The Truth About Children…

Today I reached new low. As I knelt with my hand down the toilet, pulling mounds of pissed-soaked tissue paper out of the bog, I wondered why childcare manuals and smiling NCT classes never prepare you for days like these.

Oh yes, they tell you all about the marvels of childbirth and the slight discomfort you’ll suffer. But nothing about the fact that you can’t actually sit down again for about a week after, let alone contemplate having a poo.

They warn you that dirty nappies might be unpleasant. They don’t tell you that you will see all colours of the rainbow disguised as s**t in the space of a few weeks, and that little boys will quite happily piss all over your face.

You get told that children are the fonts of all knowledge and nothing is as wondrous as the innocence of youth. This is fine, until you are in a public toilet cubicle and your child decides to ask loudly whether you are having “another smelly poo?” (I wasn’t, incidentally).

And today was the day when my 4 year old decided she wanted to see how much toilet roll she could actually fit into one loo (a whole roll in fact), before pissing all over it.

“It’s all right Mummy, it’s only wee-wee. You can wash your hands,” she said helpfully.

Is it criminal to just contemplate strangling your daughter with wet, stinking loo roll?

Little Pitchers….

When I was little my Mum used to say to me (wise old woman that she is):

“little pitchers have big ears.”

Which totally confused me, because I thought she was talking about paintings on the wall. Therefore I assumed she had completely lost the plot.

Thinking about it, this same ‘wise woman’ used to say (if she suspected it was a going to be a nice day):

“there’s enough blue (sky) to make a Dutchman a pair of trousers”

So she clearly isn’t right in the head…

Anyway, her first expression came to my mind this week when taking my daughter out for a walk with a friend.

My little girl, like most three year olds, likes to point out everything in passing and asking what it is. This could be anything from a buttercup to a discarded TV aerial (yes, we passed one today)

It just so happened that on this day, we passed a large Victorian building that is currently being used as some kind of detention centre.

My daughter stared at the couple of young men leaning lazily smoking against the doorway and asked loudly “What is that place for?”

“It’s like a very big school.” I answered quickly.

“For those big men?” She asked pointing.

“Erm…yes…” I sort of tugged her away and then whispered at my friend “at least they thought they were big – silly bastards.”

“Are they a bastard?” Came her little voice, suddenly not so little. And her finger was still pointing.

I didn’t dare look as I dragged her away.

So yes, little pitchers do indeed have very big ears.

And loud mouth mummies have very red cheeks.

a photo by Fire 'n Ice on Flickr.