STaGediVe

Holiday Hair .. February 11, 2007

The kids arrived on Friday & from just within my periphery vision I watched them get out of the car .. something caught my eye .. G had what car manufacturers would call ‘vivid blue’ hair & D a shade that might be described as ‘Candyfloss Red’ in the Dulux adverts .. Donna had been busy ..

They were both very pleased with their new colouring and delight in the fact that I wouldn’t choose to coulour their hair .. it’s alomost like having free rebel points as I pretty neutral on the subject, but find it quite cool that recognise it as a form of rebellion ..

Watching G play in goal for his football team in the pouring rain was pretty funny, the ‘vivid’ blue streaking effect running down his face suggested that the dye was only semi permanent – it may have put off the opposition!

I was briefly suspended from school in my teens for being outrageous enough to have my hair cut short .. imagine that .. the irony of the moment was being told by a near completely bald deputy head that I needed to stay home till my hair grew was almost too much to take .. I did think about suggesting he did the same, but it seemed a step too far at the time ..

I remember having to be at home for a couple of weeks and whilst I don’t remember discussing it in detail with my parents, I sensed they were not best pleased. I visited my Mum today and was chatting about hair styles in light of D’s Red Mowhawk invading her front room .. it turns out that both my Dad and her were pissed off, but not at me, at the school .. my Dad’s line being that if I had broken the law it would be different .. I was really touched to hear that. Although left leaning politically, my Dad was fairly Conservative in his later years, and it was great to hear that he went to see the school and gave them ‘a piece of his mind’ on my behalf ..

I never discussed it with him, and had always assumed it was parental disapproval that resulted in the silence, but it appears it was history repeating in reverse .. I await the calls from high school regarding my/our kids hair styles and claims on independence .. I may be in need of new soap box for Xmas ..

Young Knives .. January 23, 2007

There’s a lot of tabloid furore surrounding Big Brother over the past week. I haven’t watched any of the episodes this year, but have seen a few news clips following the Jade Goody allegations ..

From an observers perspective, it strikes me she is being targeted somewhat. There were more people than her guilty of whatever it is they are guilty of .. is it racism though?

As I said, I haven’t seen the show, but from the glimpses it appears to be largely blind ignorance rather than racism. I’m not sure Jade herself understands the concept. It’s people picking on someone they don’t like who happens to be Asian, far more intelligent & considerably more attractive than them (I am guessing on the intelligence front, but I have a hunch I may be right!) .. that’s just jealousy and lowest common denominator attack as a form of defence .. even the actual racial slurs were inaccurate, which makes it even more criminal .. sigh ..

Yes Ch4 should have stepped in earlier, it’s damaging to more than the few people in the house .. we need to stamp out any encouragement of the closet racist attitudes of middle England, the ‘I’m not a racist but..’ brigade need only the slightest glimpse of a populist role model and they will be straight on the soap box.

Ch4 they got the ratings, but they also lost a lot of respect .. let’s get over it quickly, here’s hoping for a new range of tabloid perfumes and millionaires for no reason ..

The point I hooked in on was the S-Club or Liberty X girl talking to her housemate about the cringe worthy topic of ‘Is it in India that they eat with their hands?’ …. der!!!!!! .. I loved that one .. was She serious??

Kettles and Black Pots .. It got me thinking .. in Britain, eating with a knife and fork is a dying trend .. could we be accused of the something similar on one of the International Big Brothers? ‘The Country that used to eat with a knife and fork?’ ..  

Kids are force fed finger food from a very young age, Pizza, Burgers and all manner of fast food don’t require learning how to hold a knife and fork. Pasta eating with a fork and spoon, it’s rude not to .. We then quickly broaden the palette to cover Chinese, Thai and Sushi where chopsticks kick in .. Kids could potentially get to their early teens using a knife and fork once or twice a week when the menu flips to something traditionally British .. My Son is 8 and although trained in the art, he thinks a knife is pointless .. we are perhaps one generation away from sucking liquidized Cottage Pie from a cellophane packet ..

