sporting the latest teaching accessory
– a baby
The first born spent all morning yesterday trying to convince us (with tears and everything) that he should not be going to school. To give him credit, his arguments are fair and probably accurate, of course we didn’t tell him that. He’s concerned he’ll be exposed; he’s worried he’ll bring ‘the germs’ home to his vulnerable sister (the one he’ll happily beat the shit out off if she so much as dares to look at Lego police station). The school has ran out of soap (not true), the teachers don’t give you enough time to wash your hands (I suspect also not true), someone coughed in class, so and so are off poorly, on and on he goes.
So this morning, after a long evening of what ifs, guilt, questioning our decisions, feelings of doing the wrong thing, trying to convince each other it’s the right thing, imagining all the worst case scenarios and terrifying the shit out of ourselves, you know, all the normal parent stuff. We decide it’s the right thing to do for the girl, the little one and for us all as a family, so we tell him he’s going to be staying home, he tells us he wants to go to school, I can’t keep up with this kid.
So now the little one, the girl and the first born are all at home. Obviously I am also totally winning at also trying to be a very efficient work at home Mum. The first born is my study buddy and we have had a brilliant and productive morning. Me working, him doing math, sharing the dining table as we both accomplish lots of work related tasks, him consuming a million sweets and asking when it’s lunch 64 times, he’s also insisting that even at school he gets play time.
Apparently, school isn’t the non-stop sweat shop of math, reading and spelling tests (as he’s previously tried to convince us and of which I have recreated today). Who knew they actually get to have some fun. His brilliant and sensible idea to stay safe and just ‘play inside’ is so thoughtful and also translates to sprawling out on the sofa headphones in and consuming as much Share the Love as is physically possible. He’s not soft this kid but I’m sure he thinks I am.