School Holidays

Time for another general post. The school summer holidays are upon us, meaning we get to spend six whole weeks laughing in the sunshine. Or more realistically, I spend six weeks fruitlessly trying to 'entertain' two small people on a tight budget and discourage them from spending too much time on the Xbox / you tube / anything with a screen. I wouldn't complain but when they put their minds to it, the boys are really good at entertaining themselves without technology. They'd just rather not put their minds to it unless they absolutely have to. I do appreciate the hypocrisy of criticising too much screen time when I'm writing this, at 6-something am, in my pyjamas, on, ah yes, a smart phone. I like technology but I'd also like it if my kids played out more, spent a bit more time building their horribly complex Lego creations and maybe even, occasionally, talked to one another about something other than minecraft. 

They're not so bad though, really. Evan has "written a book" this summer. Specifically, he's filled an exercise book with some of his more bizarre observations, imaginary worlds and drawings and so far, it's had the 'select' readership of his Mum and Dad and Grandma, but good for him. I'm encouraging him to write another; I'm not sure a story about a giant blue dog accidentally inventing Pac Man will have a big audience, but still, it's a start.

Reading Evan's book made me realise all over again just how strange kids can be.  You'd think I'd notice it more, considering I live with two such specimens but I think I've become slightly immune to it. Little boys' minds are so incredibly, deeply odd, it's wonderful. We had a guest from Spain recently who my boys had never met and the first thing Evan said to him when he got in the house was "do you wanna see my stick collection and where the woodlice live?" (I mean seriously, who could refuse?) To our guest's endless credit, he said yes and ended up spending half an hour outside in the drizzle looking at small insects whilst his cup of tea went cold. Evan is his friend for life.  

It's no wonder kids struggle in the real world sometimes. I sometimes feel a bit guilty about intruding on their imagination with reality "Evan, can you please set the table?"
'But I'm battling a mutant herobrine!' Hasn't it always been that way, though? I used to get called in for my dinner whilst I was up a tree or something and feel really grumpy about it.
As an aside, surely I can't be the only person whose memories of the 70s and 80s have taken on the quality of the photos of those decades? In my mind's eye, everything in the 70s was a fuzzy, slightly disturbing shade of orange or brown. And all the men had sideburns. Perhaps it's true though, I did grow up in the north of England.

I advocate more strangeness in the world, not less. I think everyone should be able to be as weird as they like, instead of bright, creative kids being expected to 'conform.' (Conform to what, anyway? Normal is a completely made up construct). Strangeness is where the imagination lives and where all the best ideas come from. I'm a big believer that rebellion should be of the mental variety, which is why I feel sad when I read news reports about working class kids (boys in particular) being disengaged with education. That's a rant for another day but let's just say I'm not a fan of the tendency in academia to only permit certain groups to research as long as they are taking the role of human lab rats.

Back to the weirdness of kids, though; if any teachers are reading this, I honestly can't imagine what it must be like to teach 20-something small people but there must be times when it's amazing. Away from the endless paperwork and continual political meddling, the growth of young minds in your care must be an overwhelmingly wonderful thing to observe. (Though I daresay incredibly frustrating at times, too). I hope you're all enjoying a rest.

We still have a few weeks until school starts up again so in between trying to work and wrangle the kids, I'm planning some days out. It's been a tough year for us all so it's important to make time to do the nice stuff too, try and balance things out. Happy summer, everyone!  Xxx