Week 5: Joi De Vivre

Fun in the Sun
In the days of yore, before CK (BCK), one of my annual joys was festival-going. So I’m not the glasto type – the whole mud bathing, lager drinking up all night thing doesn’t appeal – I’m much more of a Radio 3 festival goer. World music, art installations and eclectic eating experiences were my bag, baby.

This year, with a 4 month CK in tow, we decided to give it a go. We chose a nice, small, family friendly festival and bought day tickets. We even brought granny bloggings and gramps along for extra pairs of hands to look after the wee’un. And did we have fun? No. Well, I didn’t anyway.

I was too busy worrying about whether there would be a nap, whether feeding would happen, and if it didn’t whether we’d be up all night paying the price. I worried about her ears, no ear defenders means deafness, ear defenders means crushed little shell likes. Where is my sense of joy? How could someone so small have stolen it so easily?!

I know it will come back one day, I know I will enjoy my own life again without feeling the weight of responsibility for her, but I’m not sure when that day will be. I look forward to it though – on that day I will be down the front, dancing my socks off and grinning with glee.
The Mummatron


The Carefree Life
When the stork of baby delivery flaps in one window it seems that all joi de vire flies out the other. It’s true that the carefree life of making decisions based on what will give you pleasure is over, at least for many years.

The human baby is a weak and helpless thing and stays that way for quite a time. We are a slow growing creature and need protection until we can reproduce and carry on the race. A successful parent is one who sees the world around their offspring through potential dangers – is the cave warm enough? Is that sabre tooth tiger on the prowl again? Of course the worries may have changed a tad if you live in East Oxford or Hampstead but the principle is still the same; how can there be any carefree joy in your life when all the time you are worrying about your baby!

The good news is that as your child grows you can begin to teach it to be aware of those dangers itself so that you don ‘t have to be constantly vigilant. Does that mean that you can go out and have a romantic evening with your husband without worrying about the baby sitters’ state of sobriety or whether your child has decided that tonight is the night it will try to climb out of its bedroom window to get closer to the stars…You’ve seen the film ‘three men and a baby,’ so you know it is not possible. You will worry about your child for the rest of your life but the joy it will bring into your life far outweighs the anxiety – especially once it has left home and you don’t know what it is up to!

Granny Bloggings