Boredom vs Budget: Week 6

Week 6 over, only a couple of days left til the big P2! Can't quite believe it.

So the last full week of holidays started with Monday and a few hours to myself. B had been invited round to a little friend's house for a good chunk of the day. Which followed on from the previous few days being to myself when B was at his gran's/dad's... but I'm not complaining, B had a fab time, playing superheros mostly, by the sounds of it. He didn't want to leave, but his friend's mum, a teacher, had a trick-of-the-trade up her sleeve, and promised the boys who agreed to go home with their mums without a fuss a special chocolate medal. Genius.

Money spent: none.

Energy spent: always loads when with other wee pals.

Tuesday and I felt the need to start thinking about school, and doing a bit of a shopping run for school trousers, polo shirts, etc. B wanted to go to the beach as it was definitely beach weather, but i wasn't so sure as I thought it'd be too busy. But B got his way and I'm glad he did cos we headed to a quieter end of the beach where there was plenty of room for sandcastle building, bit of beach tennis, and generally running about. A great afternoon, wish there could be more of them.

Yum, ice-cream

Money spent: well, I couldn't put it off forever, some money was needed for school stuff. Not too bad, though.

Boredom factor: Shopping trips are never on B's list of exciting activities, but the promise of the beach made it bearable.

Midweek was another bittersweet day with B going off again to his dad's for the rest of the week. We were meeting up with friends today, at the softplay (oh no, my "one soft play trip only" pledge in tatters...) and given the continuing 'heatwave' (cough) outside, it was quiet, thankfully. 

After lunch, we headed into town, squeezing our way through the throng of Edinburgh Festival tourists, to find one of the Golden Postboxes, painted in honour of Sir Chris Hoy's gold medals. B was desperate to see it, but wouldn't touch it as he thought it'd still be wet... There was even a bit of a 'queue' to get our picture taken! Who'd have thought we'd all be taking photos of postboxes.

Money spent: not too bad, only softplay entry so can cope with that.

Energy spent: lots, and some nervous excitement waiting to see the postbox! Go figure!

Rest of the week followed as previous two weeks, with B at his dads/gran's. 

I struggled a bit again, but made arrangements to meet a friend on Thursday evening, went down to a local harbour and ate fish and chips as the fishing boats went out for the night on the calm sea, and the sun was almost setting. It's impossible to feel low when you get to watch that on such a beautiful evening.

Camera phone photo doesn't do the real thing justice

Weekly Roundup
Money spent: more on school necessities than 'entertainment', good going.

Boredometer: barely registering

Best bit: Didn't think i'd be saying this, but has to be the postbox!

Boredom vs Budget: Week 1

If you didn't read my previous post, I'm doing a weekly post on B's first Big Summer Holidays: Boredom vs Budget.

WEEK ONE : Managing Expectations

If my plan was to manage B’s expectations from the get-go - about having some busy, further afield days out, but also having ‘lazy’, stay-at-home days which can be just as fun -  then I failed miserably, as he had a non-stop, full week!

A day for wellies and waterproofs

Monday we had arranged to meet up with a good friend and her two kids, aged 6 and 3, with whom B gets on really well. Despite the rain forecast to fall all day, we wanted to get out rather than being cooped up indoors. Train journeys are always a hit, and with Scotrail’s Kids Go Free scheme, no need to pay for the over 5’s, yay! We opted for a trip over the impressive Forth Rail Bridge into Fife, which was greeted with big smiles and lots of ‘whoops’, even if it is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it view from the bridge! Little tummies were beginning to rumble by the time we set off, so the well-stocked picnic was devoured on the train. Despite a walk up a steep hill to get to local park – prompting a café-stop for a drink and snack - we got to the park, wet and soggy, but with welly boots and waterproofs, the kids were raring to go. Unsurprisingly, we had the rain-soaked park all to ourselves, too...

Forth Rail Bridge on a brighter day.

A return trip back across the rail bridge, and a very wet wait for the bus home, and as we stepped off the bus, guess what, the rain finally stopped. Sod's Law.

Money spent: home-made picnic and no kids train fares, so not too bad for Day 1.

Energy spent: Lots! Jumping in big puddles is hard work!

