At last the time has come when the children go to school. For some it is their first time while for many it is a continuation of the last academic year. Parents are relieved but not more so than grandparents. The six week holiday is when they really come into their own. I know because I am one of them.
I’m not blaming anyone, it is just the way the world is now, at least in our part. Go anywhere in the summer holidays and you will see children being looked after by their grandparents. Their mothers and fathers are at work, trying to earn enough money to cover the modern cost of living. Despite having raised their own children, childcare falls increasingly to the grandparents.
Not that I mind really. We love spending time with them and it is a privilege to see them grow up and be part of their lives. Yet there is a reason that you have children in your twenties and thirties. They are very tiring. It’s hard enough when they are babies with all the feeding and nappy changing yet it doesn’t get any easier as they get a bit older. Their attention spans seem to get shorter, their entertainment more expensive and their capacity for food gets greater (and more particular).
It is not only our bodies that feel the strain, our wallets feel it too. Everything is so expensive now and it costs you a few hundred quid just to cross the threshold.
It doesn’t end there though. There is a whole list of rules that we need to follow. What kinds of food they are ‘allowed’ to eat, what sorts of entertainment is ‘acceptable’, how much exercise they are supposed to get and definitely how much television and screen time they are not allowed. It is mind-boggling.
Still, the time has come, it is back to school. They look sweet in their crisp uniforms and we miss them already.
It’s time for a lie down.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 