Two daily visitors waiting patiently for breakfast. I must clean the gutters….

After yesterday’s unplanned washing of my mobile, I found myself outside in the cold early morning air. Doing a great workout supplied by a very kind friend and listening to music on my super clean phone. Crystal clear sound. In fact it’s never sounded so good. Maybe I should try my body out in a quick machine wash cycle. If only I could fit the car in our old washing machine.

I was a bad parent last night and I’m not talking about letting son watch Deadpool 2 again. School emailed all the parents to say that they had not been picking up all the students who had been submitting inferior work or worse submitting work late. So to rectify that the only thing they could do would be to send out an email each night at 11.30 to warm parents about any issues which may have occurred with their kids online work for that day. I can imagine many parents sending letters of approval in or even asking for a tougher stance from school. I took a slightly different stance on my short reply.

Please don’t bother.

This morning followed up with a much longer reply basically talking about how tough it is for many kids at present and how about school using the resources they were putting into this sanction into doing something positive – something fun for the kids. Maybe even allowing some social interaction with friends. I’m not hopeful but at least it will get me another black mark in the awkward parent log.

Anyway school might not do fun but that doesn’t mean that we can’t. It’s so important we all find ways of still living. So in between online lessons we have squeezed in some activities. Bouncing on the trampoline, Jenga, air hockey and jelly making. Then after the school day had finished we made some cakes. Played football and attempted to build the largest possible Lego tower. Unfortunately due to the wind, curious pets and my eagerness to build higher before a stable base was formed – it didn’t get much higher than 5ft. It clearly had the same design fault as Trumps Mexican Wall. Oops that’s going to bring on my fan mail from Texas again.

Over Easter we will definitely revisit the Lego tower. It might even stand up long enough to take a photo. The point is that actually fun day is not enough. It really is so tough for kids to enjoy their childhood in 2020. So much anxiety and so little space to dream. So fun day is now fun EVERY day. Maybe just like my mobile phone, we can find ways (maybe unusual) to improve things in life. WE can do this.

79 thoughts on “Like new”

  3. First, I absolutely your response, “please don’t bother”. Secondly you blow me away with the inventiveness and creativity to make sure your son has a bit of fun in between subjects. I think you’d do a stellar job of home schooling. And lastly, YES, you most certainly can do this.

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      1. Well where’s your sense of adventure Gary … pretty sure your female fan club here will help you along – ease your frame into the leotard 🙂

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      2. Might need a construction team to get me into a leotard these days. For an hour I could comment on your site using the web based site. Now that’s stopped working. If I don’t comment it’s not for the want of trying. Sorry.

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  17. I love this post. Firstly your photo is lovely, two birds setting the world to right. I’m not even going to mention the phone in a wash cycle 🙄. Secondly, I think a touch of being the awkward parent is required. I do it a few times here and there. Like pointing out glaring problems with rules and sanctions that make them unworkable and incompatible.
    Last but not least … your days sound like awesome fun. I think I’m letting my kids down … must try harder …

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      1. Ah that’s lovely of you to say. My boys are fab. They are opposites in the extreme and can be right royal pain in the arses but generally they are very lovely. X

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  18. Having fun and making room for filling our hearts with laughter and joy is even more important when the circumstances around are tough. We need to draw our energy from something to make it through the circumstances. Again, your son is lucky for having a father who cares that he never misses out on food for the soul.

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      3. No, don’t be sorry, you reminde me of actually checking my spam folder again. I don’t know why something like this happens all the time. You are really not spam at all! But I am glad it is solved 😊

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  20. That is awful of the school and perhaps even bordering on emotional cruelty, certainly emotional insensitivity. Many adults are crippled with anxiety at the moment and you can’t expect children to be any different. Plus the time of the email with reference to ‘inferior work’ makes my blood boil. Well done for standing up for your son.

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