The week that was aka GMM/NSGM

I had so much fun with my last Good Mama, Bad Mama post that I decided to do it again.

Because I have no imagination, here is my third effort. Please free feel to comment with your own highs and lows of your parenting week.

No-one is perfect, and it is good to remember that. Plus overall I think I do ok.

I may also have been inspired by similar type posts on other blogs.

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Good Mama Moment (GMM): Taking Tink (plus friend, plus the Pixie) to see a friend in a play. Bonus points because it was Shakespeare so I get to feel like I am enhancing their education.

GMM: Remembering to rock up for a backstage meeting on Tuesday night.

GMM: Tink stayed at home from Guides because homework was more important.

Not-So-Good Mama Moment (NSGM): Teasing the Pixie because she made up the funniest action I have ever seen in a game I have been playing at Guides for 17(ish) years.

Good Guide Leader Moment: Teaching the girls a new game that I loved.

NSGM: Letting the girls organise their own fake tan for concert (with the lovely lady across the road). Plus I am still not sure it was my finest parenting moment that I let them get one at all.

GMM: Not laughing at Buglet when she rang me in tears after she had her tan, and being v cool, calm and collected about it all. Then calling Apple in a panic to see if she could go around and make sure all was well.

NSGM: Laughing a little when I got home.

GMM: Cooking one of my favourite dinners and having on the table by 7.30pm on a work day. Bonus points for making cauliflower and broccoli in cheese sauce which I do not like at all, but the girls love. (Side note: the word "table" should be very broadly interpreted).

GMM: Leaving work early to be a good dance-mum and getting the girls ready for concert, and me ready back-stage ninja.

NSGM: Bribing the girls with lollies to be good on the car trip. Smart moment was putting Apple in charge of policing this.

NSGM: Telling Pixie I didn't have time to discuss what went wrong with her dance. My words may have been "I don't care right now, baby". In my defence I was in charge of the quick change room and I had 12 girls to worry about.

GMM: Debriefing on the way home with traditional McDonald's.

Total Brag Mama Moment: Realising that being Buglet's mummy gave me lots of credibility with the tiny tots. So, so proud of her work with them this year.

GMM: Taking Pixie to the shops so her sisters could sleep for a bit longer.

NSGM: Lots of shouting at children to be good in the car.

NSGM: Banning car dancing until after concert because I didn't have time to deal with blood noses or black eyes.

GMM: Back stage ninja, night 2.

NSGM: Realising that the first time I had seen them on stage these concerts was the finale of concert 2.

GMM: Crying. I am so proud of them. This may have also been exhaustion.

NSGM: Telling Buglet her dance injuries were related to dancing with big boobs. She was crying. I was cuddling me. She kicked me. Inappropriate, but quite reasonable in the circumstances.

GMM: Super awesome birthday celebrations for Tink including The Hunger Games themed food.

GMM: Telling the girls (including extras) to eat fruit at the celebrations so I could feel better about my parenting.

NSGM: Asking Buglet if DB was being good when I rang to see how their shopping was going.

What a weekend! Going back to work almost feels like a rest this week!

Disclaimer:

• Do not attempt a similar post unless you are sure it will work out to be an overall positive. You do not want to end up feeling worse about yourself.
• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

A Rose By Any Other Name ...

A very famous line for a quick post about one of our most recent excursions ... and a few older ones.

The girls' first experience

The reason this particular line is important is because once, about 4 years ago, I accidentally took my (then) 10, 9 and 7 year old daughters to see Macbeth.

The most obvious question is "how did you manage to accidentally take your children to see a play?". To clarify this is how it happened:

1. See an advertisement advertised for The Scottish Play in uni newsletter, with a synopsis that it is about putting on a Shakespearian production.
2. Think "Oh that sounds like a good introduction to Shakespeare for the girls and it is only $10 per ticket, plus it's supporting the university. I should go".
3. Because I am a responsible parent (sometimes), I email university to see if it is suitable for children*.
4. Uni says that they year 7 students who saw a similar production last year enjoyed it.
5. Take children on the basis that they like plays and they are good audience members. Audience is full of middle aged people (parents?) a few students (friends?), and us.
6. Work out it is actually Macbeth with a bit of an prologue and epilogue at the end of each act about why you can't say 'Macbeth' in a theatre.
7. Spend the intermission trying to explain why a play called The Scottish Play has everyone it Asian clothes
8. Fail dismally at point 7. Partly because I don't really know why. Artistic interpretation is hard to explain to small children.
9. Girls love it.
10. Spend the rest of my life trying to explain it to people that I know Macbeth is often referred to as The Scottish Play, but that the synopsis implied it was a play about Macbeth not actually Macbeth with about 10 minutes of extra bits.

Turns out it was a great accident. The girls are very enthusiastic and wanted to see more. This lead to me developing a theory that children should be encouraged to see Shakespeare's plays. They are too young to understand the raunchy bits, and aren't self conscious about not understanding the words. A good production involves "miming" style actions as much as words. That said, liking Shakespeare from a young age I think helped me develop a love of words.

Helpful tip: Read the synopsis first. Makes explaining things much easier.

The Pixie did create a bit of a mexican wave style giggle when she whispered very loudly "Mama, is he drunk". He was. He was weeing on the wall, but never mind. As a side note, if you have yet to experience Shakespeare for yourself, please remove any delusions you may have about it being all grandoise and classy. Lots of crude jokes in every Shakespeare play I have ever seen!

See! It was still a great show even if I had been expecting something else. Does the title of this post make sense now?

Later ...
I took them to see As You Like It, and Much Ado About Nothing (which Tink was pretty adamant should be renamed Lots of Talking About Something).

Last week
On Friday night I took them to see Cymbeline, which to be honest I had never heard of before. I really liked it. It had lots of drama, romance, fighting, lots people, evil plots, poisons which turn out not to be really poisons, you know, all the good stuff.

I totally forgot to follow my helpful tip about reading the synopsis first. Pixie found all the names a little confusing so made me read the synopsis on the program modernising the names. I don't think it really helped her follow it but she was impressed by my efforts.

She wasn't in a particularly good mood anyway. The Pixie really wanted to do something for Halloween, so we got a little dressed up to go. I was a cat. Pixie was a vampire. Tink was a vampire. Buglet and Apple came straight from dance so they didn't get to dress up.

We also snuck in a quick Halloween party down the road, including reusing the water-melo-latern from my work morning tea!

And just in case you thought that this intellectual stimulation wasn't having any affect on the infants, this was the exchange on the way home in the car ....

Pixie: What Shakespeare plays have we seen?
Me: You guys? Um ... Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Macbeth ...
Pixie (horrified): Mama! You can't say Macbeth in a theatre!
Me: We're not in the theatre, we're in the car.
Pixie: Oh yeah. Continue.
Buglet: Do you have any of the plays written down?
Me (horrified): Yes! The complete works. They're right next to Harry Potter, and I have a few of them in student editions.
 Apple starts giggling
Me: Are you laughing that they're next to Harry Potter?
Apple: No, I'm laughing that she thought you might not have any.

We are off to see Taming of the Shrew in a few weeks, so we clearly haven't been scarred too badly.

*This is actually really important with plays. I took the Pixie and my niece and nephew to see a MA type play because I didn't check ... and we were in the front row! Admittedly that was this year, so ages after this, but that is not the point.

Disclaimer:

• I am not qualified to give gardening or beauty or any other household advice. Follow my suggestions at your own risk.
• I am not qualified to give teaching advice.
• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.