A Wakefield mother of three boys says the Motov8ing Boys event coming to Nelson is a scam that preys on vulnerable parents seeking strategies for raising their teenagers.
Lara Scott went to one of John McMahon’s Motov8ing Boys events in Nelson last year with two other mothers, all keen to learn strategies to help teenage boys. The event was advertised as a way to help boys develop confidence, change destructive behaviour and have respect for themselves and others.
But she says the seminar was a waste of time and money and the only part their teenagers enjoyed was the frequent swear words.
John ‘The Rev’ McMahon describes himself online as a youth specialist with a passionate desire to inspire, inform and instruct millions of young people and their parents to make smarter, more informed, decisions in life. It’s based on experiences from his teenage years where he made choices that led to his life going off track. He holds events in Australia and the United Kingdom as well as New Zealand, including Motov8ing Boys and Savage Angel for girls.
The events have been held in Nelson before and his next one, Motov8ing Boys – ‘The wakeup call your son wants to hear’ – is on 13 October at the Rutherford Hotel Nelson.
Lara went along to last year’s event with her notebook to take notes but says there was “nothing to write down”.
“For maybe two hours, he literally just spoke about himself - and he has had a terrible upbringing. He talked about how he nearly committed suicide but didn’t give anything for a kid feeling like this. Then he talked about motorbikes and how you sit on a dirt bike instead of how you sit on a road bike. He showed us a video on how to take corners on a motorbike. It was very weird and me and my friends are sitting there just thinking, ‘when do we get up and leave? This is ridiculous’.
John McMahon disputes the condemnation of his seminars and provides a different response from a mother who calls his style real, raw and to the point, with significant positive changes for her son.
“I pour my heart and soul into these events. The mission is to inspire, inform and instruct young people 11 to 17, and their parents, to make smarter, more informed decisions in life.”
He says he wants young people, both boys and girls, to create history with their lives and “live with a great sense of purpose, direction and intention”. He also aims to empower parents and caregivers so they can parent with competence and confidence. The motorbikes, he says, are used as a teaching tool to help boys stay on track in everyday life. Like riding a motorbike confidently, he says the teenagers need to develop skills and abilities in life to become confident young men.
“The stories, experiences, strategies and advice that I share, and the very direct way I share it, has impacted thousands of young people and parents over many years. At the end of all events, I am inundated with young people and parents who want to show gratitude for what has been shared, ask questions specific to strategies that have been discussed and show me pages of notes that they have taken down.”
Lara was not one of those parents and she says negative reviews about the events are being deleted on social media and, because she posted a negative review, she has now been blocked on the Motov8 Facebook page.
“You only see positive stuff because he’s deleting negative reviews. People need to be warned.
“We thought we were going to get this amazing information to help our teenagers, and we just didn’t get anything – and it wasn’t cheap. It was a very, very weird experience. We walked out really quite gutted.”
