Tag Archives: children

So, They Closed His School. Is It Really A Surprise? #90DaysBlogChallenge #Covid-19

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Today’s writing prompt for my #90DayChallenge: ‘what’s on your mind right now, what’s happening?’

Well, as I write this rather a lot. I sit here in the early afternoon multitasking, which is even more of the new norm for me since the pandemic. (I shared how much my day and life has changed in a blog post here.) At this moment in time I’m surrounded by school books, pens, paper, pencils, the washing, and the normal content of my kitchen, my son is having lunch and has his nose in his tablet watching a movie. Pretty normal right? But, I’m in a state of shock. On one hand I ask myself should I really be, is there really a surprise here?

The prompt is to just write about whatever’s on your mind, in all honesty I have so much, I don’t even know where to start. I’m sorry if I seem as though I’m rambling. *Sighs*

This morning I got the one call I really hoped that I would never have to answer. A parent who is also a friend, and their child attends the same lovely school as my son called me to say ‘they’ve closed the school.’ I was like, ‘what?’ In a nutshell last night an email circulated, and teachers made contact to let parents know there has been two cases of Covid-19 confirmed. One teacher and one child. Now, no doubt I never got that contact as some of you may recall, I never returned my son to school. I opted to home-school since September. This decision was made after listened to the evidence, news, science, government and still was not sure about the safety of schools reopening. I then spoke to a friend of mine who is a scientist in Brazil. He forwarded research that published that day, confirming that as we know now kids carry the virus with no symptoms etc. It does not mean in any case that they are ‘safe’ and not at risk. After all they could and do transmit it to others.

At the time, I may have been a bit overprotective, but now I so glad I made that choice. Schools have only been open technically half a term- six weeks. Already his school is at risk.

In all honesty, this virus Covid-19 is serious and it makes me so mad when there are people in power, tweeting, ranting, and showing bravado that ‘it’s not that serious’ ‘ I’m immune now I’ve had it’ etc. It’s just rubbish and gives the wrong message about how serious this thing is. It’s kinda really hit home to me today, just how much we must be careful!

After I received that phone call, right when I was in the middle of a math problem with my son LOL I felt like I could not even continue to teach, or focus on it. I had so many questions, who is the child? Who is the teacher? What class was it? Of course, the parent who called me could not give me details. They didn’t even know, the teacher who made contact would not or could not I should say disclose this information. We’re all none the wiser.

Over the course of the morning I’ve been in contact with friends who have older children, they too told me that at their child’s school there have been cases. Even the parent that called me also said, their older child who has just started the secondary school ( high school) phase just September gone, also was sent home last week– one case at their school in their actual class. To add to the fact that the school their younger child attends with my son, is also now closed.

Jessss, does it ever end?, I wondered. As of now, I am really concerned about the state of the world with this pandemic. But happy that I made the decision to home-school as I could. I pray for every parent who reads this or does not even read this, who has a child in school. I send positive energy, there’s a bubble with some kind of protection that surrounds your child as they move through school, mix with other kids, teachers, and members of society that are not part of the family.

All I can say is keep well everyone! Please take this pandemic seriously. I know it’s hard, I know lock-down was even harder and by the looks of it, parts of the UK are under this threat, as are many other parts of the world. Keep your eyes and ears open, do what you can to protect yourself and others. Never feel as though you’re being ‘too scared or over protective’ by making certain decisions, keeping distances, not meeting up etc. I have no doubt many friendships have suffered. But, if people are really any friend of yours they will understand, and care about their safety and yours. make use of the Internet and communicate with cameras etc.

So the question is for me, is there really any surprise that the school has closed? Nope, I guess not when you look at the statistics around the world. And locally where I am. I just never once expected Covid-19’s impact to get so ‘close to home’ the school is literally at the bottom of the road LOL. It’s close! I have no idea what happens after half term, which is coming up. But all I know is looks like home-school is here to stay.

Wherever you are keep well.

Romance Writer’s Challenge Week #18: Boy You’re Just Too Funny! – What Makes Me Laugh Out loud#MFRW

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It’s week eighteen, well it was last week. Forgive my lateness. I am as always fashionably late with the Romance Writer’s fifty two week writing challenges. Anyway, week eighteen all about what makes you laugh out loud. This writing prompt response is dedicated to a special person, the most handsome boy in the world! My three year old son…. He makes me laugh so  much here’s just a few examples of why.

