Relationships of Life

Have you ever considered the relationship between a teacher and student?  At first among the younger pupils, the teacher is usually more of a caring and loving character.  This is in order to ease the transfer for a child from nursery school or kindergarten to 'big school'.  In these early stages of school life the teacher-child relationship is often viewed rather like a care giver as the teacher is seemingly replacing a parent during the daytime hours.

As the years pass by and the child becomes older and progresses in school years, the relationship between the teacher and the student does change.  The teacher - or a good teacher anyway - needs to ensure discipline in the classroom in order to produce a suitable learning environment.  In my opinion, this is a very important aspect that needs to be present in the classroom. Although the teacher-student relationship may sometimes be of a friendly, caring and perhaps almost loving nature, in my experience the best teacher manages to maintain some sort of distance.  Too close or too friendly fails to produce a productive and positive relationship in such a situation.  After all, the whole purpose behind this type of relationship is that material or information is passed on from the teacher to the student.  The teacher needs to teach and the student needs to learn.  This is the aim in such a relationship.  In a situation where there is a good teacher - student bond, the children will be able to absorb the information required while offering respect to the teacher.

No, this is not a blog entry regarding a big brother as in George Orwell 1984 style.  This is something completely different.  What interested me here is the relationship with a big brother.  I have the fortune - or misfortune - whichever way you look at it - of being a 'sandwich child'.  This of course relates to being a middle child and has nothing to do with food.  I have an older brother and a younger brother and each one has produced a totally different relationship.

A big brother is often considered someone to look up to.  This brother has usually paved the way for siblings to follow and is usually to be admired.  This is true in my case.  I suppose he was the guinea pig as far as my parents were concerned.  This is not meant in a cruel sense but just relates to the fact that as he was the first child, certain things were tried out on him.  Here, I am referring to methods of bringing up a child, matters of discipline, etc.  So, by the time they got to me ? it was no longer a case of trial and error.  Perhaps I feel that for that reason, I should be eternally grateful to my big brother and our relationship is based on that foundation.  As children, we got on quite well compared to other families where the children would fight often.  However, once we became older and each went our own separate ways with our own families, the relationship unfortunately became less close.

There is nothing quite like a childhood friendship that has lasted for years.  You know the type of relationship that I am talking about - probably with one good friend - certainly not more than a couple of such friends.  This is the kind of friendship that even if you have not been in touch for a long time, you can still pick up the strings where you left off.  You both are familiar with the other one's background and family.  Perhaps you were at school together and know some of the same friends.  You have a similar upbringing or culture and enjoyed similar things in the past - such as books or television programs when you were younger.  In a way, it is irrelevant how much time has gone past since the last meeting as when you do get together, there is no need for explanations as you both know each other so well.  You begin a conversation as though you just left it a day earlier.

Such a friendship is like gold and should be treasured.  In my opinion, we only experience one or two such relationships in a lifetime.  They need to be nurtured and looked after and treated with respect.  There is a certain trust and security that lies with such a friendship.  You can tell each other anything as you know that any secrets will be safe.  You know that you will offer and receive moral and physical support as required.  To sum up, a childhood friendship is a unique asset and should be cherished.