I have stopped asking questions about school at pick up time. I get the same tired answer over and over again …
“I don’t know” with a shrug of the shoulders.
The words blood and stone spring to mind.
I have learnt to leave well alone and during the evening I get a trickle of glimpses of the 4 year old’s day.
Gone are the days when I knew my children’s every move.
I remember fondly a time when I could chart the bowel movements of my children and regale them to my husband when he returned from work.
Oh, those were the days.
One of the things I always want to know is what she’s eaten for lunch. Mainly because when I’m serving dinner I always seem to be in line with the school kitchens. I serve spag bol, she had it for lunch. I serve lasagne, she had it for lunch and so on and so forth. Whether this is the truth or just my daughter being 4 I am not sure.
As I picked the 4 year old up from school today I got a waft of garlic …
Me – “Have you been eating garlic?”
My pedantic daughter replied all matter of fact, as only she can …
Her – “No Mum, it’s not garlic, it’s garlic bread.”
So, tonight over dinner I asked the 3 year old what he did at pre-school. He is always happy to give explicit details in his own special way …
Him – “I climbed on David* … eat buns … had poo … bikes and sing songs with lady”.
Poor David.
The buns bit is his daily lie, he tell me this part with a mischievous grin so I will say in mock horror “Buns?” to which he says “Noooooo” with a giggle. It’s one of those little things that he never seems to tire of.
The 4 year old feeling left out and pondering whether to share her day starts up with …
Her – Do you want to know what I did with my lunch?
At this point I get excited thinking I’m going to get hard information …
Me – Yes, what did you do?
Her - I ate it.
… and that is all I get.
My son climbed on David, didn’t eat buns, had a poo, rode a bike and sang songs.
My daughter ate her lunch which involved garlic bread.
Maybe I should be grateful for any information at all?
Imagine the conversation David and his Mum were having.
* Names have as usual being changed to protect the, in this case poor, innocent David
15 Comments on "A shrug of the shoulders and a waft of garlic"
LOL! This whole post totally cracked me up! I think I’m still in the stage when I have tabs on pretty much everything my kids do most every minute, including bowel movements.
My Four year old routinely tells me that they did nothing at preschool. When pressed, she thinks very hard and then says “We played”.
Sigh.
I’m trying to get information about his nursery out of my two year old… I am truly insane.
My 6 year old’s life at school is a mystery. He comes out with stickers for good work or good behaviour and has no recollection of how or why they’ve got on to his jumper. The 8 year old is better, though he is at pains for me to understand that at his age he does ‘really hard work’ whilst his brother probably ‘just plays’!
I’ll be back to read more.
http//morechocandchipsplease.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the fan inventor… Am thinking he probably doesn’t have an e-mail address… Damn x
Welcome to My world! That is the same answer I get everyday!!!
Me : Jake, What did you do today at school.
Jake : Stuff!
That is the SAME answer I get Every Day!!!! I dont know why I still ask????
My 7 year old boy is just like your 4 year old. No information volunteered.
The 3 year old usually tells me the bad stuff – “Teacher told me off today” or “Wet my pants” or “Didn’t like my lunch.” Nothing good ever seems to happen at her pre-school group!
Lucky lucky you – that’s far more information than I get.
“What did you do today?”
“Hmmmmmm, don’t know. Forgot.”
And that’s on a good day!
I will say to my son, as we walk out of the school gates ‘what did you do at school today?’ Do you know what he always says? … ‘I can’t remember’. Yeah right, and I’m a chimpanzee called Mabel.
Daughter, on the other hand, can’t wait to tell me all the best bits of her day as soon as I pick her up. At least one of them is communicative!
x
Ha! I have the opposite. From my daughter, I get a spectacular answer “Mom, today we pretended we were paleontologists and we dug for dinosaur fossils.
From my son, “We relaxed a little.”
Brilliant.
Our 11-year old is the same
“What did you learn at school?”
“nuffin.”
Eating lunch was the high point of my day too. Seconde only to eating supper.
It is great to see how much I have moved on since the age of 3!
Eating lunch was the high point of my day too. Seconde only to eating supper.
It is great to see how much I have moved on since the age of 3!
And I thought boys were the laconic ones!
And I thought boys were the laconic ones!