Top Tip to remember: Kids Go Free on off-peak, 
day-return rail journeys.

I had decided to put B in holiday club for the next couple of days, partly to let me go to work (yes, I mustn’t forget I do need to go to work!) and also to give him a taster of holiday club which I’m sure I may need to use more of in the years to come. 

This week was a jungle/safari theme. Tuesday was jungle-themed games in the gym hall, making animal prints, and ‘Jungle Book’ film if wet outside “(if”?!!). I picked him up at the end of his first day, eager to hear how he got on. I was met with a large bruise and scrape on his forehead and an accident report form for me to sign. Apparently he’d only been in the door literally ten minutes and he’d fallen off a climbing log outside and conked his head on the ground. He was fine, thankfully, a bit of calpol needed that night for his sore head, but luckily no lasting damage!

Image credit: Blairdrummond.com

Wednesday was trip day, and this week was a visit to Blair Drummond Safari Park in Stirlingshire,. Once again, the rain fell, but they all had a good time, on the boat trip round monkey island, seeing the seal show, playing on the pirate ship playpark. They were due back about 5.30pm, but by 5pm as they were on their return journey home, Edinburgh and the surrounding areas were being deluged by torrential rain and flash-flooding. So their 90 minutes homeward trip turned into 2 1/2 hours as the motorway came to a virtual standstill in the downpours. Poor souls, they were tired, hungry and bored. I was glad that I'd arranged that B's dad would pick him up to deal with tea/bath/bed, as I was having a rare mid-week dinner out with friends.

Money spent: cost of holiday club for a couple of days, but no extras for day trip so good value. (Although wet socks indicated that a new pair of wellies are urgently required.)

Energy spent: Oodles on his part, none on mine, and I got a few adult-friendly hours with old friends, bonus!
No. of times "I'm bored" uttered: none! (that i heard, anyway)

Amazing tree sculpture in the park

Thursday, and no let up in the activities, we were meeting up with friend and his mum from B’s nursery days. The weather was dry (yes, it's true!) but thick haar (sea fog) was blanketing the area as it often does in these parts, and as we left the house the sun was not winning the battle in burning it off.


Undeterred, we headed off to a country park just 20 minutes away, with lots of open space, two playparks, a forest walk for exploring, and a café for re-filling the energy tanks. Thankfully, the fog did lift enough, and occasionally the sun peeked out, teasing us with its fleeting warmth. We had a great day, one of those unexpectedly successful days you wish they could all be like, with little effort or pennies spent but lots of fun had by the boys and a really good natter for the mummies. 

Money spent: Not too much, picnic made up for the boys, only toasties and cuppa bought for the grown-ups.
Energy spent: A load once again, lots of fresh air and for once without the rain, yay!

Note to self: you can never pack enough food for hungry boys.

Friday was a quiet day in comparison to the rest of the week, as B was heading to his Dad’s in the afternoon as is the routine. We did some painting in the morning, something we've not done together for ages (mostly because of the thought of clearing up...) - big pictures of police cars and fire stations (apparently).

Money spent: minimal. Lunch at home of tomato soup, tuna wraps and cucumber sticks. yum.

Energy spent: A little bit, helped by an impromptu painting-break involving indoor football and tennis in the hall (Wimbledon was underway and Andy Murray was doing well…)

Weekly Round-up:
Money Spent: could have been worse.
Energy spent: A shedload - not that it got him to sleep any earlier...
No. of times "I'm bored" heard: None! Long may that continue.
Did B have a good week?: "certainly, Mummy" Oh, bless.
Top Tip: Home-made lunches - cheaper, and picnics much more fun. And you then don't begrudge paying out for an ice-cream later.

School Holidays: Boredom v's Budget

School Holidays have finally arrived!
I can't quite believe a whole academic year has passed since this:

Setting off for Day 1

I feel almost as emotional about him finishing P1 as I did before he started. But I'll leave that for another post...

It’s the second week of the school holidays for us, in fact. Six and a half weeks of entertaining a 5 (nearly 6) year old. *slow, deep breaths* A daunting prospect for all parents of school-aged children, of course. I can’t quite decide if it’s worse for ‘first-timers’ like me because I don’t have the experience or learned tips for dealing with the sprawling summer holidays… or if  more seasoned parents would say I’ve got it good precisely because I don’t know what’s in store! I’ll revisit that in a year’s time once I’ve got through this year!

