HOW CAN WE CAPTURE MEMORIES FROM OUR YOUTH
I have recently read an article about how technology is unlocking people’s memories of their youth. This works through an interactive computer system, showing sequences from a time when the viewer may have been young. This is a quicker and comparatively time efficient way of overcoming memory loss in the elderly.
Having recently worked with a lady in her eighties and another in his seventies I have been reminded that one of the most important things that people of the third age need is to be talked to and listened to. This may be more time-consuming than an interactive television system, but I would contend that it is more rewarding for both talker and listener.
We have become a society where youth is praised above all else and while I think it important that youth is given every opportunity to succeed, I think it should not be at the expense of the more mature.
We are part of an aging population and the greatest scourge is Alzheimer’s and other forms of Dementia and whilst I accept that this is an illness of the elderly I do think that to some extent we would be able to postpone the symptoms by giving people a sense of being valued and revered for their knowledge and wisdom.
They have so much to contribute and in my Practice when I listen to their stories I see the people become youthful again and light up with their special memories.
I believe that many people feel useless and a waste of space because often their families are leading such busy lives that they do not have time to sit, even for a short time, to talk to them about what they are doing and ask their opinion on issues that they may be wrestling with. Very often Mother or Grandmother has dealt with something similar and can pass on the benefit of their experience. This exchange can bring about a better understanding and a good feeling in both.
I consider it a real privilege that people come to talk to me about their problems, but I am aware that there are many who suffer alone and unwanted just because they are no longer young and physically able.

HOW CAN MOTHER KNOW BEST?
I am so pleased that I am not just starting a family at this time of ultra-consciousness about diet when it comes to children and, I mustn’t forget, adults.
Mums were recently told that they must watch what their children eat, they mustn’t eat between meals, they must eat healthily, they mustn’t be allowed to become obese and now the latest thinking is that too much “healthy” food can damage normal growth and cause problems in later life.
I do sometimes wonder how my children survived into adulthood unscathed. Then it was a question of using common sense and giving the children a balanced diet that, of course, included cake and ice cream and sweets. I didn’t worry about whether they would become too fat or too thin I just wanted them enjoy their food and grow into healthy and happy adults.
Way back then I didn’t have the benefit of wall-to-wall television telling me how to be a mother, I just muddled along – oh I forgot – there was Dr Spock, he had plenty to say about bringing up children, but having read his words of wisdom I decided it was all too wishy washy and I would go my own way.
Talking of Dr Spock and his “modern” ideas on bringing up children. At the time he made a great deal of money out of his books only to be maligned in later years for having got it completely wrong.
Is this what will happen again? All these pundits stipulating what children need only to be discredited at a later date.

WHAT YET ANOTHER PILL?
As a qualified Sexual and Psychosexual Therapist I see an increasing number of clients who suffer from Premature Ejaculation (PE) and one of the theories I have is that we live at such a pace now that there is insufficient time to enjoy making love.
Couples work long hours away from home, they come home cook and eat dinner, by which time they are both exhausted and fall into bed, falling asleep before they have even managed a cuddle.
At weekends they have the shopping, cleaning and visiting friends to cope with and all this is assuming that they do not have any children to be fitted in as well.
Little wonder that when it comes to having sex this has to be “fitted in” as well and therefore, too much foreplay will mean yet more precious minutes being used up when they can cut to the main feature and get it over with in time for a day with friends.
This a bit tongue in cheek, but I do worry about the quality of relationships when all that is necessary to achieve an orgasm is a pill to turn you on, a pill to stop you coming too quickly. I fear that soon you will be able to get a pill to simulate the feeling of orgasm and then you won’t even have to get together to do “it” at all.
I spoke to a man recently who had come to see me because he was suffering from PE. It seems that this was almost a lifelong problem, since he first had sex at the age of 16. Most of his relationships were short-lived and he had managed to cover his inadequacy by pretending that it was early excitement with a new partner and he didn’t allow himself to stay in a relationship long enough to be found out.
When I talked to him about the fact that this is a problem that is, in most cases, non organic and very amenable to cure by devoting a little time and undertaking some pleasant exercises, he was worried that he didn’t have enough time to devote and would possibly have to put up with it.
Fortunately, I was able to persuade him to give it a try and after several weeks he reported that the problem was much alleviated and, in fact, he and his partner were enjoying the best sex they had ever had.
Now if he had known about this pill he might well not have come to see me, but would have taken the pill and although he might not ejaculate so quickly, I wonder if he would have improved his sex life as much as the client who went for the exercises.