 Welcome back to How I Parent, where we get a glimpse into how the nation is raising their kids. 'Raising children is like having curly hair,' says married mum Julia Silver, 44, from Edgware, London. 'You need to help it be it's best self.' She and husband Simon fork out £250 per week on private tutors, so their five children – Michael 17, Benjamin 15, Rina 14, Daniel 11, and Sara 8 – can get ahead. Julia says it's the secret behind their great grades, confidence and positive development – and that it's far more important than a family holiday. She first sought a tutor for her eldest son, Michael, when he started Year 7 at their local state faith school, because the Hebrew class 'was a disaster'. 'Michael kept getting detentions for not doing the work that he didn't know how to access because it was a new language and he wasn't able to follow the teacher,'she says. An online search led her to Josh, who was 'a really inspiring young man with a lovely academic record in Hebrew'. 'The first time he came to the house, of course, it was a little bit awkward but mainly because it's a bit of a fly on the wall [situation], and it tends to be at dinner time,' she shares. 'But he got right to work and left a lovely impression on the whole family.' Currently, three of Julia's children has a tutor which costs £250 a week (Photo: Own) Another tutor swiftly joined the ranks when Michael's school faced closure a month before Covid because of asbestos. 'My son is bright academically and wanted to study science, but at that stage, he felt like the adults were failing him,' Julia says. She opted for Chris, an ex-army officer in his sixties who had built several businesses. During lockdown, Michael was mainly stuck in his bedroom and some days, Chris was the only person he spoke to via his online sessions. 'It was quite an emotional time,' Julia recalls. 'I remember that there were times when I would look at Mich){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Welcome back to How I Parent, where we get a glimpse into how the nation is raising their kids.
‘Raising children is like having curly hair,’ says married mum Julia Silver, 44, from Edgware, London. ‘You need to help it be it’s best self.’
She and husband Simon fork out £250 per week on private tutors, so their five children – Michael 17, Benjamin 15, Rina 14, Daniel 11, and Sara 8 – can get ahead.
Julia says it’s the secret behind their great grades, confidence and positive development – and that it’s far more important than a family holiday.