Class divide? Parents, what class is YOUR child?

I've noticed a lot of talk about the "widening gap in classes" in society, you know - "Rich vs Poor", "Upper Class vs Working Class". Yeah, OK, that's all well and good.

When I consider the different classes and reflect on my upbringing, I realise I was not brought up as a working class child, nor was I brought up as middle class, hell, I wasn't even brought up as upper class. However, nowadays, no matter which class I am in the presence of I feel equal to them. But why? Why do I not shy in the presence of those "highly esteemed" human beings but others do?

I believe it boils down to how you are brought up. It is psychologically proven that if you label someone an "idiot" or something along those lines, long enough the person will begin to fulfil the characteristics within the boundaries of an "idiot". My mother did not bring me up with a sense that I was constrained to a particular class, so as far as i was concerned, "mate, I can do whatever I like, be whatever I want to be! And hell, with anyone who tells me otherwise!"

Many parents, want their children to do well, to have what they themselves were not blessed to have. This is a great sign of love from a parent but the downfall occurs when a parent constrains their child to the boundaries of a working class environment, not necessarily just physically, but more importantly, mentally.

Parents and adults preach to young people that they can be whatever they want to be in life, yet allow them to develop with a 'working class' mind that is becoming increasingly restrictive, with latest policies and cuts. This contradicts the original statement. It is like saying to a child that they can explore the 5-acre whole farm while restricted to 500-metres by a chain on their ankle.

When you consider the men who have gone on to become the most successful people in the world, like Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, even Simon Cowell, these men were not brought up in financially affluent families. Warren Buffett started off by buying $30 dollar stocks for himself and his sister although his family made little or no money, his mental freedom allowed him to explore an option that in those times were really the privy of rich men in fine cut suits.

In, this day and age, parents need to encourage their children to go for everything they want to go for and not put boundaries, such as money, in their way. In this day and age, it is the mind that gets us what we want and if our mind is restricted, the body cannot move. What is essential is that your child knows all humans are equal, regardless of creed, class or colour and see it implemented in the parents support for anything they get involved in.

Key to my success over the last few years has been the unstinting support I received from my mother, even with audacious jumps like pitching ideas to O2 or working on the London Olympics 2012 youth panel. When young people are supported physically, their mind is given permission to roam and that is what young people in the UK and around the world are suffering from lack of expression. They are put into boxes at too early an age, classed as 'ADHD' at 5, or 'NEETs' at 15/16, what chance do they have if they are already in a box?

The system is making it harder for itself to help young people by classifying them as if they are mechanical objects and then complaining that they will not comply, of course they won't! You just called the 16 year old young man hanging around on the street "anti-social", so why would be comply?

The student protests? Fanrtastic! It was about time young people stood up and showed the government AND parents, (yeah, parents aren't exempt from this) the force they can be, maybe now someone will listen to them.

So what class divide? The physical one or the mental one? The physical one can only be overcome if we mentally exclude ourselves from our problems and rise above our problems into the thinking of a solution-orientated people. For too long, we have relied on the government to solve our problems and what do we have to show for it? Big Society? "A load of piffle", Boris Johnson called it.

More categories, more boxes to put people in. A new way of thinking is needed and "CLASS" should not be a part of that thinking; prosperity, community and enterprise - that is what our thinking should consist of.