Bath time:

What is it with little boys and their willies? Fast forward twenty years and I guess nothing changes, as  a grown man for him there will always be a  fascination with his willy! Every night, I ask my son when I undress him for bath time ” do you need to go wee wee?” He shakes his head “no mama ” jumping up and down eager to get in the tub. “Okay son, let’s get in the tub.” I place him in and he stands there  as soon as he gets in, hips thrust with his you know what thrust forward  and pees in the bath! Swirling his hips around for the perfect aim :). Then he has the cheek to say ” ta-dah!”  Look at me and laugh.  I do chuckle, no matter what I do he saves that bath-time pee especially for his ta-dah moment.

High Heels:

I have a pair of gold gladiator heels, I also have them in black too. They have a good say four and a bit inch heel. ( I’m only five foot five). I love them, so does Blake my son. My son is obsessed with walking in these heels, but only the gold pair for some reason. And to my surprise he can walk well, he trots around heels clicking on the wood floor happy as Larry. ” Mummy shoes, mummy shoes.” Every time I hear this I know he’s on about my gold heels he wants to wear them. I’ve tried to  put them away out of sight. Hoping he will mess around with a pair of my flats…. nope! He wants these gold heels. It makes me chuckle.

 

Learning to talk:

I think as a mother you learn to understand your child’s words even when to others they sound like baby babble. Some of my son’s words are so unclear. Fifished = finished. founded-it= found it. vashin’mach-in= washing machine and  mata-toes= tomatoes. It’s so cute when toddlers talk and learn to express themselves. His words often make me chuckle. Especially when he says tomatoes lols 🙂 .

Learning & imagining my future son:

Bless him, he is well house trained already. I watch him pull the hoover out and try to plug it in, try to sweep the floors, unload the washing machine when he hears the click of the end of a load of laundry. To see him do as I do is so heartwarming. The way toddlers learn is entertaining. I do catch him trying to fold himself into the washing machine now and then, the first time it was funny. Now I’ve learned to keep it closed!

Recognising who and what his mama is:

I encourage my son to read a lot, well look at the pictures in books he’s only three. We read together every night. He makes me laugh when he pulls a novel off my bookcase and opens it , then pretends he’s reading. My heart melts…. the best bit, is when he recognises the covers of my books on the case. He’ll pull them down and say “mama book.”  Or he will pick up my notepads I use for creative writing ideas ” mama book” he’ll scream. He’s so cute. He may have little words but he is very aware emotionally.

Kids…. you’ve gatta love ’em 🙂 They’ll always put a smile on your face.

 

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Daily Writing Prompt: Lovingly Does It #motherhood

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Lovingly

Today’s WordPress writing prompt word lovingly, describes exactly how I went about my day today.  It was filled with love. I recently reduced my working hours in my day job from full time to part time, so I can spend more quality time with my son, and of course write more novels. Today is  our day off work and nursery. This morning, I told myself I’m not  a writer, teacher, or anything else today but a busy mum, trying not to get lost as I navigate my way through  central London’s traffic, to get to London Zoo, with a  three year old strapped in the backseat, clapping his hands and singing Old Mcdonald a had a farm at the top of his voice.

We had a great time! He has a love for all animals  but he is crazy about wild animals like lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants and hippos etc. Basically any wild animal you’d find on safari in Africa, rather than farm animals. Today for the second time  he saw  real wild animals up close  from different parts of Africa, at a different zoo. Of course he freaked out with happiness when he saw them. I even had a tantrum on my hands when it was time to leave the hippos, he did not want to leave LOL. But he lovingly made up for his mini tantrum when we had lunch, he gave me the biggest, wettest toddler kiss and hug ever. I assume  to show his enjoyment, and thanks for the day out to see the animals.  So today’s writing prompt response for lovingly  is dedicated to my beautiful son Blake and the day filled with love we’ve had at London Zoo.

 

Little boy blue, mama loves all of you! Your

Oval face, and big brown eyes. To see you smile makes mama’s heart go wild,now you’re starting to speak to hear your little

Voice is such a treat, it makes mama feel warm

Inside a feeling  she  just can’t hide,

No regrets at all, now I have you, I feel like I have it all,

God blessed me with you, so I ‘ll do my very best to raise you, I’ll always take care of  all of you, from the tips of the curly hairs on your head to your little hands and feet, to mama you are  such a gorgeous  treat!

Now I will  lovingly prepare one of his favourite dishes he loves, sausage pasta bake  🙂

I hope everyone’s day is filled with love, and  you have lovingly carried out something good today.

