Dear Car Driver

Picture the scene... You are driving along in your car when you spot a harassed looking, heavily pregnant mum standing on the pavement waiting to cross the road with a buggy, some shopping bags and a 4 year old in tow. You feel sorry for her so you stop your car and wave her across. She glares at you , tries to tell you something you probably can't hear and makes some funny looking hand gestures. You get all confused, confusion turns to frustration and you drive off in a huff - "There's NO helping some people. STUPID woman".

No. Let me tell you this, the woman really isn't stupid. She is trying to teach her 4 year old a bit of road safety with the biggest lesson being do NOT cross the road in front of a car!

Photo by Flickr user (Dominic's pics)

So. Dear car driver, next time you see an adult accompanied by small child waiting to cross the road PLEASE DO NOT stop your car and wave them accross - They are, most probably, trying to educate their children and it really really is not helpful. NOT helpful at all.  If said situation arises at a pelican crossing, it is especially not helpful to hoot and beep and try to encourage them to cross before the little green man appears. If you really must be helpful then save it for little old ladies, they, I am sure, will be very grateful and appreciative.

I hope that we have cleared a few things up and we understand one another better.

Kind Regards,

Harrassed Mum of 2 (and a half)

Play dates - Love em or hate em?

Personally I love them, most of the time.

On a good day the little ones play so nicely you could almost forget they were there, leaving you to sip coffee and swap gossip with another grown up in peace - Bliss.

More typically however coffee sips are punctuated with shouts of "I'm not your best friend"  "Mummy...."  "I had it first"  "Can I have a biscuit"  Then there is the mess and carnage to deal with after.  Recently Hubby and I had to re do every jigsaw puzzle that my 4 year old owns and out of 12 puzzles we managed to complete 3 without a detailed, forensic style, search of the bedrooms.  We are still missing pieces for 3 Puzzles!

Another thing I love is when the guest child misbehaves, it makes me realise  my child is "normal" and that in fact most 4 year olds are the same with the same single minded, tunnel vision and stubborn tendencies - I find it all very reassuring.

Once the paracetamol has kicked in, the headache has faded and the mess is all cleaned up I can honestly say that I really love playdates with everyone having had a good time and a break from the "norm"