Lauren & Sam

Journalism

Paul — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:10:53 +0000

Lauren had an English assignment to plan/write a newspaper article on an item in the news. She was her usual harrumphy self as she tried to find something in the work that would engage her, starting by looking for a story. We were stuck about what to suggest, coming up with obvious things like the London Marathon, but nothing we could come up with caught her interest. Eventually she went upstairs for an hour and came down to tell us that she’d finished her homework, having done an article on the recently deceased Jack Ashley, a former MP noted among other things for being deaf. I sometimes think she’s even smarter than I give her credit for, which is a lot.

Snowmen

Paul — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:57:06 +0000

Claire and the kids are in Morley for part of the holiday. Much excitement from Sam, who sent me the following image:

SATs

Paul — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:32:45 +0000

Lauren is in the middle of practice exams for her SATs (which I recently learned officially doesn’t stand for anything any more). She’s keenly aware of what she needs to get to be a particular level, to the extent that in her level 6 maths she both knew and achieved the exact score necessary to count as level 6. In case that sounds like coasting, 11 year olds are expected to be level 4, level 6 is for 14 year olds.

She’s also been made peer monitor, which means she has to help organize assemblies (and they really do; the teachers basically sit by and watch what happens). And to round out the maturity kick she just finished reading Animal Farm, though to be honest I think she missed out on some of the Stalinist subtext.

By contrast Sam is in a quiet period at school – no tests, no milestones to hit – but we’re pleased that he’s picked up his effort to the extent that we’re now very definitely on his side rather than the teachers’ when they make comments about what he’s doing. We’re certainly not thinking ‘problem solved’, but ‘problem contained’ is fair, and should give him a chance to remind everyone just how sharp he is.

Themes

Paul — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:56:51 +0000

Yes, another new layout! I’m trying to make the archives work, but as I don’t know why they’ve broken that’s proving rather tricky. Will I give in this easily? Well, possibly…

Update: Working now. I think.

VPL

Paul — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:44:09 +0000

A while ago Claire dragged the kids round M&S, and in return Sam asked what VPL stood for. From Claire: “I told him and smiled at the lady standing next to us then Lauren said that Sam probably didn’t like hanging around in this section of M&S.”

Shared moment

Paul — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:16:30 +0000

Lauren is, despite our best efforts, growing up. The upside is that we were able to share a laugh about something that not too long ago would have required a stern “we don’t do that in our family” look. The two of us drove past a young couple out cycling. Lauren, drawing on her recent cycling proficiency training, noted that they were cycling in the proper position (i.e. not in the gutter) just as the young man told his missus quite clearly that “my arse is killing me”. We laughed, and Lauren sympathized with his discomfort.

Schooling

Paul — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:08:40 +0000

Had another routine meeting with the kid’s teachers today. Lauren’s was as sparkling as ever, with one of her teachers admitting she’d like Lauren to stay on for another year just to help run the class. Sam’s was more mixed; his teachers were clear that he’s as talented as Lauren, but he’s content to coast by rather than stretching himself. We knew this a little already, and to some extent it’s typical of boys compared to girls, but the teachers think that Sam is outside of the norm. (They also seemed to think that we should know about this, missing the fact that we’re not in the classroom to see these things).

We’re still plotting what to do about this. We already know that he needs to start growing up, which should help, but it’s difficult to impose maturity on someone in a positive way. We’ll see what we come up with.

Uniform

Paul — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:09:27 +0000

Sam has to attend Brownies from time to time, if I’m going to be late back or have a school governor meeting. In this he is rather like his father; until I was old enough to stay home I used to go to Brownies with my mum, left on my own in the kitchen while she looked after other people’s kids.*

One difference is that Sam apparently feels it’s a somewhat formal occasion, so if he’s going to be there for more than a few minutes he likes to go in his Cub uniform. The Brownie leader assumed he had a meeting straight after, and was quite taken aback to find that wasn’t the case.

* I know that Brown Owl reads this, so I feel honour-bound to point out that I deliberately made that sound worse than it was! In fact a lot of the time one of the Brownie mums took me home and stuck me in front of the TV with a packet of kids in their big fancy house, which impressed me greatly at the time.

Peaches

Paul — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:01:29 +0000

Transcript of a conversation between Lauren and me this morning, on the subject of peaches:

Me: And where do peaches come from?

Lauren (in a resigned, humouring Dad voice): A can.

Me: And who put them there?

Lauren: A man. In a factory, downtown.

(Explanation: This video is what we’re talking about. What impressed me is that it’s some years since we last discussed this important issue, so I can only conclude that it is now a permanent part of her childhood.)

Sleep

Paul — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:49:11 +0000

Both kids had sleepovers this weekend; Lauren stayed home with a couple of friends, while Sam was at Kyle’s with 2-3 other boys. He claims that they didn’t sleep at all, and while we were a little dubious he may not have been exaggerating too much; without telling us he put his PJs on and went to bed around 5:30pm, and 12 hours later he’s still asleep.