Role Models

Children are always looking for role models in their lives even before they really know what it means, whether it’s a character from a TV show or a sports star.

My oldest daughter is 5 and her role models at a guess would be Peppa Pig or someone from a similar show but over the coming years this will change to the latest pop star or possibly at a push a female sports star.

Here comes the problem, if we’re lucky she’ll look up to someone like Jessica Ennis who has always seemed like a down to Earth person and in the Summer of 2012 stole everyone’s hearts and made us all feel proud to be British.

These days people like her seem few and far between. From a very young age I have always watched football and as far back as I can remember I’ve supported Liverpool. The players these days are paid an extreme amount of money more in a week than most will earn in 10 years so it should be easy to conduct yourself is a decent manner. Young children all around the World look up to these players and adore them.

Lately I’m sure you’ve all seen the headlines and news bulletins about Luis Suarez who during a game of football decided the best thing to do would be to bite another player. It wasn’t an accident he actually went out of his way to bite another human. When I first heard about this I thought someone was joking but then looking back at it I think it’s one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen a sportsman do.

The resulting punishment for this crime is a 10 game ban and a fine yet he still keeps his job. If I’d have done this I’d be out on my ear. Various people have said that this is a harsh punishment, how can it be. Millions of children around the World have seen this and I bet some have now tried this on the school fields and playgrounds because their ‘role model’ done it.

Darren Coleshill

Onedad3girls