Knowledge is the cornerstone of any civilised society; it is the way we understand our surroundings and push to expand our horizons. Education gives people a path by which they can challenge what they see, hear and feel. Education allows to understand where we have come from, where we have been and why we were there. It allows us to ponder and propose where we may go and the reasons for taking a certain path.

Learning itself is natural, untaught and innate. We learn from the moment we are born until the moment we die. Formal education is an invaluable life tool, as well as a necessity for any modern civilisation. It equips us, trains us, teaches us, challenges us and most importantly, focuses our learning over a broad spectrum of subjects and fields.

We can, however, help our children learn from a much earlier age. From birth, reading to children opens their minds and imaginations. It asks them to imagine things outside their ordinary existence. It can teach them to dream of adventure, to think of what makes their world the way it is and to wonder what possibilities there are.

Physical activity, if continual and repeated, can allow children’s motor functions and skills to advance rapidly. Such invaluable skills such as hand-eye co-ordination, reflexes and the development of strength equip a child for the physical rigours of life that await them.

Challenging mental activity, such as colour and shape distinction, can assist a child to make sense of the world around them from an early age. Teaching recognition is also a key tool in educating our young children. Educational tools such as pictorial cards are a valuable component in this.

We should be committed to helping our children learn from birth. Through reading to them, challenging them mentally and physically and also encouraging their minds, we can help our children develop and grow as people from a much earlier age.

We should embrace a culture of lifelong learning.

You know those days where it’s hard to even get out of bed, let alone think? And where everything is like a million butterflies flapping at once and you feel like you’re going to fall over? Today was one of them.

I woke at six am as my mobile was ringing; it was my girlfriend calling from overseas, so naturally I was a tad more than keen to take the call. I got out of bed and went outside to get some air whilst I was talking to her. We spoke for a while and after I got off the phone I crawled back into the warm (but big and empty, sniff) sanctuary that is my bed. A couple of minutes later I had intense stomach pains, and rushed to the toilet. I won’t go into graphic detail, but I was feeling it at both ends and it wasn’t exactly pretty.

Forty-five minutes later I was back in bed and drifted off to sleep, though I was still not feeling too crash hot. I woke at various times throughout the day but kept dozing. Around 3pm (it was a great sleep in) I got up again, walked outside in my dressing gown and old man slippers to get the mail. Whilst I was standing at the front door flicking through to see what horribly huge bills were here to weigh on my shoulders and wallet, I saw a well dressed guy distributing pamphlets. I waved genially to him as he passed our house. He replied with the standard “G’day mate” and slipped something in the letterbox. Now me being someone who believes in moments in life that changes us, I thought “If this is some sort of helpful pamphlet I’m gonna do it, no matter what it is”. It could have been a promotion for a community centre or a leaflet to recruit people into Islam, which would have been fine as the growth on my face was getting ratty.

I sauntered slowly back to the letterbox and opened it up, wondering what life changing literature would stare up at me. And it was… a real estate agent flyer. Fanbloodytastic. I’d placed my faith and salvation in an auctioneer.

Talk about your all time backfires of redemption.

I walked back inside and crawled back into bed disheartened and disconsolate.

When every ounce of the strength you don’t have is concentrated on not breaking down into a blubbering mess of tears and snot, you know it’s going to be a tough day.