Riders on the Storm

The youngest and I were joined by m’boy today.

Once again, on the one working day when the children are with me, Friday contrived to be without doubt the busiest day of the week so far.

Via a combination of food, bargaining and the brilliant work of Pixar we got through until 4pm at which point I think we were all ready for our one-a-day and some fresh air.

My house isn’t the biggest, but there is plenty of room for them to get some space and yet they still somehow contrive to sit on top of each other, figuratively and literally.

Remove them from the confines of a fixed structure, release them into the wild with literally acres of space in every direction and what happens? They want to be/walk/exist in the exact same space currently occupied by the other.

Like many parents before me, and doubtless those yet to follow, the solution to this most frustrating of conundrums continues to elude me.

There was time for the briefest of reflections as my children gazed out over the town, stormy clouds hovering over their heads and I wondered what lay in store for them. How much damage has been done now to affect their long-term future?

Or maybe, just maybe it goes the other way and lessons ARE learned from this unique passage of time and the poorly chartered course that we were barrelling down without a care or thought for others, has now been irrevocably altered into a long uphill climb.

It is not something to be feared. Those who have walked anywhere in a similar hilly part of the world to me will know that sometimes the climb itself is it’s own reward, but on a clear day the view from the top will always make you feel grateful for having taken that difficult first step.

Stay healthy.