Capital Radio | Family Affairs and other matters

MY CHILDREN’S FRIENDS

Monday, January 18, 2010

I took my children to Gourmet Burger Kitchen for lunch yesterday. I had heard on the radio that they were doing a promotion together with Capital Radio so you get your second burger for £1.00 if you pay a £1.00 donation to "Help a London Child". Therefore everybody's happy and I've added the link just for ease. We downloaded two vouchers but it didn't work. Only one per meal. I did consider, momentarily about sending two of my kids to sit at another table to save money, but that seemed a little unreasonable. I LOVE going out for meals with my kids. OK it's expensive to feed them all out, but every once in a while it is SO worth it. You get to chat without any stress. My son told me all about the party he went to the night before. It was at his friends house. This boy lives with his Grandmother. His mother is in prison for hiring an assassin to kill his father after finding out about his affair. My daughter then went off on her story "that's so similar to my friend who lives with her Grandmother - her dad is in prison for killing her mother with a knife and she clearly remembers seeing it happen even though she was only three. I have to be really careful what I say to her and try and be really sensitive - I can't mention parents or anything. He only got 11 years and apparently he's coming out really soon, but I don't think she wants to see him". I could see my teenage son looking puzzled. Sensitivity is not one of his major features. BUT STILL. Do you think I should start paying more attention to their friendship groups? Should I be concerned that both my children seemed to be hanging out with the children of murderers? How awful for those poor kids (not mine, the ones who are living with grandparents). That really is an argument for thinking through the "all actions have consequences" mantra before carrying out something so devastating. My youngest child was really pissed off as he had nothing of such major interest to report so went into a total sulk because nobody was listening to him. He kept trying to say clever things and his older siblings just kept looking at him with such derision or falling about laughing that he began to get really cross. Perhaps I should suggest that he find a few murderers to hang out with - it would make him so much more interesting. We also had an interesting conversation about being the Queen. My daughter thought she might just marry Harry "he was a real minger when he was 10 but he's OK now". She mulled over the idea of being the Queen and what sort of things she could do. "I'd have my face on all that money and I'd own all the swans in the country, so I'd dye them all pink".

PRINCE CHARLES VISITS SCHOOL

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

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I had to wake my teenage son up about 85 times this morning and as he dragged his dishevelled body down the stairs adding items of clothing that he had deposited somewhere the night before, I told him that there was NO WAY he could wear his shoes for a day longer. I've been trying for weeks to find a moment to take them to the cobblers - there is a huge hole at the bottom and it's raining and I said I'd write him a note and that he'd have to wear his trainers. NO MORE EXCUSES. "But mum, Prince Charles is visiting our school today". WTF? How can he just say that so casually, having forgotten to mention it to me at all - they've probably been planning the visit for months. He's probably learnt a new Morris Dance and speech and they've no doubt been re-painting the school for months and changed all the rooms about and they've probably got a totally different timetable for the day and - maybe it's a girl thing, but there's no way I wouldn't have mentioned that he was going to be visiting. "Oh, well in that case, you'd better wear them then" I told him and then proceeded to give him a list of things to say and people to mention should he get a chance for a chat and a cup of tea.... No wonder he didn't mention it come to think of it - although at least I didn't try and give him a side parting before he left the house which I thought was very restrained of me.