So, to get the blogging/writing juices flowing again, and to record the goings on this summer, I’m thought I’d do a weekly post on what we’ve been up to, the highlights and the struggles, and not just with the B word (that’s Boredom, people) but also with managing the next month and a half’s demands on a limited budget.

Look out for a slightly belated Week One coming (very) soon...

Sleep is for the weak

Why don't kids know when they really could do with an early night?! B has a cold and a cough, which woke him up about an hour too early this morning, up well before 6am and didn't go back to sleep. Man, it's seems like an age since i've done the 5.30am starts, I'm used to the clock at least reading 6 and not 5...

A Police Owl...

And then he had a really busy day in school today. The whole year had their much-anticipated, much-practised P1 assembly, which involved each class doing a little song and mini 'scenes' detailing some of the themes they've been learning this year, for all the parents to come and watch. B's big moment was as a policeman as part of 'night and day - jobs that are done in the day and in the night'. He'd been practising his big line for a few weeks now "I am a policeman and I work at night and in the day" and he carried off with much aplomb, if I do say so myself... (hey, I don't think I've ever used aplomb in a sentence, go me!) He then got to be an owl (nocturnal animals, dontcha know), but he still had his policeman's hat on so we had an owl policeman which was very amusing... I was a very proud mummy today.

On a Tuesday he also goes to afterschool club while I'm at work, usually until about 5pm. Even on a normal day, he's pretty beat at the end of the day. So I thought I'd pick him up a little early, so we could do tea, bath and bed a little early too. His sniffles and cough were still  evident when we got home so I was glad he'd be in bed a bit earlier. Fast forward to bedtime, in bed nice and early (but not too early, no point in that!), story and cuddles. I was feeling very pleased with myself. Fast forward until now and he is still not asleep, muttering and singing to himself and not sounding like he's ready for sleeping. And it's no earlier than normal, in fact maybe even a little later. 

Sheesh, doesn't he know he needs an early night?!

Linking up with Just Write at The EO.

Great Expectations

Five-year olds are very demanding, are they not?

On Saturday, B spent his usual friday night and saturday with his dad, during which time he had a jam-packed day at the local farm park going on tractor rides, train rides, big bouncy trampolines, oversized sandpits, picnic, etc, etc. He had a great time, and so when I picked him up at the train station at 4pm I knew he'd be ready for his tea and a rest. I know very little, obviously.

We hadn't even left the station when it began:
B: Mummy, what are we doing now?
Me: We're going home.
B: Noooo (in his best whiny voice), I don't want to go home.
Me: It'll be tea-time by the time we get home, so we're going home.
B: No, I want to do something else outside the house.
Me: But you've had a long day, and now it's tea-time.
B: Noooo (perfecting the whine), I want to do something else before we go home.
...and so on. Eventually I managed to distract him when our bus arrived.

So, we get a seat on the bus and he starts again:
B: Mummy, what are we doing tomorrow?
Me: I don't know yet. (thinking, he's been busy today, so we'll just take it easy tomorrow, a quiet day in the house)
B: I want to do something tomorrow. I want to go somewhere.
Me: We'll see. Depends on the weather.
B: But what are we going to do? I don't want to stay in the house, we can go somewhere else inside if it's raining ... etc etc

Oh, give me a break! Why is it when they have a really busy day, they're not satisfied with a quiet day. They want the busy day again and again.

This doesn't bode well for the summer holidays. 6 1/2 weeks of "what are we doing today? I want to do something today". Of course, this is an oh-so-familiar, age-old problem, I know. But come the 29th June, it'll be the first time we've had to deal with it. Before school, B was at private nursery so no lengthy summer holidays to contend with.

So I've started sowing the seeds now. Letting him know that we won't be having far-flung (expensive) days out every single day of the holidays. That some days will be 'lazy' days, but lazy days can be as fun as expensive days. Collecting ideas for where we can go, which will not send me even quicker to financial ruin. That's my homework for the next few weeks.

If only I thought it would stifle the expectations of a 5 year-old.

That's my boy!

It's all about the boy this week making me cheerful, or rather his very first school report and parents evening this week. 

