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Vaughan Carter

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An Unexpected Father’s Day Gift

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This is a guest post by Vaughan Carter. Vaughan has enjoyed a varied and successful career, first in legal academia, where he specialised in constitutional and human rights law and, more recently, as a senior civil servant in the Cayman Islands, working in the fields of education and human capital development; until last year when he resigned his position in order to fulfil a lifetime dream and return to full-time education.  Alongside his studies, Vaughan has also established his own consulting company – JURIS Consulting Limited – and together with his wife, they are proud parents of two young children.  For research, training and consultancy, Vaughan can be contacted at juris@candw.ky

Father’s Day – what is it really all about?  Not the shower head with the wireless speaker that the pre-Father’s Day edition of “What’s Hot” would have us believe – at least not in my house.  As I savoured the peace and tranquillity of my audibly unenhanced shower on Father’s Day last Sunday, it seemed as good a time as any to reflect on my responsibilities as a father.  At the same time, my mind inevitably turned to my father, our relationship and the important role he has played in my life.

“Son, you’ll earn your living with your head, rather than your hands” is the fatherly advice that I remember most from my childhood.  I always knew where it came from.  Straight from the heart, informed by a genuine desire for his son to have a better working life than his and indeed his father before him.  I duly obliged and ultimately went to University, studying law rather than entering the building trade, as every male member of my family had always done both before and since for that matter.  But was this the best advice for me?  And, more to the point for present purposes, is it in essence the sort of advice that I should now be relaying to my own children?