Are You In Touch With Your Prehistoric Side?

As mum to 16-yr old Miss C, I can’t deny that life is sometimes extremely difficult and quite often emotional! There are hormones, tantrums, sulking, and fits of uncontrollable tears, many of which are mine and well quite frankly Miss C often looks at me, her poor mum, with an expression of both compassion and mortification on her face! In spite of this and although frequently challenging, living with a teen can also be immense fun, rewarding and on occasion very surprising. Take last week for instance when I found myself having the time of my (prehistoric) life!

Last Monday started much the same as any other evening, that is until Miss C suddenly decided from out of the blue that she was now a Velociraptor! In her pre-historic guise she came bounding into my bedroom with an energy (that I’ve not seen from her for about 2 years) and landed on my bed with a loud squawk! Doris, the cat, dozing quietly on the bed, raised one slitty eye and when realising that Miss C was too big to stalk and kill, promptly nodded back off to sleep. It seems that our feline friend’s reaction wasn’t quite what Miss C was hoping for and so instead I seized the opportunity to join in and bond with my teenage phenomenon!

SQUAWK !!

Miss C, thrilled at my obvious enthusiasm, set about teaching me the basic skills of how to be a realistic Velociraptor (only of course after ‘Googling’ them)…. So off we set, we crouched low, shortened our arms, stuck out our bums and began to peck chicken like about the bedroom. Now I must admit, the Squawk took slightly longer to master (it did however leave me with a raspy/sexy voice, which I kind of liked!) but at last I was ready to showcase my new talents, so off we went to show Mr PB and little Miss H!

Now it’s fair to say that little Miss H was delighted with this unexpected arrival of dinosaurs in the house and needed no cajoling to join in. Soon we were all cavorting around the house totally immersed in our fun and enjoying every second of being a fully fledged ‘dinosaur’ family.  It was then while in full flow, that I stopped and took a step back to see my two children (who normally lead very separate lives due to their 7yr-age gap) ‘playing’ together, just like when they were small.  Now this is a rare and tender moment and the sight of it fills me with immense joy and pride… oh please, please, please don’t let scenes like this, between two very different sisters become ‘extinct’!

And so as the week goes by, we all carry on with our dinosaur game, becoming Velocirapotors as and when the mood takes us and often in strange and unexpected locations.  Velocirapotors are spotted in the kitchen while cooking tea, whilst picking up little Miss H from school and even scaring Miss C half to death whist creeping up behind her as she’s drifting off to sleep! 

Even a routine Christmas shopping trip to M&S wasn’t without its own Jurassic experience, with two keen Velocirapotors frolicking in and out of this year’s party season dresses and winter woollies, much to the amusement of all the other shoppers and probably the security camera operator! It truly was a fantastic sight to see Miss C lose some of her teenage self-conscientiousness and embrace the ways of the dinosaur. Now I, on the other hand, maybe having got slightly carried away in the café was promptly told by my offspring that perhaps ‘Velocirapotors’ would be best restricted to the privacy of our own home and that maybe I should  ‘act my age’ to which I replied ‘what 300 million?’! Miss C laughed (in spite of trying to get me to calm down) and with that we continued to giggle, albeit a little more quietly. So with that bang went my idea of filming us and posting it on YouTube and the possibility of earning our fame and fortune!

So, it’s fair to say that this last week has been great fun and our new found talents have brought us all together as a family (even Mr PB has started emitting random high pitched crows and hoots around the house) but I do realise that in all likeliness it will probably be just that…one unforeseen, impulsive and fun filled week. So instead of dinosaur games, Miss C will move onto the next reality show, the Velocirapotors will soon lose their appeal and she’ll see me once again as the ‘old fossil’ that she often thinks I am!

But in spite of that, I for one will never forget our ‘Velociraptor’ week or the constant uniqueness of my children and source of enjoyment that they bring me and so for my part, I'll always try my utmost not to let these special moments pass me by.

So come on, inside all of us is a primeval creature just waiting to break free… so why not go on and release yours to the world…. well maybe, in hindsight perhaps it should be just to your very close family members!