Why shouldn’t we give our children a leg up?

It's 10 years on from the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and as I write this, “significant new lines of inquiry” are being investigated. Whatever our feelings about whether the McCanns should have left their children alone that night, they have suffered 10 long years of torture because of it. Could she at last be found? Who knows what she has been through in the intervening years. At least as Kate McCann said this week, they always have hope. In contrast, on our TV screens this week we saw Little Boy Blue, a drama based on the murder of 11year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool 10 years ago. Rhys was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was crossing a car park on his way home from football practice and unwittingly walked between two rival gangs. It was the disbelief, the shock of how on earth their son could have been shot, how an ordinary family like millions of others, mother doing the ironing, father off to work, could have their lives turned upside down in an instant. Of course, unlike the McCann family, for the Jones family there was no hope. This all sounds totally depressing and for those of us like myself who are serial worriers and dread the thought of a knock on the door or a telephone call, it is all a bit much. We need to remember though that the reason these stories are in the news is because they are rare. You can't live your life in fear of them. I often wonder how hard it is for Kate and Gerry McCann to let their other children out of their sight. It's a really good thing that we never see the children in the media. They have been allowed to lead as normal a childhood as possible. It must be hard for the McCanns not to spoil their other children though. One man who has gone on record as saying he doesn't 14 spoil his children is chef Gordon Ramsay. He says when the whole family goes on holiday that he and his wife Tana sit in first class while their children sit in economy. He has also said he doesn't intend to leave his millions to his children. He reckons they need to make their own way in life. It's certainly true though that lots of children from wealthy backgrounds don't have the drive of children who have come from nothing. I see it on lots of TV shows. There are contestants who have had nothing in life and this is their one big chance. They grab it with both hands. On the other hand I've seen some of the spoilt ones complain about having to get up early for filming. However, so much for Gordon Ramsay's children not having a bit of a leg up. Did you see Tilly Ramsay cook a chilli con carne on This Morning the other day? She’s a lovely girl ,very polite, with a nice attitude, not too full of herself and she chatted away nicely. However, she cooked some mince in a pan, added some pre measured spices then served one she, or someone else backstage, had made earlier! Anyone could have made that chilli. In fact, Phillip Schofield was prompting her along the way with what to add next. There was no way that basic recipe, cooked in a very basic way like that would have been on that cookery item cooked by anyone else. Gordon Ramsay may think he is letting his children make their own way in life but I think they have a bit of a head start. And why not? Most of us would do that if we could. As much as Gordon Ramsay goes on about making his children grounded, us parents are all the same. And we are the lucky ones, unlike the McCanns and Jones families. So what if we give them a leg up or spoil them a bit? Have a good week. The Press and Journal | Saturday, April 29, 2017