Father’s Day – what is it really all about?  Not the shower head with the wireless speaker that the pre-Father’s Day edition of “What’s Hot” would have us believe – at least not in my house.  As I savoured the peace and tranquillity of my audibly unenhanced shower on Father’s Day last Sunday, it seemed as good a time as any to reflect on my responsibilities as a father.  At the same time, my mind inevitably turned to my father, our relationship and the important role he has played in my life.

“Son, you’ll earn your living with your head, rather than your hands” is the fatherly advice that I remember most from my childhood.  I always knew where it came from.  Straight from the heart, informed by a genuine desire for his son to have a better working life than his and indeed his father before him.  I duly obliged and ultimately went to University, studying law rather than entering the building trade, as every male member of my family had always done both before and since for that matter.  But was this the best advice for me?  And, more to the point for present purposes, is it in essence the sort of advice that I should now be relaying to my own children?