KISS FROM A ROSE

Dear Alice,

It was back to school this week, which meant back to peace and quiet in my home office too, yay!… at least until 4.15pm when Rodent Boy gets home. The really big news here this week though has been the introduction of Teacher Mum’s ‘Technology Free Hour’. I have given her my full support for this interesting new concept that she believes we simply have to try. She heard about it on Twitter from one of her twittering edu-buddies. It involves no access by anyone in the house to any technology for one hour every evening. Mobiles, computers, TVs, game consoles and the Internet are all banned. Playing basketball outside is fine; board games and reading are particularly encouraged. Basically anything that it was possible to do forty odd years ago, is considered okay.

Your brothers think she’s nuts of course, but have little choice but to go along with it. Eating dinner accounts for 15 minutes of the time and helping clear-up fills another five. Last night for the last 30 minutes I read Top Gear magazine, which of course is loaded with all the latest technological advances from the world of motoring. Even just reading about technology made me feel guilty; it was like I was cheating somehow. [Hmmm… maybe Captain Anal is taking this too seriously I hear you say]

Elliott gloomily said it was the longest hour of his life and added that as he hadn’t actually gone to school that day (Tristan had) it really shouldn’t apply to him until the following day when he also returned to school. No turning back now matey. I suggested they could pass some time doing the recycling, garbage and all the other jobs they’ve been given to do this year. Hang on a minute… recycling and dishwashers weren’t around 40 years ago… oh no, this is going to be so hard.

Well how are you? Haven’t heard much from you, but we assume you are happy. I guess you are in that exciting period of your life where you feel liberated from the constraints of parental control and are now overdosing on freedom, independence and hopefully hard work. Conversely, we are in that less than exciting period of our lives where, as metaphoric gardeners, it’s time to put away the tools, and watch the joyful rosebud, tenderly nurtured from seed, begin to bloom. All we can do now is admire from afar as our prize-winning rose reaches for the sky and impresses the world… ;-p

: Dad