Writing Prompt: What Would You Do If … #amwriting

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I’ve been playing around with some of the 100+ writing prompts I shared with you earlier this week. I’ve had a really good time with the  one line generator, especially the random situation generator. Here’s one that got me writing.

Writing prompt: What Would You Do If… You Had No Money To Feed Your Children?

It’s really sad, but I think in this day and age this is not an uncommon thing in society, I’m not talking third world countries I mean built up society. I can’t speak for elsewhere but here in London, the cost of living is ridiculously high. I have spoken about this before so I won’t rant again, but take rent for example if you rent from a private landlord the prices are sky high in some of the more “nicer” parts of London. Here in the UK we have a system that does offer help with rent payments to those on low incomes or out of work, under the current government we have, when they first came into power the amount of support offered was capped. The result of this was many of those on lower incomes were pushed out of the ” nicer” areas of London they were renting in, and had a struggle to find more cheaper homes to rent. Really sad. Then there’s the average salary vs things like rent costs, food costs, and transport. All very expensive outgoings in London- not to mention child care. 

Parents ( especially women) are often faced with the tough decision of staying at home or reducing their working hours as the cost of full time child care in London, easily eats up a huge part of your income- trust me I know! Just while children are under school age a woman’s career may be set back. Some how here in London economically in some cases it can make more  sense to stay at home rather than work, as the living wage just won’t not cover  all the bills and childcare. This is a blog post for another day! It’s a big subject.

So with these points in mind, I saw this writing prompt and thought this is something a lot of parents may (at one point) have been faced with. The extent of it will vary but we’ve all been there. I have decided not to pay a bill in order to survive, I have no shame in saying that! LOL just life and real, London is expensive!

Luckily, I’ve never been put in a position where I could not at all feed my son, but let me tell you if I were ever in this situation here is what I would do. He is my king and he always comes first. Let’s assume I had no mum, sisters, support system  etc and I was totally on my own…

  1. I’d ask my local shop keeper (really nicely) if he will help me out and explain my situation. I’d like to think after going to the same corner shop (as we call it here in the UK) for almost ten years where I live, he’d help me out with food. Just until I can repay him.
  2. I’d steal it- I tell you no lie I would. This is my son we are talking about. Yes I know this is wrong but I would actually steal food from the store, if the shop keeper said no. I don’t know if I should confess this but oh well! I would probably head to one of the larger food chains. The major ones who can afford to miss the cost of one meal as their profit turn over is ridiculously high. 
  3. I’d try to find a food bank. Here in London or actually around the UK they became very popular when the recession hit back in 2007. I’d turn on the news and see news reports on how much local charity aid  increased in demand, due to job loss vs the need to feed a family.
  4. I ‘d look in my cupboard and see what I can possibly russel up for dinner from what I have. One thing I learned from my mum is keep emergency supplies of things like pasta, tuna, rice etc. To this day I always have these tucked away – just in case.
  5. I’d go out and swallow my pride and ask strangers for help. I really would for the sake of my son. About two weeks ago, I was  outside a cafe, I just stepped out onto the pavement and started to debate what errand to run first on a Monday afternoon. A young girl approached me she looked around her mid -twenties. She said to me ” excuse me miss, do you have any cooking , cleaning or babysitting work for me?” I was quite shocked  and politely I said ” no I’m really sorry.” She then continued  to explain ” I have just come here from my country and it’s really hard, no work for me so I can’t eat or survive.” My heart strings were tugged, I asked her where she is from, it turned out  imagine this from  Greece! Of all the countries. I’m sure you all kept up with the crisis that country experienced when it went bankrupt and residents were limited to just something like sixty euros per week to withdraw from the bank, as there were no funds!  The country and its people were left high and dry. I could not believe what she said to me. While I had no cooking or cleaning jobs I did give her some money for food, just my luck I had no change so I ended up giving her a full £5.00 note. Before I handed it over, I thought to myself what is £5.00 in this day and age? It can just about buy lunch, or a travel card for the day this is not a large sum of money I’m parting with. She was so grateful. All I asked from her is that she did not spend it on drugs or alcohol, I watched her walk into the Wimpy cafe and take a seat ready to order. I walked away feeling like a better person for that charitable deed that day. If I ever have no money to feed my baby, I hope if I stop a stranger on the street and explain they will feel no ill feelings about parting with £5.00 just as I did.