Is Three a Crowd?
Depending on your point of view, three is either a crowd; or perhaps the magic number – anyone else remember De La Soul? (I’m showing my age, huh? :))
What about when it comes to friends?
I was chatting to a parent this week – she was expressing concerns about her child’s current ‘best’ friends. Seemingly she has two best friends, and for the most part at least, it seems to work pretty well for the three of them.
However, of late she’s noticed that more and more frequently two of the three will ‘gang up’ on the other one. At the moment she thinks it’s pretty harmless, just the usual childhood squabbles and it’s not always the same child that gets picked on but is worried that in the future it might become more of a problem.
Aged around 8 (as her daughter is) having one ‘best’ friend becomes more important, and her mother is concerned that one of the threesome is going to get pushed out.
Spring Cleaning
Spring has sprung! Well slightly. We’ve had a couple of nice days here in London – I’m seeing crocuses and daffs popping up – so as far as I’m concerned, we’re there. The good news – longer, lighter days… the bad news – it’s probably time to Spring clean.
Why do we clean in Spring?
According to Wikipedia the tradition comes from Iran where – the practice of “khooneh tekouni” (which apparently, literally means ‘shaking the house’) prior to the Persian New Year (which falls on the first day of Spring); and/or the Jewish tradition of cleaning the home prior to Passover.
My Mum says perhaps it’s because the dust is that much more visible in bright sunshine… Not of course that there’s so much as speck of dust in my house of course…
*Cough*
Well, maybe some. It depends how closely you look :)
10 Tips, 10 Years On…
A little over ten years ago, the very first Perform school opened its doors.
Prior to starting Perform I was working as a musical theatre actress and, like most jobbing actors, while I loved my time on stage, my life in between was inevitably peppered with rounds of hideous temping jobs which I hated.
However, there was a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. I knew I was happiest when working in the arts and so took a job teaching a children’s drama class. I’d love to be able to tell you that my eureka moment happened there and then in my very first class but, sadly, the reality was somewhat different.
I was taken on without so much as an audition and, having been breezily introduced to the children, I was just left to my own devices. I was terrified.
There was no formal training given – it was very much a case of sink or swim… and for a while, I really felt I was sinking. But after a few weeks, things began to change. I can’t pinpoint the precise point, but somewhere along the line I really began to enjoy it.
Should Siblings Attend the Same School?
Yesterday I met a fellow Mummy for coffee and cake; her two children are a little older than mine – her eldest is 11 and her youngest is 9.
To date, (that is to say, until her eldest started secondary school) they have always attended the same school.
It seemed like a good plan – not least because of the practicalities of picking up and dropping off, and of course the emotional benefits of having a sibling at the same school; however she’s now beginning to think about whether or not it’s necessarily the best idea.
Now, I realise that depending upon whereabouts you live, there’s not always a choice when it comes to schools; but as she’s living in London and there are a couple of good schools in easy reach, there’s no issue there.
I asked her what had brought about this thinking – not that I necessarily think it’s a bad idea – it’s just that I had always assumed that she would send them both to the same school. She said she’d always assumed much the same thing, but she wondered whether it really ought to be such a given.
Kids Say The Funniest Things
I was chatting to a few parents after a Perform class this week, when one of the children came running up to me; very excitedly:
“Lucy, Lucy – I’ve got a massive brew – do you want to see?”
Amused and somewhat intrigued I said yes, of course. He rolled up the leg of his tracksuit bottoms to proudly display a very large bruise.
“Wow” I said “That really is massive, but you know it’s called a bruise, not a brew.”
“No” he said “I’ve only got one of them!”
Fabulous, eh? It’s hard to argue with logic like that – anything with an ‘s’ sound is plural :)
It got us talking about the other funny things children say – ranging from the cute to the cringe-worthy:
