A Humdrum Mum

Elf: I want to watch another Backyardigans. (Mummy's note - this will be the second one this evening.) Mummy: OK well if you want to do that, you ... Elf interrupts: I know, there will be no time for a story. I don't want a story. Mummy: So if you cry and say you want a story, I'm not reading you one. OK? Elf: Yes. (Mummy's note - I don't ever remember him not having a story... where will this go? Shall I video him saying it? And play it back to him? Like here ?) Update to follow later!

Alpha Mummy on the Times Online ran a poll entitled  Why do you schedule out of school activities? and linked to a story Why all pushy mums are not the same . About to embark on the new school regime as Elf goes into Reception year this September, this is all becoming familiar territory for me instead of just random articles whose absurdity made me laugh almost as much as laughing at school-gate cliquey mums. (I now know they do exist, but I have been informed by two Year 1 or 2 mums at the Cheese'n'Wine evening at my son's infant school last week that it doesn't exist at that school. That's either true, in which case good, or untrue as maybe those two are the culprits!) The article brought up a current issue with me which I have now resolved internally but would welcome your thoughts on. We currently do trampolining on Fridays and swimming lessons on a Saturday. I don't count swimming as an activity as such, because in my eyes it's a life skill and as ou...

A few of my son's comments the other day got me thinking - thanks to today's technology, there are things that he says that I wouldn't have in the 70s. I'm assuming everyone is roughly the same age as me (?) but obviously a mum of a 4 year old could really be about 21, and would most likely have said the same things as my son! Can you pause the telly please? This is still funny for us to say too. If Elf is watching Backyardigans on telly, and wants to use the loo, he knows the right remote control button to pause live TV. In my day, I'd have either held it or wet myself rather than miss the end of Pipkins. Can I see it? After taking a photo of him, he wants to see it. As just about everyone has a digital camera these days, of course you can see it. In my day, we had to wait til the photos came back in the post (half of them usually blank!)... until the arrival of the Polaroid camera! Is dinner ready now? A PING in our house suggests dinner is on its way. That...

The old phrase went: "You know you're getting old when policemen start to look younger." Now a more applicable phrase is: "You know you're getting older when Dr Who and his assistant both look too young!" But I do like him ... is that wrong?

I have just voted. The party for which I have voted is not the subject of this post, nor any political leanings I might have. (I've always had an instinct for which party I do or don't want in.) Walking out of the same local school which doubles as a polling station every few years, I always feel very proud and a bit emotional if I'm honest. I'm proud that I live in a country where our votes matter, where we are allowed to vote and we can be pretty sure the results are accurate. For all the moaning we do about the state of our country, how politicians are all liars (I heard three young men saying this as I came out) and they are "all the same", at least we are allowed to have a say. Elf came with me and read a book from the school library shelf while I voted. I had to queue for the first time, which is a good sign I think? I chatted to this effect with someone in the queue. He had his little boy with him too. Amazingly quite a few young children accompanied ...

In a recent post, ( click here to read ) I touched on the gun issue. I have mixed feelings about them and I'd welcome your thought and experiences. Life was easier when Elf was into Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam. I realised there was a huge difference between age 3 and age 4; this last birthday (his 4th) suddenly he was into Ben 10, Transformers and Power Rangers. Star Wars too, but then as we all love Star Wars we could live with that. Lightsabering someone isn't as bad as shooting them, is it? The last few days have been a turning point. Firstly, on Friday, at Woody's house, Elf immediately went for the two Batmen that Woody had been given for his birthday but hadn't played with. Woody himself played with some animals. Don't get me wrong, the two of them love wrestling and running around, but Woody is into more gentler pastimes compared to Elf. Elf is going to be like Ben in Outnumbered. Secondly, today we visited friends with two boys, 7 and 8. We don't s...