IRISH MOTHERS AND MEALTIME TRAUMAS…

“Five spoonfuls…”
“i wanna popsicle…”
“Six spoonfuls…”
“Popsicle popsicle popsicle…)”
“NO POPSICLE WITHOUT 6 MORE SPOONFULS.”
This is not some undiscovered Tom Waits lyric.
It is the exchange of dialogue between parent and toddler at virtually every meal time in our house. And out of it. These words will usually see a spoon introduced to some pasta, a single tube of it [...]

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THE ATTRITION OF YOUTH– A DAILY MELODRAMA BROKEN INTO THREE ABBREVIATED ACTS

 
The situation.
A 3 year old toddler, a 16 year old teenager, the 16 year old teenager’s friend and a 41 year old driver/ATM/parent. This motley crew are in a motor vehicle, thus close quarters.
 
 
Act 1
 
4.05 pm: En route to a male teenage youth’s hair appointment for a cut and highlight work. Toddler has [...]

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TURTLE LOVE

It must be tough.
One minute you had it. Right there. In your clutches, safely sequestered by your little fingers. The next… poof! Thin air my friend, thin air. It’s gone. Disappeared. Ceased to exist.  And then the sense of loss arrives, the sharp ache of dispair, humiliation and hurt, the full impact of  ‘it’s’  absence [...]

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DRIVING A TAXI AS THE DIAPERS SLOWLY DIE…

“I wanna go Princess Pee-Pee!” squeals the wee one as she sprints towards the bathroom for the 13th time during the last 50 minutes. 
I am getting absolutely sick of it. She’s starting to spend more time in the toilet than me for God’s sake, and that is simply not on. The toilet (or ‘bathroom’) is [...]

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