Don’t panic. She’s only going for a couple of weeks to see some friends of ours who moved over in the summer. I am very very jealous and have to pretend that ‘it’s all fine and I really feel that she deserves a break’. I am staying home with the kids which has been great so far. I love taking charge of the house. There’s something very satisfying about being in charge of small children who actually think that you know about stuff. Having said that, the kids ( still only 6 and 
are beginning to twig that I’m an idiot.
Dawn (wife) left a week ago and my Mum moved in for the first weekend because I had rather a hectic workload. Tomorrow my mother-in-law, Joan, moves in for a week! I only really need her for the next weekend because of work but understandably she wants to stay so that she can see Dawn when she gets back. I actually get on well with Joan so that puts paid to any really decent mother-in-law gags.
The kids have actually been fantastic so far. They really are great. I know they’ll probably do awful stuff in the future but they’re so helpful and understanding towards other people. Grace is only six and is still so grown up that, when Dawn calls to speak to her, Grace starts the conversation by saying, ‘Hello Mummy. Are you having a nice time?’ Not, ‘Where the bloody hell are you? You’re meant to be my primary carer and you’ve left me in the hands of a daydreaming fool who can barely get up in time to get us to school!’ (which is what I would say). My Mum was telling me that she left me for three weeks when I was 18 months old to go on holiday in America and that it didn’t do me any harm. Really Mum? Have you not noticed that I’m a complete neurotic who spends most of his working life trying to gain the approval and love of rooms full of complete strangers. Having said that I’m beginning to doubt that parents do have that much influence on their children. My kids are growing up in a slightly chaotic house where there is a fair amount of shouting and arguing, with a father who is so frightened of mice he once used one of them as a human shield to protect himself, and yet they seem to be turning out to be balanced, polite and very loving people. Maybe your enviornment isn’t so important. Maybe killers and murderers are just born bad…bloody hell, I’ve got to stop reading the Daily Mail on aeroplanes!