The pupil report came end of last week, which we were not expecting, but was a very pleasant surprise. Not a report card, as it was back in my day, but a six page document, split into the different 'curricular areas' which now form the new 'Curriculum for Excellence' in Scotland. Each area is marked 'Developing' (beginning to make progress), 'Consolidating' (breadth of learning across many areas), or 'Secure' (achieve breadth of learning across all areas and more forward to more challenging learning).

Cheerful highlights include:

B achieved 'secure' in all almost all curricular areas.

His confidence to contribute in class has significantly increased over the year.

His grasp of certain ideas or learnings is such that he is one of a handful of pupils the teacher asks to help her explain things  to other pupils, to boost his confidence and to keep him challenged.

He got 100% attendance (up to the point of writing the report, anyway! still got a good chunk of term left!). We'll gloss over the few times we've been a few minutes late and had to go in the front door.

The teacher said she couldn't really find anything of great worry to report to us and that she found him an articulate, pleasant member of the class. 

Long may that continue! The fact that he "understands and respects the rules and boundaries in school", but not always at home... meh, we're working on that one! 

Now obviously, being P1, it's just the start of a very long educational journey, but it's fantastic to hear how well he is doing, not just in the learning itself but in his social and emotional development too.

And he's very happy with his special purchase for a job well done.

. 

Roll on next year!

What's making you cheerful this week?

Words

Before B started school, a short nine months ago, I worried, unnecessarily of course, but like most first-time*  mummies. I worried he didn't know enough letters, or recognise enough sounds, and he'd struggle in school, and be behind his peers, and, and, and...

(I didn't have similar worries about maths, for he is a maths genius, if I do say so myself...)

So imagine my delight these nine months later, when my worries have been blown out the water, completely unwarranted and unfounded.

He loves literacy lessons, gets excited when he gets new sounds, or common words.
He reads signs, posters, book covers, dvd boxes, backs of buses, anything, in fact, that he can.
He makes up nonsense words, because he knows they're nonsense words, not because he doesn't know any better.
He loves hearing silly poems and rhymes, as well as not-so-silly ones - he cut his little pinky finger the other day, and it reminded me of a Scots poem called The Sair Finger I remember having to recite in school, probably when I was not much older than B. It starts off like this:

You've hurt your finger? Puir wee man!

Your pinkie? Deary me!

Noo, jist you haud it that wey till

I get my specs and see!
I recited it to B, and he loved it, and now I have to recite it to him at least 3 times a day.

He even came home today and asked "how do you say 'hello' in China?" 

I said, "I don't know"

He said, "I do. You say ni hao".
Smarty pants.

My boy, maths genius and linguaphile.

(*and probably only-time mummy ...but that's a different story)

Linking up this post with Just Write at The EO 

and 5 for 5 at Momalom

#Reasons to be Cheerful - Wk 16

Ooh I'm in need of some cheerfulness, I am. It's been a tough ol' week back at school - and it's only been three days! Oh dear...

B's behaviour has been particularly challenging, and I'm exhausted. I'm putting it down to his own exhaustion after the busy Easter holidays and getting back into the swing of things at school. So I am delving deep for some cheery thoughts.

image credit: 123rf.com

It's nearly the weekend, so a couple of days break from the stressful mornings, phew.

Despite the aforementioned behaviour, we have managed to make the school bell 2 out of 3 days so far (we'll not mention the 3rd day when we were a whole 15 minutes late and had to put his name in the 'late book' at the front office. Tut tut)

Apart from one 'blip', I have managed to remain reasonably calm and together (outwardly, at least!) in the face of tantrums, slamming doors, punching (oh yes), screeching, and just plain stubbornness. I know this has helped to stop some potential 'flip-outs' from becoming full-blown doozies.

In between the madness, he is my cuddly wee boy and I love him. Where else am I to get cuddles from these days?!

p.s. oh, an extra cheerful note, I've just noticed that my blog pageviews have broken the 1000 mark! Small potatoes for all you seasoned bloggers out there, granted, but it feels like a milestone for little ol' me!


What is making you cheery this week?

