The World Our Kids Live In...

...Isn't the same one that we grew up in.  In fact, it's very different.  And not in a good way. 

Our family home is opposite an open park and when we were young, we were allowed to go play on this open field with our friends.  There were many kids living around the park and we would often meet on the field and play for hours on end.  We'd play hopscotch, hide and seek and ride our bikes.  We'd play soccer and marbles in the street.  And sometimes we'd just have a good laugh at the lone Afrikaans boy who used to offer us his black marble-like sweets from inside his pants (it was before we knew shorts had a pocket on the inside).  We had so much fun until we were called in for supper time. I think our parents only concern was that we would cross the road unsupervised and I can remember standing on the pavement opposite their house with Jo calling "mooooommmmmmyyyyy" until my mother came out and saw us across the road.  Heavens knows what our parents did while we were off adventuring...

Our home is also across the road from a park and Jake seldom goes outside to play unsupervised.  He's getting a little bigger now, so I do need to let him, but in a country where 17  year old girls are kidnapped, raped and murdered (not to mention the babies), there's no such thing as an overprotective parent.  Jake very rarely has friends over to play, most parents work and kids are forced into after school centres.  Many parents aren't comfortable sending their kids off to play at homes where they don't know the parents (I'm one).  And you learn not to take offence when people turn down an invite because they don't know you yet.  Children play inside and its up to the parents to keep them entertained.  They watch more TV than we did and play more TV games.  When we were kids, we only had a couple of hours of programming a day and Tuesdays and Thursdays were Afrikaans programmes, so we skipped those days completely.  It wasn't important to us.

Aside from that, at school, our kids are faced with bullying and bad mannered piers.  Take for example, the boy at school, who hits the girls.  He went as far as to punch one little girl in Jake's class in the nose.  She was devastated.  What boy's parents don't teach him NEVER to raise his hand to a girl?  It's one of the first things Jake learnt.  This same little boy has started bullying Jake a little too.  I'm trying to teach Jake to just walk away, but he wants to pulverise the guy and I'm not sure that I blame him.  At some point he has to stand up for himself.

Jake does enjoy school though and has sweet stories to share every day.  Like this morning, he told us about the boy who took the little girl in their class flowers, because he loves her and that's what boys do when they love a girl.  This is the same little girl who was blowing Jake kisses last week and telling Jake she loves him.  Her affections have changed though, it's amazing what a bunch of flowers can do...


I think the most important thing that we can give our children is love.  We need to protect them and keep them safe.  We want to give a sheltered and loving home, with as many happy childhood memories as we possibly can.  It's why I love to travel and see the world with Jake.  It's why I love doing special things with him.  Hopefully one day he'll look back on our short time together and remember that we had so much fun together!!

On a cheery note, yesterday morning, Jake and I took things a bit slow.  We were awake a little earlier than usual, so climbed back into bed to read stories, each with a cup of warm coffee.  Jake's comment: "sweet coffee is like getting a nice cuddle".  Too true.

Hope you all have a fab weekend.

Lots of love,
Sue X