Easter Approaches

To start with today, Baby Centre duties. This week I'm talking about the many faces of the children's entertainer Justin Fletcher. You may know him as Mister Tumble or one of the many many other alter egos he has. http://www.baby.co.uk/mum_stories/justin-fletcher-the-unlikely-hero-of-children-everywhere/ . You can find the blog here. If you have any opinions on the guy I would be interested to hear them. He's an interesting fellow.

A few weeks ago I spoke of how hard it was for a stay-at-home-parent to deal with half term week. Baby groups don't run and you are, generally, forced to go to family friendly places which are full of other families. Another school holiday is upon this week and that of course is Easter. Two weeks will never have felt so long. It'll be like crossing a barren desert only to find at the end of it a man telling you you'll have to do it all again but for longer during the summer. Demoralising.

The only people who really like Easter are teachers who finally get away from all those snot nosed children who have been making their lives a living hell. For two weeks they have peace and quiet and they probably all go a bit nuts which is totally understandable. The Chancellor too likes Easter, as this weekend she has a four day weekend, ergo I like Easter but only for this reason.

But spare a thought for all those people who run these groups that I and my friends attend. They can finally relax those jaws, letting the smiles drop and they will sit for two weeks frowning just because they can. Chronic smiling can't be healthy. Two weeks of being grumpy will do wonders for their souls and by the time they have to start smiling for a living again their minds will be balanced once more. Could I smile for a living? I'm not sure I could. I used to work in customer service and my smiles got slowly beaten out of me by horrible customers. I know exactly what customer service staff are thinking when I ask a stupid question and I have apologize perfusely for being a moron. Never again will I go back to that world but that's a different story for a different day.

jpr