Reasons to be Cheerful - Week 13

So, Reasons to be Cheerful this week. A bit of an 'up and down' week. Late to school, awake half the night for no apparent reason. But looking forward to the holidays. So I'm cheery this week because:

• The unseasonal fantastic weather this week. I know it's not original or clever, but it is amazing just how much the good weather lifts your mood. Even though we all know it's going to go back to 'normal' March/April weather soon enough!
• Two weeks break from the school routine come tomorrow. B is definitely in need of a break now, he's been a bit grumpy the past week or so, tired, so the holidays can't come soon enough. 
• I'm going on a kind of 'spiritual' Away Day on Saturday in London. Not quite sure what to expect, but looking forward to finding out! I'm sure to post about it next week.
• Also B and I have a few days away during the holidays, just the two of us. I am in need of a change of scene so am looking forward to it. Hoping the weather doesn't turn too nasty in the meantime!
• My volunteering role I've been doing for the past 10 months finished this week. A strange reason to be cheerful, yes, and it is bittersweet. But I know it was the right decision to make and I now feel freed up to look for more paid work or to explore other options.

What are your reasons to be cheerful this week?

#R2BC - Home, Hols & the Little Devil

It's #R2BC time again. My mood is not quite as buoyant as it was last week, but I will dig deep for some Cheerfulness. Positive thinking, 'n all that.

 1. I'm going back home this weekend, the first time I'll have seen my dear ol' Dad and my sister since Christmas. That's quite a long time for us, I usually manage to get home at least once a month with B, as we're only an hour a way. We're also going out for a nice lunch as we usually do when I get through (although a bit more difficult to book anywhere given it's Mother's Day...)

2. I'm booking a couple of days away for B and I for the Easter Hols, just waiting for confirmation from the holiday park. It's not far and it's not fancy, but it's going to be a different four walls which is all I am looking for, really. That, and some nice weather, obviously.

3. After experiencing B's Jekyll and Hyde moods all week and going through the emotional turbulence this brings, I feel better having accepted this behaviour as obviously a brief phase (such that I've seen before), connected to a growth spurt or whatever, and he'll return to his undevil-like self soon enough. I just need to keep myself calm in the meantime so that other parents in the playground don't need to wonder why the bonkers mummy is crying at 8.40am in the morning.

4. I'm constantly in awe of the amount of information and learning B soaks up in school, with his letters, sounds, common words and numeracy (although he always has been a bit of a genius when it comes to numbers...)


That's about my lot for this week. Hop on over to Mummy from the Heart to see other Reasons to be Cheerful.   

Dear So and So... Thinking Big

Dear Weather

I love you today, please don't change. The sun is shining, the skies are clear blue,  it's still and calm. There's a bit of a chill in the air, but hey it's only the beginning of March so I forgive you. Good mood weather. *contented sigh*. And I will ignore the upcoming unhappy weather forecast for the weekend and enjoy today while it lasts.

Yours peacefully.

* * *

Dear Time

How can it be March already?! That means there's only a few months til summer (kind of) and the end of the first whole year in school for B. That can't be right, surely I need to have got used to the whole idea of him being in school before he moves up a whole year. Slow down a bit, would you?!

Yours in disbelief.

* * *

Dear Universe

The reason I am constantly pointing my phone towards you of an evening is cos I have an newly discovered need to find out what I'm looking at up there.You can blame B for this recent fascination with all things stellar. His interest in planets and moons and stars has sparked my own. My newly downloaded star-map app is my current favourite toy, and our most-read bed-time book just now is the Usborne Beginners The Solar System, which kinda suits both B and my level of understanding!

Yours in wide-eyed awe.

* * *

Dear Twittersphere

I have dipped my toe in your cyberwaters but you scare me quite a lot. Right now I'm standing at the side of the pool, shivering. I was going to dive-bomb straight in, but when I feel brave enough I may just sidle down the stairs at the side instead.

Yours warily.

* * *

teacher trouble or problem parent?

Today B's school had a P1 'Open Day' today. Actually, an Open Half Hour. Arranged for parents to come into the class with the children and for the children to show us around their workbooks and the classroom and the walls to see all the different activities they do and what they have been learning.

