LMS strikes again!

by Pseud O'Nym

I was going to post about something else today, something a tad more serious, but then as is so often the case nowadays, events dictated otherwise and here we are. But before we get to the good bit, the pudding, you’ll first have to endure a starter and a main before that happy event.

Actually, I’ve always seen meals in that way; that pudding is a reward for having endured the previous two courses, that you’d stuck it out, a bit of a culinary ordeal with a prize at the end. In fact, I have been known to, when eating out somewhere, to keep an eye on the plate sizes for their puddings, and if I think they’re not big enough, or the portions are mean, order two and make one decent sized one. Or two different puddings. Why ever not? Makes sense to me.

Anyway enough of that, I’ve been thinking about our self-isolation with specific regard to LMS’s mental health. Relax, I think she’s doing fine. But then I’m not a child psychologist. How can anyone intuit the effect on a child of having the constant certainty of routine suddenly whisked away from them? No matter how much school is a drudge to a child – LMS loves it – nonetheless there is a structure that it imposes and which a child gets used to. There’s the start of the school year, then a half term holiday. term begins again, then the Christmas holiday, new term, another half term holiday, term starts and a longer summer holiday and the next school year starts. Everyone reading this experienced it, it may have been a positive or negative one, but nonetheless you very quickly got used to it. I can’t even begin to imagine how utterly disorientating LMS finds all this.

Being cooped up in the house, surrounded by adults, only keeping in contact with her fiends in a virtual way, hearing how food shopping is becoming a big deal and when she does go out, seeing streets emptier than she’s ever seen them…and all the rest. As adults, we can rationalise our self isolation, critically evaluate it, see the bigger picture when all she knows is that its lovely and sunny out, she can’t go to school, can’t see her friends, As adults, we accept this, as we know it’ll end sometime, but to LMS the novelty is beginning to wear off.

Which brings us to last night and more importantly pudding. By the way a big shout out, as they used to say on pirate radio, to Emily in Australia. This one’s for you.

Picture the scene. Dinner last night, Marge facing me, LMS next to me, Joe cooked but a video chat. Got it? Marge is asking LMS about some home schooling thing she did today, a video or lesson by her school about the food chain. Could she tell us about it, what did she learn? Quick as a flash came the reply,

‘A lot of things and some other stuff’

How I managed not to pebble dash Marge’s face with food, I don’t know.