Press your back button now if part of your summer holiday planning still involves the annual childcare juggle. I’m about to be unbearably smug.
My Horde are now 14, 16 and 19 and while the teenage years come with their own set of challenges (their hormones coming in while mine are going out, romance dramas, friend group angst, the constant growing out of shoes and trousers, to name but a few) those challenges no longer include having to trade off annual leave, swapping childcare with friends or considering packing them off to boarding school and leaving the country till they’re 18. I read all the Chalet School books, I know it’s all kaffe und kuchen every day and midnight feasts and adventures up mountains. They’d have been FINE. Probably.
While we’ve always been amazingly lucky with the various childminders and big sisters who have looked after them over the years, it’s still flipping excellent not to have to worry about it every year.
The flipside is never knowing quite how many teens will be scattered about the house and garden when I get in or who will be around for dinner. If they’re here they get fed and I assume that works when they’re at other people’s houses too. We’ve always operated open door parenting, on the principle that if we’re there for the fun stuff they’ll know the door will still be open for the harder stuff too.
Several nights a week there’s at least two teenagers asleep in the living room, one in the cabin and right now there’s nine people ranging from the ages of two to 27 racing around the garden with water pistols. I’m sitting surrounded by chaos and the remains of an impromptu barbecue and – honestly – I love it. Especially the bit where they just get on with it with no input from me.
It also means I can go and work in France for a week and then have a week of peace before school chaos starts again; go for a drink with colleagues or friends after work; or be at my desk by 8am.
This is not to say parenting teens is a breeze: emotional crises arise, there are still dramas and we’ve got T-level results this week and GCSE results next week but, on balance, I think we’re doing OK.
I expect one day they’ll all leave home and I won’t know what to do with myself but till then I’ll keep embracing the chaos.
Other things making me happy this week:
- A lovely day off on Friday with Miriam, with breakfast at the Mayfield Bakery and a very relaxing massage.
- Finding Breton cidre at St John after work on Thursday, and remembering how nice it is to do these things.
- A peaceful day at Shelley Church fête crocheting toadstools and chatting to nice people. The meerkat went home as a raffle prize with a very excited teenager.
- Painting wooden toadstools with Things 1 & 2 in the garden
- Finishing a new pig in a blanket as a test for this year’s Christmas offerings
Same time next week then!
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
Still Water/Nightwalking/The Sheep’s Tale – John Lewis-Stempel
Talk to the Tail – Tom Cox
Whispers Underground/Broken Home/Foxglove Summer – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible]
Midnight and Blue – Ian Rankin
What Kirsty did next 