I also assumed this would be an opportunity to grab a few minutes with the teacher. Given B's new teacher is only 4 weeks into the job (after his original one went off on maternity leave), and because we haven't had a proper parents 1:1 since September, I thought this would also be an opportune moment (and the only chance we've had) to meet the new teacher and see how B is settling in with her.

B seems to like her, although the transition to the new teacher I think was difficult for him, understandably. And he has a little pal whom she used to teach in her previous school and reports from him were positive (or as positive as a 6 yr old can give).

So am I over-analysing or being overly sensitive to be slightly peeved that, on approaching the teacher during the Open 'Day' (there was no attempt from her to approach us) and asking generally about B, her first comment was "why, do you have a problem?" Why does she automatically assume there is a problem? Am I not entitled, as an interested parent, not to mention a council tax payer, to enquire as to my son's progress in school without the assumption that I am a difficult parent? This is only my second interaction with this new teacher, the first being equally defensive from her (in my opinion), and so I am not feeling entirely at ease right now.

And when she suggested that maybe she should have had a 'meet the parents/teacher' session when she first started, I had to bite my tongue as I had assumed this would happen but never did. Again, am I being too demanding of B's school/teacher? Is there no time for such 'luxuries' in today's curriculum for 'meet the teacher' opportunities?

I know in a few years time I will look back and wonder what I was getting my knickers in a twist about P1 for as there will be far more challenging times ahead I'm sure, but at the moment this feels important to me.

I need a translator over here!

On the way home from afterschool today I asked B the usual questions about what he did at school today. After the obligatory "can't remember"/"don't know" responses, he did finally tell me they had a special assembly because it was Pancake Day.

image credit: bbcgoodfood.com

 So, I asked, what did you learn about in the assembly about Pancake Day? How to make pancakes? Why Pancake Day exists? No, he says, and he then launched into an intruiging story which I am still trying to decipher...

B: "Well, there was a new man there"

Me: "A new teacher?"

B: "No, well maybe he was, but he wasn't Mrs H* and he wasn't Mrs J* and he wasn't Mrs M* so I don't think he was a teacher" (*names have been withheld to protect the innocent...)

Me: "There are other teachers in the school other than P1 teachers, so maybe he was a teacher?"

B: "Mmmm... *thinks for a few moments* I haven't seen him before in my class...but he told us a story about a man going to see Jesus (pronounced cheese-uss...) and the man climbed up a tree."

Me: "Why did he climb up a tree?"

B: "To see Cheese-us, silly! Cheese-us came up to the tree and he was up to there! *points up to his chest level* on the man, and then the man went with Cheese-us to his house for his tea, but he wasn't ready yet."

Me: "Wasn't ready for what?"

B: "Wasn't ready to go for his tea".

Me: "And then what happened?"

B: "um, the end."

Ideas, anyone?! I'm guessing some sort of Lent/Shrove Tuesday story, but I am none the wiser.

Perhaps that says more about my knowledge of the bible than it does about B's ability to recount the story... but it was a very enjoyable story nonetheless!

Oo, I could fair go a pancake right about now...

A week of two halves

So half-term is over and it's back to 'normality' tomorrow.

It's been a half-term of two halves for me. The first half meant I actually got to spend some time with B which didn't involve nagging him to get out the door at 8.30am for school, which I sometimes think is all I do! We got to lounge about in the house, playing silly games, rolling about on my bed, playing with his favourite cuddly toy cats. We went out and met a friend for a cuppa/juice and cake, went to the park, went out on his bike - hell, we even got to go to the beach (and it wasn't too cold...).

The second half of the week was very different. B went to his dad's and I was left scrabbling about trying desperately to fill the time so I didn't notice how empty the house feels without B there.

Apart from working thursday and my evening class on Wednesday, my attempts to busy myself failed somewhat, partly due to no-one being able 'to come out and play'. I regularly struggle with this in itself, going from resenting my friends for being too busy, to chastising myself for thinking like that, back to wondering why everyone has forgotten about me... these are in the gloomiest moments when I am on my own. This week, this happened on Thursday evening. A few glasses of wine probably didn't help, neither did catching up on Sky+ ER re-runs - god, I didn't remember so many episodes being so depressing!

At least I did get to speak to my wee boy every night via the mystical powers of t'internet/webcam, which made me smile for a few minutes.

