How to surive your kids - has Spain got the answer?

If your kids aren't listening when you tell them something, it could be "inattentional blindness" according to a recent study.  You can read the full BBC article here.  A lot of mums will think that this is another way of saying they are not paying attention because they have got something better to do.  It's exasperating for parents, of course, but aren't grown-ups just as bad?  How many people do you know who never listen to what you have to say beyond the first sentence because they are too busy thinking up what they are going to say when you have kindly finished?  Yeah, right.

Spain seems to have been giving the matter of children's upbringing some thought.  Under draft child protection laws it plans to make housework and homework for the under 18's mandatory in a section entitled "The Rights and Duties of Children".  Child will also be required to respect their siblings and to "preserve and make good use of urban furniture and any similar assets".  Wow!  If that law becomes successful in Spain and its popularity spreads, it could mean that little Johnnie will get a spell in juvenile detention for taking his little brother's toys or tweaking his sister's hair.  And just imagine the war on home territory that insistence on kids doing housework?  When my two were growing up it was a major effort to get them to put something in the dishwasher.  I would have needed an army to get them to do anything in the way of cleaning, dusting or tidying up.  "Preserving and making good use of urban furniture" sounds intriguing, doesn't it?  I guess it means not smashing park benches and putting rubbish into bins provided. 

If Spain really does introduce all this legislation for its youngsters I think it will open up a whole new industry there.  Imagine parents reclining in the garden under a shady umbrella and sipping delicately at an exquisite white wine, and saying to guests and neighbours:  "The kids?  Oh we packed them off to Spain for a year so they can learn how to behave.  Johnnie's just been released from a week's detention for failure to clean his shoes when he comes in the kitchen and not listening to adults when they tell him something." 
Viva Espana! 

Working Late

I hear that in France there are plans to ban the reception or sending of emails after 6 pm for some professions/businesses.  At this moment in time I do not know if this has been made official or not. At any rate it got me thinking how nice it would be to ban some things in the evening.  Just imagine switching off to your kids as soon as the magic hour arrived?  "You're late for supper, it's after 6 pm, get your own meal" instead of "OK I'll whip you up something" when your twelve-year-old arrives in the kitchen an hour late and with no other excuse than he/she "didn't realize the time".  And what about that friend who always telephones for a chat just as you are settling down to watch your favourite soap - sometimes the only soap you keep up with?  A quick look at your watch and you can refuse.

It's not going to happen is it?  We - women that is - have never really learned to say "no" when asked for help.  That's nice actually.  It means we are not selfish or cold-hearted, we are warm, loving, helpful people - most of the time anyway.  So maybe we do need a rule which tells us when to start thinking of ourselves.  That doesn't mean we don't care, it just means that our kids, our family need to be aware that we require that all important "me time" once in a while.  Dream on everyone.

Superwoman?

Are you a star, a superstar or a celebrity or even a scandal celebrity (a description I read somewhere in the online edition of a newspaper this morning.)?   Do you feel "super" when you copy the dress your favourite star, superstar, celebrity wore to some fashionable event?  It seems that a lot of women do feel the need to buy an outfit which looks like one that, for example, the Duchess of Cambridge has worn. Once some clever fashion reporter reveals where Kate got that coat or little dress or whatever, the shop is sold out of the item within a day.  And why not if it makes you feel good? 

Do you really want to be a celeb, though?  Look at poor Pippa Middleton. Stephane Bern, a French author  maintains Ms Middleton wore a "fake bottom" at the wedding. It was all just well placed padding, she says.  Just imagine scrutinizing Pippa's bottom over the past few years and coming up with this idea. It sounds a bit as if the green eyed god has poked someone in the eye, doesn't it?  Mon Dieu!  Get a life, pleeeasee.

 If you are a celebrity people consider you fair game for all sorts of comments in what often seems to be an never-ending put down game.  Life's too short isn't it?  I'd advise Stephane to get out there in the fresh air, buy some French bread at the market and drink a big cup of freshly ground French coffee.  It'll make her feel better and the rest of us can continue enjoying ourselves with or without that ooohhh-to-die-for dress that - er - whatshername wore to that -er - event last night.