Morning all and a very happy Monday to you. Monday’s are usually one of those days that we would all rather stay in bed and let the world around us go by however I am lucky this week to have a Monday off.
I got up then full of the zest you get on a day off, I can take on the world, I’m going to get loads done, I am going to skip with the children to school full of little tales from their weekend to share with their friends. I am full of Joie De Vivre and looking forward to new eyebrows later (HD Brows, apparently it’s time I got with the future of eyebrows!)
Anyway it all went a little bit wrong when I put the boys breakfast on the table. A simple action that involved the mixing up of two breakfast cereals because why would any child have only one kind in their bowl. The arguments started, ‘he looked at me strangely’, ‘he is wearing my favourite pants’, ‘he had two more chocolate pillows than me’ and it went on and on and on. Fast forward almost two hours when we should have left for school fifteen minutes prior and Nate still had no shoes on.
I got to the bottom of it quite quickly, Nate had a huge issue, a massive problem, perhaps one of the biggest ones of his little life so far. To provide some context to this I need to explain that the school sent home a letter on Friday asking that every child come into school on Monday with a water bottle that they could take sips from throughout the day and mean that they won’t have to ask every time they want a drink. It also of course promotes to children how important it is to stay healthy and hydrated. A marvellous idea. Well other than Nate who doesn’t drink water. Doesn’t like it, almost has a total aversion to it, like it burns as it goes down his throat.
Nate’s issue of course was that he wanted juice. You would have thought that knowing the inevitable tornado that would follow I would have just said yes however I tried to be a good parent. I patiently explained that the school had asked for water and why, how important water is to us and most importantly that if I let Nate have juice and all the other children in his class had water it really wouldn’t be fair.
This prompted one of the biggest tirades he has ever had, I make him miserable I am so mean, it’s not fair, Can’t I do something to the water from the tap to make it taste differently, he wants to go and live with Nana, she would understand. It was a bit like all the things I worry I am rubbish at as a mum being confirmed but in a screaming voice. I was quite flattered though that Nate seems to believe that I have god-like powers and can turn water into another tastier clear liquid with only my mind (I know vodka isn’t suitable, but it’s the first thing I thought of!)
So we arrived at school, late, hot, stressed, tired with two grumpy children with faces like thunder marching into their classrooms like I am the worst mother in the world. I spoke to the kind teaching assistant at Nate’s door and explained the mammoth episode he had been having this morning and why only for her to say, ‘bring a bottle that isn’t clear then the other children won’t know what he drinking’. Brilliant, not only am I an awful mother but I also have the problem solving skills of a walrus (nothing against walruses but it was the thing I felt matched me best both physically and mentally!)
So off for new eyebrows…. what could go wrong? xx
tiredfromwhitstable 