"I'm a celebrity get me out of here....." Well not quite, more like "I've come home with three kids, what do I do?" This was the scenario the other day - Alice's best friend came home with us.
I had semi-mentally prepared for this - how to do a Kofi Annan when hostilities breaks out, keep them ineterested, fed, happy and alive...
I know that to kids in the 4yr+ bracket it's a bit of a status symbol to bring someone home or go home with someone. Alice had wanted this for a while but it hadn't quite fitted (bad timing and lots of illness) - until now!
So, we were on the way home, the phone call had been made to mum not to be late - in case things turned ugly...
Economics for Kids
It's all about supply and demand. My job (in their eyes) is to supply what they demand. First request: "Can we jump on the bed with Emily" - I had to turn this one down and it probably leads to Emily being bounced off the bed....
For most of the time they were fairly self-sufficient and more inventive than I could've been - putting on makeup to become prowling tigers - with blue stripes! Being prey to the tigers was a given demand.
The food/dinnertime wasn't so stunning - there was more time spent over who sits where than acutal eating. This discussion was done during an interupted dressing-up session - one was complete with ballgown, high heels and sparkly earrings and the other in just underwear.
The food wasn't so interesting - maybe due to a dodgy food combination (later post.) They wanted desert...
Superdad & Opinion Polls
We all have to have the odd trick up the sleeve. The type that's dished out now and again - either to keep the voters (children) happy, keeping the approval rating up, in times of emergency (the break glass in case of...) or the occasional arm-twister.
Yes, there'd be a smoothie if the food went down.
This didn't get the expected resonse from friend that I was used to - even Emily was getting excited at the sight of the blender. "What was in it?" After explaining the contents: yoghurt, banana, raspberry and blueberry - and with Alice chipping in that's it's almost like ice cream - still a glum face.
Mmm, what was it? "I don't like blueberries...", "Ok, then no blueberries". Easier said than done - as the berries were frozen and mixed together. Oh well, this dad was going to have to work for his ratings! After painstakingly separating frozen berries and extracting one type for the blender, the smoothies were made and presented. Of course, the went down like a treat.
The Show
When Alice and friend are together the visit is always rounded off with a bit of circus performance. Today was no exception - bring on the lion tamer to tame the rabbits...
So, I escaped the first "follow-home" without too much physical or psychological damage - a few steps outside the comfort zone always makes things more interesting!
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