Feeling very satisfied (nothing to do with batteries!) Been in the garden all day, have swept leaves, trimmed bushes, thrown away so much rubbish and put together and set in to the ground the swing that was left by the garage doors two and a half years ago when we moved here and hasn't been touched since! I cleaned out J's sandpit and filled it with fresh sand and cleaned off the slide, J is so happy, he has a fully functioning park in his back garden and with the rabbits out in their runs too a petting zoo! It made me think about the way we live through our children, I wouldn't want to be 5 again, too frustrating but I so enjoy seeing the world through his eyes, watching him react to different experiences and the joy he gets from simple things like watering plants, a chore to many adults but one of the highlights of his day, its 7.34pm here and he is just outside the back doors, on the decking playing with the sand, so involved he doesn't want to stop, he briefly came in to get a coat as the temp. dropped but will carry on playing till he gets tired or it gets dark!

But I also see the world through C's eyes and I wouldn't ever want to be a teenager again, even if I could take the knowledge and experience I have with me. The peer pressure and bitchiness seems so extreme, the language and behaviour I hear from teenage girls in the shops on on the bus scares me, these young women, still children legally, with make clothes and attitudes that they cant really carry off but try so hard. I know a girl who failed her exams on purpose because it was more important to her to be seen as cool and not a 'swot' and told her mother that 'no boy would fancy her if he thought she was smarter than him'!!! What a horrible world to grow up in, I'm accused by many of my friends with similar aged daughters that I'm too protective and that sex, smoking and drugs are just phases that all teenagers have to go through! One mum said her daughter could do what she liked as long as she told her about it and most of all, not get pregnant!
How did I get from this to this?
So I'll continue to keep her under lock and key, until I figure she can make the right decisions for herself, what do you think 23, 24?