Tea, Cake and Parenting

I started writing this blog in the week that the school closure was announced. That's four weeks ago now. I think that tells you how productive I've been since then. Four weeks of this strange new world. Maybe you're hitting your stride, or maybe you're running out of ideas and feeling panicked about the weeks stretching out before you! Chances are it's a bit of both. I'm certainly finding some positive and negatives. Its been lovely seeing my two play more creatively and spend more time together. Having a four year age gap, this is the first time they've really been in each others lives full time. On the flip side, the noise level is really getting to me! So no particular order, here's my top 5 things I've learned so far... 1) My 2 to is much harder than my 6yo. I really wasn't expecting this. My 6yo has never been good at self entertainment while my 2yo usually potters happily around the house with me. Turns out the 6yo has adapted much b

I will confess that I am not overly religious and haven't really observed  lent  past eating pancakes on Shove Tuesday for years.  But this year I decided  to give up the word  sorry . Like the vast majority of British people I over use this word.  Most sentences start with or include the word  sorry .  I apologise for everything, ... the weather, someone else having a bad day, my children being normal children. for being completely unavoidably late....... the list goes on. In fact it's so normal to me I didn't really realise how much I apologised for things that really beyond my control and not my fault until it was pointed out to me.  Then I started to think about it and notice myself doing it.  And I started to notice others around me doing it too. At first I thought this was a "quirk" of the British language.  A harmless, quaint British thing.  Something that is part of our culture.  As my mother in law would say "politeness costs nothin