So today is just a normal run of the mill day. Hpops has a friend coming over after school so we need to go thorough the usual charade of pretending that we live in a show home whilst making excuses for the mess that still exists. The floors will be hoovered and mopped and Hpops has even (sort of) tidied her room. Unfortunately there are three children living here and that means that they’ll come home from school and liberally disperse their uniform, pencil cases and snack mess around the house. It won’t matter that I’ve tidied up and put things away. It won’t matter that the windows were cleaned as there will soon be hand marks over them, just as the day after the window cleaners visited there were fresh tennis ball marks on them!
One of the most disheartening things is spending lots of time washing and ironing their clothes, giving them back to them only to find them screwed up on the floor. We have the bi-annual theatre show this weekend so time has been spent collecting costumes, hair bows and props and placing them in labelled suit bags. Unfortunately the children seem to think I have lots of time to re-arrange these and then sort them all out again as they have then hung them up on the floor!
I know I’m not the only one frustrated by their children and I wonder when it will finally click that they need to look after their things. Will it be when they lose or break something they think highly of, will it be when they pay for something with their own money? Who knows but I guess to children life is immediate, especially in the ‘fast’ society that we live in where everything is instant and you can find pretty much anything on-line.
As we begin preparations for Imp to begin secondary school in September I find myself wondering how he will cope in the same way as I felt the anxiety when Hpops was preparing for the transfer two years ago. Whilst I have some experience now of what to expect with them all being different children they find their own way. Will he like it? Will he be with his friends and if not will he make new ones?
Pixie is very excited as her birthday nears next week! To make sure no-one forgets she has created herself a birthday advent calendar with sticky notes with she takes down one by one. As well as this there is a countdown on the shared family notes! It doesn’t seem possible that soon we will have two children in secondary school and one in Year 5. As much as they annoy me and mess things up and cause me more work I am proud of their achievements. I know all the rehearsals and ironing and feeling of general stress will melt away as soon as their show starts at the weekend. I know that when I am told thank you for letting me have a friend over and I hear giggles or excited chatter I won’t begrudge the mopping and cleaning. Yes, I wish they would be a bit tidier, take a bit more time, maybe even help out a bit more, I will continue to teach them the right way to look after things and maybe at some point it will sink in! Wish me luck!
