Last week, in All Gifted’s newsletter, I announced that the youngest student to make it to med school is 17-year-old Suki*. And while everyone is happy celebrating her phenomenal success, I only have one wish for her: good health.
Suki is a very sickly child, and it is for this reason that her mom came to my alternate path seminar 5 years ago to find an alternate path because Suki was missing school constantly due to poor health. Under normal circumstances, her studies would suffer a great deal.
Over the last five years, not only did Suki* not fall behind, she finished her high school two years ahead of her peers and made it to Monash Medical School. Some say it is a miracle, some might say it is luck but I say it is a wise mother’s decision to believe in her child and then steer her education in the right direction. In the end, Suki achieved what she dreams of.
While Pat* would only give credits to Suki for being a driven and hardworking student, that alone would not have gotten her this far. Pat told me that she invested one afternoon to hear what alternate paths mean and then, she just got more courage to do what was right for her child. Suki is such a hardworking child, achieving what she did was not difficult as soon as she knew what to do.
Interestingly, after the newsletter went out, another mother, Atica*, wrote and told me that her daughter will turn 18 before making into the same medical school. She asked me how Suki did it, because saving a year means a lot.
To me, making into a chosen course in the university in itself should be a celebration. Taking a year longer to graduate should not make her young daughter stressed. Even if it means that she will not be the youngest in the cohort, even if it means taking a year longer, it is still an outstanding achievement.
More importantly, we should know that we cannot turn back the clock to change things. I just wish Atica had spent just an afternoon with me five years ago. For $200, she would have listened to the alternate paths available, she would have helped her daughter achieve what the latter wants badly now.
Unfortunately, even if she wants to give me $2000 or $2m now, there is no way I can help turn back the clock or gain back that one or two years they feel they have lost. Although I am confident I would have given them a shorter and happier path, I am not saying they should take it, I just believe everyone should know all options available to them.
If you have kids between 7 and 20, I encourage you to open your eyes to alternatives available. You don’t have to take these paths, but you must know them.
I have reduced the cost of Alternate Paths seminar on Jan 4 2020 to $75, hoping to catch all the Aticas. Please do not write to me five years later to ask me to reverse time. I know that I cannot. I am confident every good parent can perform a miracle together with their child, but it has to start very early.
O, you know what? Even if you don’t come and write me five years later with regrets, I will still be happy to see what I can do to help. So please do feel free to write me anytime!
