King's Blog

Most of my friends have had the experience of consoling me after I have been dealing with my daughter’s strength. “The force is strong with this one” seems to be a blissful statement that doesn’t even begin to touch on her perception of her capabilities.

I was fighting it hard. But for all my efforts, trying to teach this tiny woman with an iron clad will that she would submit seemed to be useless. I am a fundamentalist. And there was a part of me that believed that ‘good parenting’ meant submissive children. Enter massive issue…..my daughter will not submit, she wants to lead.

Since the 17th century Earl of Sandwich asked for a piece of meat between two slices of bread and called it a meal, its namesake has been the staple of easy lunches throughout the world.  Its convenience, coupled with the sheer range of breads and fillings available nowadays, has established the humble sandwich as the central attraction of the school lunchbox.

Despite my best attempts at creativity and variety, however, my kids have reached sandwich saturation point.  Bored of bread and fussy over fillings, they return from school with their barely-nibbled wraps and rolls squished apologetically into a corner of their lunchbox. 

A hotly debated subject among my fellow Year 3 mums is whether it is okay to move their 7-8 year old to the front of the car.

Legally in Australia, children may travel in the front passenger seat of a car from the age of seven (officially, they are permitted to travel in the front from the age of four should all available seats in the back be occupied by younger children). However, the National Child Restraint Guidelines recommend that all children under 12 should travel in the back of the car and use a booster seat until they are tall enough for an adult seatbelt. 

I enjoy writing. My kids don’t (or so they say). Maybe it’s an association with spelling drills and school essay assignments but my boys do not naturally get excited at the prospect of putting pen to paper.  Oh, they have friends who keep journals and who write stories at home for fun (imagine!) but not my boys. 

It was a little bit of a panicked morning compared to usual. We drove down the road on the way to school and my pre-preppie exclaimed, "I forgot my bag!". Indicator on, ready to pull over, I exclaimed, "I didn't get it either!" Then, a calm six-year-old boy's voice said, "It's OK...I've put what she needs in the boot!" Like I always say, my kids are not perfect but I my six-year-old is one of those kids who is thoughtful and organised FAR beyond his years.

My kids have a fantastic book on resilience called “Jilly and the Bully”. But after reading it SO many times (they love it!) I’m wondering if a better title is perhaps: “Jilly and the child that made a really bad choice, but who improved his behavior after she and he spoke and subsequently shouldn’t really be labelled as a bully”?