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’!
