I am all for giving children the opportunity to make their voices heard within the school environment. One of the worst things I remember about being a child was the feeling that your voice didn't really count for anything; adults got to make all the decisions, big and small, so the fact that the Boys' school has a Student Council seems like a Good Thing to me. No, really, it does. Just as long as my sons realise that they live in a benevolently authoritative establishment at home.
That means, by the way, that I will listen to their points of view and accommodate them where possible but - when all is said and done - what I / Husband says goes. Especially on the big issues. Like, rice or pasta for dinner. Or whether that crust is going to be eaten up or not (we can discuss 'not' - but then there won't be dessert afterwards...)
Anyway. The Student Council. It had decreed that today was Celebrity Day. (We won't get into a discussion of whether celebrity is something to be applauded here, I think. I mean, obviously it's not, not really, but when everyone else is participating it seems to be more than a little curmudgeonly to lecture your children on why you are not going to help them pull together a costume when all their friends are dressing up as famous football players or pop princesses).
But let's put Celebrity Day in context. We are in the last week of term here (do I hear a sharp intake of breath from UK based readers?). So, you know, I have a question. Whose bright* idea was it to schedule it for this week? (*Add expletives as you see fit). Because yes, come next Monday my two little darlings will be home all day, every day, until the end of August.
*sighs deeply*
*pulls self together*
Yippee.
So, bearing that in mind, much as I love my sons and am looking forward to spending un-timetabled weeks with them in the very near future, I have to admit that there are just one or two teensy little things I would like to get sorted before that happens.
It's not surprising then that Celebrity Day slipped my mind until Boys #1 and #2 reminded me of it just before their bedtime yesterday evening. Cue mild panic followed by frantic thinking and creative problem solving.
But, we triumphed. Well - sort of. Boy #1 strode into school complete with long brown shorts, white shirt, blue sweater and comma-quiff (courtesy of my Aveda wax) as TinTin, and Boy #2 negotiated the corridors in a dark blue t-shirt tucked into slightly-too short but suitably snug tracksuit bottoms, and wearing his brother's black ski helmet bearing the legend 'Hamilton' written in felt-tip pen on a sticky label across the front of it.
I did spend a few moments last night considering the possibility of covering Boy #2 all over with sponsorship labels so he could look a little closer to the real thing but once I googled a few images and realised that a) we didn't have a yellow flame-retardent jumpsuit to stick them on and b) I would be up all night printing them, it would be much simpler to tell him he was wearing Lewis Hamilton's training kit instead. (They keep the many-labelled racing kit for race occasions only, didn't you know?)
At the end of term, there was a limit, I decided. In this instance, Good Enough mothering would have to be good enough...
That means, by the way, that I will listen to their points of view and accommodate them where possible but - when all is said and done - what I / Husband says goes. Especially on the big issues. Like, rice or pasta for dinner. Or whether that crust is going to be eaten up or not (we can discuss 'not' - but then there won't be dessert afterwards...)
Anyway. The Student Council. It had decreed that today was Celebrity Day. (We won't get into a discussion of whether celebrity is something to be applauded here, I think. I mean, obviously it's not, not really, but when everyone else is participating it seems to be more than a little curmudgeonly to lecture your children on why you are not going to help them pull together a costume when all their friends are dressing up as famous football players or pop princesses).
But let's put Celebrity Day in context. We are in the last week of term here (do I hear a sharp intake of breath from UK based readers?). So, you know, I have a question. Whose bright* idea was it to schedule it for this week? (*Add expletives as you see fit). Because yes, come next Monday my two little darlings will be home all day, every day, until the end of August.
*sighs deeply*
*pulls self together*
Yippee.
So, bearing that in mind, much as I love my sons and am looking forward to spending un-timetabled weeks with them in the very near future, I have to admit that there are just one or two teensy little things I would like to get sorted before that happens.
- Like, finish the copy-editing job I was just sent.
- Like, finish my novel - a ridiculous dream which is close enough to touch, but not quite - or, in the absence of that, re-read it and come up with an elevator pitch on it's theme. You know; 'Oh, my novel? Well, it's sort of Tolkien meets Chekhov meets Maggie O'Farrell...' (It's not, by the way. Totally different, in fact. But you get what I'm talking about).
- Like, gird my loins (as in, work out what the hell to wear) for BritMums Live! this weekend, prepare myself for the workshop and the keynote reading I'll be doing at it, remember to pack my glasses for the opticians appointment I'm squeezing in during my 60 hour whirlwind visit to London, write a shopping list for the same (sleep? Who needs sleep?), and also batten down the hatches here so that Husband has sufficient supplies (aka pizza and crisps) during my absence.
It's not surprising then that Celebrity Day slipped my mind until Boys #1 and #2 reminded me of it just before their bedtime yesterday evening. Cue mild panic followed by frantic thinking and creative problem solving.
But, we triumphed. Well - sort of. Boy #1 strode into school complete with long brown shorts, white shirt, blue sweater and comma-quiff (courtesy of my Aveda wax) as TinTin, and Boy #2 negotiated the corridors in a dark blue t-shirt tucked into slightly-too short but suitably snug tracksuit bottoms, and wearing his brother's black ski helmet bearing the legend 'Hamilton' written in felt-tip pen on a sticky label across the front of it.
I did spend a few moments last night considering the possibility of covering Boy #2 all over with sponsorship labels so he could look a little closer to the real thing but once I googled a few images and realised that a) we didn't have a yellow flame-retardent jumpsuit to stick them on and b) I would be up all night printing them, it would be much simpler to tell him he was wearing Lewis Hamilton's training kit instead. (They keep the many-labelled racing kit for race occasions only, didn't you know?)
At the end of term, there was a limit, I decided. In this instance, Good Enough mothering would have to be good enough...
It suddenly hit me yesterday that Britmums was this weekend and that I needed to come up with something to say to the literary agent (I had BETTER get a slot!) Feeling a bit nervous about that now. See you there!
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