“When you’re old you get tired.”
I turn from the washing up and look down at The Boy; he looks at me frankly with his large brown eyes and repeats.
“When you’re old you get tired.”
“Well, yes…” I say not quite sure where this one is going. “You do get tired when your are old.”
“Are you old?”
“Well…”
“Are you as old as Granny?”
“No, I’m not as old as her, yet…”
“But you’re always tired, so you must be old.”
“Oh, um OK… yes I am old then. But not as old as Gra…”
“Granny is NEVER tired. You MUST be older than her!”
Thinking dreadful thoughts about how easy it is for Granny to be awake most of the day as she doesn’t have an insomniac baby who wants to play in the middle of the night, berating myself for NOT getting on with having children in my twenties then remembering that for most of my twenties Dear Charlie failed to notice me at all in that way despite the fact that I had been in love with him like FOREVER! My vanity is piqued. I try to explain about being kept awake by Daddy’s snoring and having to look after The Boy’s baby brother…
The Boy is singularly unimpressed.
“Granny doesn’t work.” He informs me
Great! He’s getting the idea – Mummy works, Mummy looks after everyone therefore Mummy gets tired…“Only grown ups work……….”
7 comments:
yes, we get similar logic. 'when I'm a mummy I'm not going to work. I don't think mummies should work. ' 'what will you do for money' ' oh I'll take in washing or perhaps I will marry a rich man. Not like daddy'. !
Another word for mummy is work!
I remember someone telling me that when they were 40, their little boy said "is that when you die then"!!
You write so well, and sorry you have had to deal with stuff from the flooding. Dreadful, dreadful. I moaned the other day about water in the windows - will shut up in future. Nice to see a blog from you. love mousie
cherish it, it's lovely!
Great to see you blogging, though the day job sounds grim. I can so relate to this - I get lots of questions about how old I am, and when do Mummies die, and how it would be nice to have a mummy who wasn't tired .....!
my son always wanted a mummy who didn't work : James's mum picks him up from school every day, makes gingerbread men, etc etc. now aged 25 said the other day "I'm so impressed with what you did", and has clearly forgotten the hard time he gave me. you can't win, except by carrying on carrying on, so don't try to.
You can't win - until they've grown up and understand...then it's lovely to hear them say 'you really worked hard' or 'I was lucky that you stayed home' or whatever is pertinent to your situation. The Son and Heir one day recently told me that he felt lucky that he had had me at home when he was little and sorry for his sister (seven years younger) because I worked through much of her childhood. Lillypad, however, tells me she never felt hard-done-by. Go figure!
Made me laugh,and can relate to the comments so much, having three children.
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