We just had a visit from my mother recently and out came the goodies, vegetables and fruit from her garden, home made pickled produce and soft cheeses.  Yum yum!  We were also given an open tin of caramel, that didn’t last long I can assure you, as well as a bottle of open thickened cream.  No worries if they won’t use the whole bottle I can put it to good use, at least that’s what I thought.  I was getting ready to use that cream this morning when I noticed the edges of a “reduced to clear” sticker.  DING DING DING alarm bells started ringing.  That gentle voice inside my head said “look at the expiry date” so I did.. AAAAHHHHH… it expired three weeks and three days ago.  It was now official… my mother’s trying to kill me… or at least give me food poisoning.  (Oh I know you’re reading this, don’t tell me it was still good….three weeks past….three weeks! )  From now on all well intended food offerings will be thoroughly inspected before making it into my fridge!

I was thinking that it might be nice to draw up a family tree for the children before family members start dying and I lose information about distant relatives.  Then I realised that with each divorce a new branch is formed which means the humble family tree is more like an old oak tree.  However, once you add in the second and third marriages off those divorced branches you now end up with something closer to the Amazon Jungle. Now I’m a keen gardener but the thought of mapping the Amazon Jungle is just a little too big for me, so for now the family tree project has been shelved.

I am just absolutely sick and tired of people expecting women to enter the workforce once their youngest starts school. Children NEED a parent at home. If they come home to an empty house do you really think they are going to do their homework? Do you think their meals will be lovingly prepared for them? How about having time to help out in their classroom or a parent being able to attend sports day and school plays? You can’t tell me two full time working parents have time to do that! A house hold with two full time workers are stretched for time and something has to suffer…yes I’m going to say it….the kids suffer! Meals are rushed, homework goes unchecked and all too soon it’s bed time and the working parents have hardly spent any time with their own children. Sure they may earn more money but children need time and open arms from their parents NOT the latest toy and a big fancy house. Two income households may say they are doing it for their kids but they need to wake up and smell the coffee! The amount of money spend on childcare almost makes working null and void. Especially if you look at all the time lost with your children. Then think of all the added stress involved when parents are too busy working and have no time with each other. I would say a divorce is more likely in that situation than in a single income with a parent at home. You may not be able to own a home but you WILL have a happy home life. The worlds gone crazy…what’s wrong with just being a mum? No way Jose…I love my family too much to enter the workforce!

Every one has an opinion about the train wreck that is Britney Spears. Some would say that she’s stressed out with her kids and fame blah blah blah but when I was 26 I had a three year old and a one year old and I didn’t turn to drugs and the party life. I sucked it up and did the best I could for my kids. Once you have children you come second to them, at least that’s the way it should be. However saying that, I have never had the Paparazzi follow me everywhere and the pressures of “public image” to contend with so I can’t comment on the extra stresses this puts on a person. I hate it when I have to smile for a family photo so being famous would be a nightmare for me. If I had her sitting in front of me right now I would say…..”Honey you need to look after yourself for those kids of yours, they are only young once and you don’t want to miss out on it.”

I believe every family needs “family time”. What ever your family is “into” you should take advantage of it and use it to cement your family members into a unit. We like action and adventure and a big bag of chips so we watch an episode of Xena every Saturday night with a bowl of chips and a glass of milk. It’s a family event we all look forward to and in terms of entertainment costs, it’s a real bargain. We own all the Xena series but you can hire movies and T.V series from Video Ezy for $1 on Tuesdays, add a bag of chips and there you go – family night. We also do family UNO nights and family movie nights. It may sound a little corny, a bit “Brady bunch” for your liking but it works for us and a family that plays together stays together.