed me that his mother told him that if he did not stop talking he would eventually run out of words. I told him that was probably true. He then drew very close to me and asked me if I wanted to know how he got round the problem. I must admit that I was intrigued, so he went on to tell me that he often talked into a bottle and put his thumb over the top and then swallowed the words so that he would be able to use them again. I loved the logic of the whole thing.

A Cliff Hanger!

Some weeks later I was telling a seven year old about the meaning of a “cliff hanger” in a story and his task was to carry on from that point and make up his own tale. The cliff hanger was “Was it a ghost?”................. He thought about it for some time and then put me in the picture by saying that the ghost was invisible but had a glass in one eye which would turn people to stone if they looked into it. He wanted to know what that was called and I told him it was a monocle which he then proceeded to call a “monajee”. He went on to describe the ghost and told me that he was wearing invisible trousers but I should not worry about it because I would not be able to see his “man bits”. He proceeded to also say that if there was a she ghost in the story you would not be able to see her “lady bits either”. I was most reassured.

Reaping the Rewards

These are just some stories I could tell and the satisfaction that I get from working with these little people is immense. So go out there and offer your services to your local primary school or become a mentor for older children who perhaps do not have the benefit of extended family or are a product of single parent families. It is worth it and brings such rich rewards that I can recommend it to anyone who wants to give something back.