And so the 4 'sleeps' without B plodded on, and I forced myself to go out on Saturday, to see the lovely George Clooney in The Descendants. So I guess it's not all bad!

And then to today, when I got my wee boy back again, along with a great big kiss.

Back to the school run tomorrow, earlier starts, rushed mornings, running to beat the school bell... my relief at getting back to normal again probably won't last too long when we're still floundering about at 8.37am tomorrow morning!

And I don't think B has got a proper grip on the 'permanence' of school yet, either. He asked me once again today, why he has to go back to school, cos he's "done school now". Yeah, ask me again when you're 17.

Reasons to be Cheerful

I've just found Mummy From the Heart's 'Reasons to be Cheerful 1,2,3' (#R2BC for short) this morning.

The January Blues have definitely been lurking about our house this week, so I feel I'm in need of some cheeriness!

Why am (or should) I be cheerful today?

1. B actually said he wanted to go to school this morning. Given the very different reaction on his first day back on Tuesday, this is a big achievement! And it meant we both left the house with smiles instead of grumps. A much better start to the day. Hopefully it'll continue once school's out later!

2. We have a huge tree which came down during last week's stormy weather. You could describe it as "conjoined tree twins", joined at the base of its huge trunk, and one of the 'twins' came a-thundering down last week, with an almighty crash which had both B and I running to the window to see what was happening. The reason I should be cheerful is that, given both our block of flats and the one opposite were both built within 'falling' distance of the tree, it missed both, landing instead on the grass in between.

Obviously there will be clear-up hassle (particularly given the ongoing problems with the company that is contracted to upkeep the grounds... but that's a whoooooole other story), but the fact that no damage was done, and more importantly that it came down when no-one was out in the garden - THAT doesn't bare thinking about - I do breathe a huge sigh of relief. Especially when hearing and seeing other stories of the carnage and upheaval caused by a few hours of crazy weather.

3. B had a follow-up appointment with the orthopaedics department at hospital yesterday. He's been walking on his 'tippy-toes'  for almost year now, it doesn't seem that there is any particular reason for this, but obviously I'm concerned it will lead to problems with his muscles/bones in his feet/legs. We've just to keep an eye on it for the next 6 months. Walking through the hospital, it struck me that so many parents and children go through a lot worse than tightened calf muscles. Might sound a bit worthy, but I am grateful for my child's health!

Ok, so that's my first #R2BC blog, I feel better already!

And congrats to Michelle at Mummy From the Heart's as it happens to also be her one year #R2BC Blog Hop / Linky (is there a difference between the two?) Anniversary!

Resolution - Failure!

Day 1 of Resolution (see previous post)
Result: FAILED

Didn't take long, did it? O what a failure as a parent I must be.

In my defence, B was obviously aiming for the Gold Medal in the Most Bad-Tempered / Stubborn Boy Competition this morning in his reluctance to go back to school. A competition he surely would have won by a country mile.

My patience and calm (outer) appearance was eventually shattered, as I tried to coax him into the bathroom while he stomped, humfed and then eventually punched (ohhhh yes...) his way round the flat for a good half an hour or so. Not even threatening and then following through on removing his most prized Santa present (a playmobil Knights Castle) encouraged him to change his ways. Oh the humanity!

So my gold medal-winner ended up going back to school with a dirty face and no teeth brushed. Luckily he relented enough to at least get his clothes on. Believe me, if I'd had to take him in his robot jammies, I would have.

So it's back to Square One tomorrow re: Resolution. I must dig out that Mediation book...

Normality resumes...

Thank the Lord, finally back to school tomorrow for B, after 2 and a half weeks of holidays, about time too!
Christmas hols always go by too quickly, but this past week has not exactly flown by... been a proper struggle to keep him busy and occupied. And no chance of a lie-in! 5 year olds (or at least, mine) don't do holiday lie-ins...

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to try not to shout at him so much! More than anything because it does no good and just makes him more stubborn than before... But I have given myself a reprieve until after school starts back as we have both been driving each other cuh-ray-zee this week. So Resolution begins tomorrow!

Of course, back to school for B means back to 'work' for me. I say 'work', cos sometimes it doesn't feel like a "proper" job. After 10 months with no work, I AM really grateful to have a job. But I know this one is a short-term thing only, and because of that, I'm struggling to commit to it like I should. Not helped by the fact that it's limited hours, cr@p money, no desk-space of my own. God, never happy!!