Liberal .. November 15, 2006

I’m not sure I am that liberal after all. I had a parental encounter last night ..

George was playing on the PC, glued to the screen with the occasional giggle (or gurgle) when one of his friends crafted something on Messenger or an amusing (to a 10 year Old) video was discovered on You Tube ..

After some pleasant exchanges about the day at school I looked over his shoulder at his friends BeBo Page. There in the comments fields was picture of son with some banter about one thing or another ..

Scroll down .. some moderate light hearted abuse to one another, then .. oh my .. the banter had crept into swear words. Unfortunately swear words that neither of them (as I later discovered) knew the meaning of. Without repeating said phrase on a family entertainment channel, you wouldn’t want to tell your mother .. read reference to parent and copulating.. 

I was surprised to say the least, and just hoped that not too many people had the benefit of reading the text. We managed to get the post deleted and then without too much embarrassment to son and sufficient discipline and explanation from me, I passed on some swear word definitions that made it all too apparent to George what had been written in his fair hand.

He was mortified to be fair, he couldn’t believe that is what it meant .. and now knows without doubt that there is a time andplace for colourful language, and that place is certainly not on your mates Blog.

I can accept that music and TV bring pleasantries into kids lives at a much earlier age these days. I can remember the Parental Warning stickers on albums in the 80’s that just meant that the record sold more copies. These days though, with the Internet, it’s all there in your face from the day you can control a mouse.

Parental controls on the PC are one thing, but most kids have older brothers, DVD collections and numerous electronic grapevines that there is no way you can avoid it.

I’m not sure of the right way to handle it, but I think if kids can get to know the meaning behind the language, they stand a chance of avoiding sticking their (small) size 6’s into a situation that isn’t entirely appropriate .. maybe add swear word ettiquette to the national curriculum .. now there’s a thought ..

Big .. November 13, 2006

George was playing on the PC yesterday, a 10 year old addicted to Bebo, something about Jesus and a Hamster. He sat back in his chair and said ‘I love being me’ ..

Not sure if he got that from me or not, but it’s something I say myself a lot, not in a ‘the great I am’ sort of way, but more in a ‘there’s a lot of shit goes on in the world, and I am in a very fortunate situation’ sort of way ..

Either way, I sighed a contented sigh and felt very proud of him, I don’t think I could have had the same thought process at that age .. I was momentarily Tom Hanks from the film Big .. I love him being him too & me being me ..

OMG .. November 13, 2006

I had carried out the occasional search on eBay for my fave childhood toy, The Evel Knievel Stunt Bike, and promised myself one as a gift when I saw one at a good price, the lowest I found was £55! .. As far as childhood memories go, this was the real deal, I had two starter motor things for some reason and had so much fun sending the bike over ramps to my Dad and him returning it along side the ramp .. the ramp was for me, not my Dad you see .. Evel lost an arm but still carried on jumping, oh so courageous ..

Anyway, Dad might not be around to share it with, but those kitch kindly folks at Hasbro (probably) have relaunched it for this Xmas.. I can’t believe there is anyone under 30 that cares, but it’s on my xmas list .. woo hoo ..

Right kids, honest it is more fun than You Tube and Bebo .. I’ll get my coat ..

Offspring in Tutu .. November 11, 2006

When I picked the kids up from their After School Club earlier in the week, Dylan was dancing as I walked in, wearing nothing more than a pink tutu and a tiger print fake fur strappy top .. he looked up grinning and non-plussed as if it was an everyday occurence. The adult helpers were giggling, his elder brother was sighing..

He had his nails painted at his Mum’s make-up party earlier in the week. Today at football he was showing one of the other Mum’s and he also said he had girls knickers on & that they belonged to his Dad. I don’t think they do?!

It is nice to have confidence at such a young age.