Let Them Eat Cake

Michael Gove has been working tirelessly recently to make changes to the education system but I think I have discovered a new option for him.  Forget about back to basics or other such initiatives, how about the latest trend for taking cakes into school to help with the learning process?

Yes that’s right.  Apparently having cake in class helps the learning process.  Younger Son came home today and announced that it was his turn to take cake into Maths.  (We are talking A level maths here – not sit on the mat and recite times tables).  I thought it was a joke until Only Daughter told me they have similar initiatives in her school.  Friday is Chocolate in Spanish day apparently and some science classes have similar schemes.  Whatever happened to rule number one - no eating in the lab? 

I bet they don’t have it in PE though.  Imagine that?  Run ten metres and get one cupcake and so on.  Who knows, maybe it will be good for learning but all I can see is chocolate on the uniform and crumbs on the desks.   Not to mention the panic caused when your child’s day arrives on the rota and you have no cakes in the house. 

Maybe it’s the influence of Great British Bake Off?  To counteract any baking induced stress caused by this new initiative however, I can only suggest similar enterprises be introduced in the office or at home.  Wine Wednesdays for example?

Flying the Nest

Phew, we survived A Level Results Day, and in September Eldest Son will be flying the nest to University.  It seems like only yesterday I was reading to him and teaching him how to tie his shoe laces and now we’re looking at toasters and kettles for a student flat.  I am lucky that I still have two more children at home.  For some of my friends, however, it really is the end of an era and no doubt their houses will echo come September.

However, being an optimist, there is always a good side to everything and so I have thought of a list of positive facts post Eldest Son:

 1) The swamp that is his room can be fumigated and left in peaceful tidiness for a few months;

2) There will be plenty of food in the fridge and no late night snacking;

3) No anxious nights waiting for him to come home;

4) All the towels will be in their rightful place;

5) The television won’t permanently be on Sky Sports or Game of Thrones;

6) The newspaper will be available to read in a clean state;

7) Absent Husband will have surplus beer in the fridge and not moan about his missing comb. 

The list goes on, but truthfully, we will miss him really.

And of course, there is his brother waiting for his promotion to top dog and at the end of every term, there are those inevitable long University holidays….

Summer holidays, exam results and sad times

The summer of 2013 was a mixed one for me.  My last post talked about the stress of having two boys on study leaving revising for GCSEs and A levels.  Well, turned out it was worth the stress with both boys doing extremely well.

Eldest Son's last few events at school were tinged with sadness.  After eight years at the school, he was finally leaving those school gates behind.

By the end of August the good news rolled in for both of them and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.  Our big boy - the one who made us laugh every day was on his way into the big wide world.  (Well, Exeter University to be precise!).  We couldn't have been more proud.

Younger Son did really well in his GCSEs and began to look forward not only to his first festival (Yo Reading and Leeds) but to Sixth Form where he could discover just exactly what girls' banter is really like.

Our wonderful holiday in hot Rome and Tuscany late July was marred by the death of my eldest brother Jon.  Although this had always been on the cards since his diagnosis, it doesn't make it any easier.  I am so glad for the wonderful week I spent with him in June saying my goodbyes.  I did the same thing sixteen years ago with my father.  Never underestimate the chance to do this.  With my mother who died four years ago there was no warning, just a phone call in the middle of the night to say she'd died of a heart attack.  Cherish the time with your family and loved ones, no matter how much they irritate you.