A Play some Poetry and a Disco

I think (and hope) I am pretty much the Average Joe when it comes to parenting. I have days when I am both amazed and delighted with my kids behaviour and their abilities and I am genuinely impressed with their coping skills and reactions to some fairly hairy school situations. In particular Lulu and the social aspect of school where 10 and 11 year old girls view friendship as a contact sport. Recently we attended a Pizza and Poetry Night at Bear's school and his English Teacher praised him and had positive things to say about him... and relief flooded through me. Because in all honesty there are days when I am so appalled at my kids behaviour or attitudes that I cry/yell/lock myself away in my room. It's at these times that I can not believe Dave and I are responsible for turning these kids into decent adults capable of holding down jobs and contributing to society in a positive way. To make myself feel better on the "challenging" days I think of parenting not as a sprint nor as an exact science ... its just one foot in front of the other and getting up each day to give it another go. I am also acutely aware that many parents have far worse trials with their kids. On the whole I scored a big fat gift when it comes to my kids ... no issues we have had has been too much for us to bare and we do consider ourselves to be so lucky (still annoyed when the 13 year old tells us off but lucky all the same).



Anyhoo this is what we have been up before I forget the details in the fabric. Bear had a Poetry and Pizza night at school. We (the parents) got to listen to the kids read the poetry pieces they have been working on for English and have Pizza afterwards. It was a great night and although we were given fairly strict instructions from Bear about Not clapping, Not laughing, Not telling jokes and Not calling him Bear in front of other people. He didn't specifically say I couldn't take a photo - he looks pleased no?. His poem was very clever and all the kids were very talented (and they all just hoped up in front of the parents and kids and belted out their prose... confidence is a blast to watch).




Lulu had a Disco at school. She went with the pink theme (complete with the gangsta /peace sign).

Lulu was also in the school play.

I chopped he other kid out the pic but you get the idea.

Special thanks has to go to the gorgeous Miss Vyc. She sewed all Lulu's costumes for the play. Lulu after seeing some of my sewing efforts couldn't thank Vyc enough. Lulu's beggars sack AND pink sparkly skirt were the best on stage for sure.

Poor Vyc not only sews my kids costumes she also gets to listen to me rabbit on in real life about usually quite boring "stuff". (Wow she is so lucky no?)

Thanks again Vyc ... you rock.

Excuse me, I think your bone is showing.

What a weekend. My friend Vyc and I have decided Sundays don't work for us anymore. Take last Sunday for instance : David nearly killed me and Bear ended up in Accident and Emergency. Good times I tell ya.


This is a pic of Susie and I before my near death experience and Bears trip to the hospital. I look happy and relaxed cos I have no idea what is around the corner.
Weekends at the moment consist of David either demolishing parts of the house or laying new floor boards in other parts of the house. I help enormously by interrupting him with stupid questions or telling him off because I think he hasn't really "understood the brief for the new design". Its no surprise he cranks up his classical music and goes off to his happy place essentially ignoring me, the children and anything not involving this reno.
Last Sunday I was taking him a cup of tea (cos I'm an awesome wife ) out to the section of flooring he was working on. As I stepped out onto the board he moved it... we live in an elevated house just so you know. My life flashed before my eyes (and it was boring ) luckily I did manage to throw myself forward and fall onto some flooring thus avoiding falling from the second floor and onto the clotheslines below (death by peg).
After some yelling and crying (bet you cant guess by who) I suggested to him that from now on he get his own drinks.

Sunday afternoon Bear went to his mates house (I keep my children very close and this is probably only the 2nd time he has been to his mates place all year) for a catch up with his friends. About an hour after dropping him off I get a phone call saying he had cut his leg on a pushbike and needed to go to the hospital. Awesome.
Bear and I sat at the hospital from 5pm till 8.30pm then we saw a doctor who explained lots of stitches would be needed as "there was bone exposed" She also mentioned that heavy sedation may be required depending on how well the stitching was going ... she also felt the need to tell me all the possible things that could go wrong with heavy sedation. It was a toss up between Bear and I as to who was the more horrified with our circumstances at this point . I immediately called David as I didn't sign up to do that (parenting) malarkey on my own. Of course by the time David got back up to the hospital the (multiple) needles had been stuck into the cut, many tears had been shed (by both Bear and I) and the Dr was wandering around getting organised to actually do the stitching. David walked into the room and nearly fainted after looking at Bears open wound... Bear and I laughed at him.
Long story slightly shorter we ended up leaving the hospital about 9.30pm driving through Maccas for a bit of post stitches recovery burgers and Coke Zero.

The next day was Bears birthday .... it rocked not. He stayed in bed watching dvds and when his mates and theirs Mum's bought a birthday cake over for afternoon tea he got annoyed he couldn't play table tennis with them. "Worst birthday Ever" were words mentioned A LOT.

If I did have one magic power it would be the ability to accident proof my kids and keep them in the pristine condition they were in when they were handed over to David and I.





What hope do I have of that when this is how teenage boy express their mateship with one another. That is Bears best mate (sporting a cast!) picking him up . Pass the bubble wrap STAT because I am a self confessed control freak helicopter parent... and so far it hasn't worked out that great. Any advice?

Parenting: the ultimate competitive sport

So Bear is off to high school next year... hand on a sec, I'm pretty sure I just gave birth to that boy and then pretended he wasn't mine as he threw a tantrum in Target...
Anyway around our parts choosing a school for your child is not so much about finding the school that best fits your child's personality, your family's financial circumstances or even your proximity to the school's location and appropriate bus timetables. Its not even about acting on passionately held beliefs about private vs government run vs religious schooling. No here in La La land, choosing a school for your kids is all about one up man ship in the parenting stakes.

We have decided to send Bear to a private college (for lots of reasons, NONE of them being to impress other punters). One of the biggest reasons is that after meeting the Principal and Staff we all felt that this was the 'right' place for Bear to negotiate the hell that is/can be high school and I would actually stack shelves at Woollies to make this happen. This post is prompted by a conversation I had on Saturday Night with another Mum at the kids school and sums up the highly competitive not to mention petty nature of choosing schools for kids.

Other Mum "Where is Bear going next year"

Me " Our Lady of the Dorky Teenagers College" *

Other Mum " Oh I didn't know you were loaded"

What I should have said 'You know you just didn't think that thought... you actually said it"

What I actually Said " Yes we are extremely loaded ... didn't you know"

It was at this point I walked off (to burn $100 notes for fun) .



I love this article as it says so much about how my generation parent ;)

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/your-childs-gifted-you-say-thats-nice-my-kid-has-nits-20090407-9zj3.html



Rant over and now I get why Mums have blogs, it feels great to express opinions about life. The Good Bad and plain Stupid!



* this may not be the actual name of the school ;-)