Deepwater

Silence in our house is never a good sign.  It normally means that one or other of the children has tied up and gagged the other.  So after a short while of silence on Sunday afternoon I dragged myself away from the football to investigate. 

To my profound surprise the children were playing together nicely (seriously I never thought I’d use those three words in the same sentence) with their playmobil hospital, rescue helicopter and numerous other emergency service vehicles.  

I asked what they were playing.  “Doh mum, it’s the Deepwater Horizon oil spill clean up of course” came the reply.  

Silly me. 

It’s so easy to get caught up in the routine of everyday - meal preparing, teeth cleaning, homework doing, park going - that sometimes I forget to notice how aware of the world my children are and how grown up they are.  They really think about things; big, important, global things. They think about them seriously and make sense of them in their own way. 

I just smiled and left them to it, best not find out who was Tony Hayward and who was Obama.  

Myatt's Fields

Saturday's weather was gorgeous. To celebrate I took the children up to Myatt's Fields to play in the water park there, which is truly brilliant.  For those of you who regularly read this blog you'll know how much my children love water!

It struck me watching the children play that in London (in our middle-class, over-protective, helicopter-parent bubble) that there are very few opportunities for my children to play with children of different ages. They don't do it much at school, they certainly don't do it out of school where play dates are strictly restricted to those children whose parents I quite like!

This is actually quite sad; they learn so much from each other - heirarchy, turn-taking, confidence, how to fit in, limits & boundaries, trust and independence as well as the actual games they are taking part in.

It was wonderful to watch them play, take their part in this micro-society and explore the world with a bit more freedom than they're normally allowed.  And they relished it - awe and wonder at its best!

And the sunshine was pretty lovely too.