I have to put some serious thought into what the heck i'm going to do to get some decent flippin money in 2012. I don't want to flounder in a job I don't really want for too long, but if I don't figure something out soon, I'm going to end up doing exactly that. I thought that would be my life in 2011, don't want it to go on for another year.

Lots to think about. At least my other Resolution of trying to re-start the blog is kinda working...

A job? For me?

Yes, an actual job. Someone has offered me an actual paid job.

Woo Hoo!!

Now, it's not The Job, the one which will save me from the financial hole I'm rushing towards. But it WILL slow the rushing.

It's also not going to quite give me the fresh new challenges I'm looking for or get me completely away from what i was doing before (which is what i want), but it WILL give me fantastic experience in the sector I want to get into, it WILL get me meeting people and organisations which I hope will open up new opportunities a bit further down the road.

It's only 1 day a week, so it'll mean that I am not stressing myself stupid about fitting school-runs in with getting to work and back again.

And I hope, I really hope, it will boost my dwindling confidence, so I feel like I am worthy of being paid to work again.

So it's all good. I can't give up the job search quite yet, but it's a long-awaited small step in the right direction.

Yeh me!

Searching for the impossible?

As I carried out my weekly search through the incoming recruitment emails, scanning for jobs which I could feasibly apply for, I felt irritated at how unreasonable some employers are. I now realise that this feeling of unfairness rumbles inside me every time I search the job ads. But this feeling of being hard done by is not because there's nothing worth applying for, nor is it because I don't always have the necessary 'essential requirements' for those few interesting-sounding posts. It's not even because I'm limited in what I can apply for as I need to be looking for part-time work to allow for school timetable, etc.

No, it suddenly dawns on me that the reason I find myself tutting, sighing or stomping off in disgust when I do find an interesting, challenging, part-time post and my hope begins to rise, is because I very often see something along the lines of " working hours - 18hrs, but flexibility of working hours is essential" as part of the ad.

What's so unreasonable about a bit of flexibility, you ask?
Well, here's why I think it's unreasonable. Firstly, I'm looking for office-based work, most of which can be done within normal office hours. I'm deliberately not looking for sessional/community-based work which often does, by its very nature, need workers who can do unsocial or evening/weekend hours.

Secondly, I understand the nature of business and the need for flexibility to complete projects etc. But if you offer a job part-time, it should mean part-time. The number of people, myself included, who have worked so-called part-time hours and been paid part-time hours, but are expected to either fit a near-to-full-time workload into fewer hours, or be 'flexible' which usually means extended or longer hours than contracted to do.

Thirdly, and crucially in my mind, I suspect there is a huge number of part-time posts being applied for by parents (and perhaps I should do my research on this to back up these suspicions) who need to fit work around inflexible childcare commitments, hence the reason they are applying for the part-time posts rather than full-time.

So why do many employers offering part-time work - knowing that childcare commitment is a huge reason people are applying for part-time posts in the first place - then expect us to somehow be able to ignore these other commitments? And do appealing part-time posts which don't expect unreasonable flexibility, just not exist? I am beginning to think the answer to this second question is no, depressingly. Which means that the only options are doing a job which will not be stimulating or motivating enough, or getting a interesting role but be in a permanent state of stress worrying that you either can't commit to the extra hours asked of you, or trying to sort out additional childcare to allow you to do those extra hours.

I was watching a TV programme last week about the lack of work-life balance in this country compared to some other European countries. They interviewed one particular woman who suffered a nervous breakdown following years of working long hours combined with raising 3 children and keeping a home. Once recovered, she started her own business where a more 'positive flexibility' was offered, i.e. where parents are not frowned upon for taking a few hours off for a school performance or if a child is sick, where everyone understands the need to take annual leave within school holidays, and where leaving the office bang on 'home time' to do nothing else but spend some quality time with your children is genuinely encouraged.

But that business's  positive attitude to working parents is sadly in the minority, and so I resume my frustrating scan of job ads and recruitment emails in the hope that I might find something that suits both my skills/interest and my non-work commitments. Here's hoping...