Sir, – May I give some advice to the many parents of children starting their Leaving Cert.
Tell your children that you love them – and often. Tell them that you hope they will do their best but whatever the outcome they can come home and they will be loved just as much as ever.
Tell them there is lifelong learning and the Leaving Cert is but one, relatively small, stepping stone along the road of life. And always remember, the ones who do best do not always succeed best in life.
I sat my Leaving in 1969, and the pressure was horrific, way over the top. Of course, it did not help that school life in general at that time was a very unhappy experience.
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I survived and learnt very quickly that there was a lot more to life than the Leaving Cert. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN McDEVITT,
Glenties,
Co Donegal.
