How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

One of my childrens’ favourite pastimes when at the mall, is to visit the local pet shop. Amidst the Ooo’s and Ahh’s you can hear a broken-record droning… ‘We are just looking, no! For the umpteenth time, we are not getting another pet!

‘But he’s sooo cute!!’

It has not been long since Christmas, tell me honestly how many parents have fallen in the trap of buying a cute puppy for their kids?! Don’t get me wrong here now, I love animals, truly I do, the toilet-trained, child-trained, parent-trained, obedient, no hassle kind. How many of us have thought: “We want to teach our children to be responsible” - so the most common practice on the face of the earth to fulfill this purpose, is to buy your child a pet.

You bring the little fella home, all warm, cuddly, helplessly and irresistibly cute – yes,
The kids squabble over who is going to hold him; lavishing oodles of love and care, almost smothering the poor puppy to death with their eagerness.

All the way home in the car, you are reminding your children that a puppy is not a toy but a responsibility – you will need to take real good care of it – feed it everyday; give it water everyday; give it a bath; clean up any messes it makes – the lecture goes on endlessly. Yes, yes, of course we will they chorus.

Then there is the naming ceremony, each family member giving their brainstorm of different names. You wouldn’t believe the kind of names kids come up with! You finally settle on a name that at least won’t turn your face beetroot-red every time you say it or having every poodle and mutt running in your direction when you call the family pet.

The first few days go by just fine, the nights on the other hand, bring you back in time to when you brought your first child home from the hospital, only this time its whimpering and howling at you. Barely a week passes and the novelty begins to wear off. The puppy makes a mess, the big poopy stinking kind. You remind your daughter to clean it up. EWWW!!! I’m not doing THAT!!!! You insist… so she reluctantly begins to clean it up using a whole roll of toilet tissue (remember to add that to your ‘How much it costs to have a Dog’ list). Your daughter then holds it at arms-length with her face screwed up in utter disgust and promptly disposes of it while dramatizing for several minutes afterwards as to how absolutely ‘gross’ and disgusting it all is.

Most often than not, you the parents are the ones who end up cleaning all the messes, usually being the first ones to wake up, you are greeted with dozens of little ‘landmines’ all over the floor, more likely having already stepped on one on route to the bathroom! When you’ve had 18 years of wiping dirty bottoms and a toddler still in nappies/diapers, who needs puppy mess to add to your endless list of responsibilities?

Then comes training time, the mad rush and panic when the puppy starts making circles on your favourite rug making a beeline for the door, whilst the puppy is dropping ‘bombs’ everywhere you are the one holding it at arms length this time….You are teaching the puppy to respond to your commands, with a hundred echoes of ‘sit’ ‘stay’ ‘come here’. When teaching the dog its name, the puppy ends up chasing its tail with all the confusion of its name being called from all different directions.

When your kids go out to a youth meeting with their friends, who is left to ‘baby-sit’ the pets? Mum and Dad of course, who else! In this one incidence, I was home alone with our 5 year old, 2 year old, the 2 puppies and the baby goat. I ended up literally wrestling both dogs and goat, trying to keep them off each other. Imagine a tangle of legs, arms, and hooves trying to keep the animals out and the littlies in! And the kids (not the goat kind) wonder why, when they finally get home, they see a very frazzled Mum muttering under her breath…Never again…no more pets….arggh.

You pass the window of the local pet shop.

Aww!! Aren’t they cute!!!!



Copyright 2006. Rebecca Laklem.

Reflections and Resolutions

The Countdown….10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1…. Happy New Year!!!!

We enjoyed watching the fireworks display on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on TV. They try to outdo themselves each and every year - it gets more and more spectacular. It certainly was a sight to see.

We pick up the phone to call the ‘rellies’ (Aussie talk for family and relatives) wishing them a Happy New Year in the cheeriest and loudest voices we could muster which is not as easy when your voices have already gone to sleep on you! After those first few minutes, the kids went straight to sleep, settling down as if it were just another day. I had yet to wait until 4am before I could give my New Year’s wishes to my husband in Thailand. (We are 4 hours ahead). I climbed into bed to catch a few winks, and shortly after, find myself stumbling out of bed to make that special call…this time my voice was really asleep! I was still asleep!

It’s New Year! I’m up at my usual time at 6:00am. The house is quiet. It’s my favorite time of the day, when I can sit peacefully sipping a cup of coffee or two, my quiet time, planning the day.

New Year for me always brings that tingling feeling that I used to get, as a child, on the morning of my birthday, or at Christmas, the wondrous feeling of joyous anticipation. There is a fresh crispness in the air, a new awareness of life. Yes, we are at yet another turn of a new lap in the course of our lives. What lies ahead? A chance to ‘turn another leaf’…..Reflecting…..what would you change if you were to ‘start over’?

