Love, Aubrey among other things

I was thinking about death the other day, not really in a morbid type way but over the last couple of years we have dealt with some very close family deaths in a very short space of time. I just happened to browse Waterstones and came across a book for children titled Love, Aubrey. It has some great reviews and i think my oldest two will enjoy reading it. I might give it a read even though it looks like it is quite a tearjerker. I will add a review when it arrives and let you know what i think.

"Something terrible has happened. Eleven-year-old Aubrey is on her own. ‘It was fun at first, playing house. Nothing to think about but T.V and cheese. A perfect world.’ She’s determined to hide away and take care of herself, because facing the truth is too much to bear. ‘I couldn’t let anyone know that I was alone. I was staying right here.’ But with the love of her grandmother and the letters she writes, can Aubrey begin to see that even though she’s lost everything – all is not lost?"

On my to do list for tomorrow is attempting to make Banana and Cherry Muffins. I spotted the recipe in the latest Morrisons magazine. Very sorry Tesco  but i have found the saving on my shopping bill to be quite significant even without clubcard points so have drifted to the other side for a few weeks. *hangs head in shame*

I can't recall the last time i baked muffins and i thought it would make a nice change to give the children a homemade snack to bring to school, plus the thought of eating one with my morning coffee is so tempting. If i do find time tomorrow and attempt it i will no doubt add the photos to the blog at some point. That is if they last long enough for me to photograph them.


Todays song of the day is Alanis Morissette - Thank You. I like her voice and natural style. Though last time i walked about naked in public i got arrested.

On a final note there has to be a big cheer as it's almost friday! I get quite excited when it gets near the weekend as i'm so not a mornings person and i know it won't be long and i can have a lay in. *i'm such a lazy moo* oh and i can't forget the chore of doing #FF on twitter. It wasn't so bad when i had a few followers, now i struggle to keep up. I wish twitter would add a simple way to go through all your followers. I hate realising afterwards that on a few occasions i have forgotten to recommend someone that really deserves a #FF

Do you know where your children are?

Today we needed to take a trip to the local supermarket. Not very fun but much needed when you have mouths to feed.

Anyway, on our trip out we passed a child on a bike who was no older than seven. My guess would be that he was perhaps five or six years old and i'm being generous with my estimate. My husband slowed down to a crawl on spotting this child riding his bike in the road in the wobbly manner that children do and much to our shock he turned his bike towards the car and cycled towards us smiling to himself. If my husband hadn't stopped the car, i really dread to think what would of happened. There were no parents around that i could see and this child didn't seem to care or realise how close he came to hitting the car. Even with us stopped it would of hurt. Yet if we or anyone had of hit this child it would be the driver who was at fault. Where is the sense in that? When do parents have to shoulder some responsibility for their lack of care to their child?

Firstly i couldn't believe that anyone could be that foolish as to leave a child of this age who obviously isn't very sensible riding a bike on a 30mph road. At that age you can hardly blame the child who obviously lacks any common sense going on the way he was grinning ear to ear while peddling as fast as his little legs could go in the direction of our car and it isn't the first time i have witnessed such behaviour from unattended small children.

It's things like this that make me think that there should be some sort of test before you can breed. I wouldn't of dreamt of leaving my children unattended at that age. For starters they don't see danger like we do, maybe in their eyes a big hunking piece of car coming towards them will just feel like Nerf foam when they ride into it or run into it. I also often see pre teens and young teens hanging out in bus stops in all weathers. What's the sense in that? They are normally not waiting for a bus. Sometimes it's boiling hot, but hoodies are up and they are sprawled out in a dirty bus stop like it's some sort of trendy youth club.

Oh and how i hate to hear swear words coming out of the mouth of babes. You know something is wrong in the world when a little child in nappies shouts out the F word to one of his friends or siblings.

Childhood for many seems to have changed, it's no longer about climbing trees, collecting tadpoles, splashing about in paddling pools and enjoying that first lick of an ice cream when summer finally arrives.

Instead it's about how hard they can kick a ball into someones car, how many swear words they can say in one sentence, how they can all say "it's not fair" in Kevin and Perry type voices when they get grounded for one day and other such pathetic behaviour.

As parents it is our responsibility to teach our children right from wrong and to guide them in the right direction so they respect themselves and in turn others.

I hate to give too much thought to how children will behave (or not!) in the years to come.