New Year’s Resolutions are merely a wish list, but it’s a good start:

I am going to devote more personal time with God.
I am not going to ‘pull my hair and scream’ at every antic my 5 year old pulls on me.
I am going to be calm and collected – no more ‘panic attacks’. No more stress.
I am going to plan my time better; be more organized.
I am going to have more quality time with my husband and kids.
I am going to stop and smell the flowers and savour every moment.

New Year’s Day is quiet, peaceful, no responsibilities pending because all the shops, banks, and post office are closed. The kids are sleeping late. (If the New Year falls on the weekend like this year, you are blessed with another day of pure bliss.) “What better time to start afresh?” you muse. I glance around the room, the housework still needs to be done, meals to prepare. After the New Year break, the cars are back out on the street, traffic congesting, bills needing to be paid, errands to run, grocery shopping to do, taxi-ing of kids to ‘hang outs’….the busyness of life starts crowding you in. You grit your teeth in determination. If only I had a moment to breathe!!

Then I remember…

It only takes a moment… to smile.
It only takes a moment… to sniff a flower.
It only takes a moment…to whisper a prayer.
It only takes a moment to say the words… ‘I love you”.
It only takes a moment …to show someone you care.

Go ahead and savour ‘the moments’ and let it truly be a year that brings you joy and fulfilment.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Copyright 2006. Rebecca Laklem.

You Speaka My Language?

Everyone knows that teenagers try to create a code of language all for themselves. But as every parent also knows - this is nothing new. The codes are easily hacked into, if the parent has the mind to take note.

In some cases, there is no code to break; a black-hole, a vacuum, a nothing-ness. My 15 year old daughter has this knack of driving me to the point of panic due to lack of detailed information about hanging out with her friends. Make sure, parents, that you get ALL the information. Is a responsible adult supervising? If so, who - and when you drop her off, do make sure that person actually exists!! Going to a friend’s house? Which friend, which house, what number, what street? Turn the tables and drive your teenagers up the wall if you have to.

Your daughter has told you – you are to drive her to a ‘meeting place’. She needs to be there by 1:30. It takes 30 minutes to get to your destination, so you agree to leave at 1pm at the latest. After piling all the younger siblings in the car along with your teenager, it is 1:05pm, that’s ok, fairly good timing.

You set off down the end of your street and start to turn the corner, there it begins….Miss 15 informs you that you are to give her friend a lift, her friend lives in the other direction, 5 minutes out of your way! ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’ I asked….’I did” was her reply. (Not!) 15 minutes later you are back on route again. Now she tells you to ‘hurry or we’ll be late’ and proceeds to tell you how to drive as well. At every traffic light it’s “Green light Mum, green light”, even before your feet have a chance to change from brake to accelerator or your hand can change the gear.

You arrive at the suburb, but discover your daughter doesn’t know the address, or where it is exactly! “It’s somewhere around here”, she says…..yes, I gathered that (eyes rolling)….but left or right?....which side of the road? Then she spots it, and sure enough it just had to be on the opposite side of the road and there is a barrier in the middle of the road. “Here, here…You’ve missed it Mum, you have to turn around”. The next turn is a no U-Turn sign. So you venture further down the road to find a suitable place to turn. “Why didn’t you turn here Mum”, she says exasperated (the turn was a driveway, but to turn into it you have to cross a double line and the oncoming traffic is busy – this was no back road!)

Finally after another 10 minutes you arrive at the desired destination. Your daughter and friends pile out with their feet running as they hit the ground, with mumbled ‘Thanks’. You wind the window down and yell “What time do I pick you up? “I’ll message you” she shouts back. I insist on a time and confirm I will meet you back here!!

I go all the way home again. When I arrive through the door of our house, piling a 5 year old and 2 year old out of the car and everyone else in tow, I glance at my watch to discover I have but 10 minutes before I have to leave to go back and pick Miss 15 and friends up once again. I pile the kiddies back in the car (sometimes I am fortunate to have the foresight to check my watch before I get out of the car, in which I just rev up the car engine and take off – this at least saves getting the kiddies in and out!).

Teenage boys….well…. their ‘language’ is mostly monosyllobic, more like pre-historic grunts. But it is pretty simple to communicate with them really. Just ask your questions so to require only a ‘yes or no’ answer or a variation of the same such as ‘ugh’ ‘eh’; ‘mm’ ‘ngh’. (For complete understanding - Do bear in mind the tonal implications!)

Teenage vocabulary is an interesting one. To their understanding it is totally different and new. Some words are new to the dictionary, but most are doing a full cycle. Same words - different meanings.

The latest fad of teenage vocabulary is saying something and meaning the exact opposite. How original is that?

Cool, Rad, Unreal, Hot, In, Out, Bad, Good, Wicked, Awesome. Make sure you understand the meaning of each. It is not the same today as it was 20 or so years back down the track.

Communication in its many forms and ways is the fabric of our society, magnificently varied, a tapestry of life. Life was never meant to be dull.

Copyright 2005. Rebecca Laklem.