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One Liner Wednesday – #1LinerWeds – Teacher/Mum Problems

06 Mar 2019 52 Comments

by Ritu in #1linerweds, #onelinerwednesday, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #1linerweds, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Guilt, Linda G Hill, one liner challenge, Parent, Teacher

“Being a teacher and a mother is a really tough double role; you are paid to spend your days nurturing other peoples’ kids, yet feel guilty within, if you need time to look after your own…”
Ritu

By no means is this a dig at anyone who I work with.

I am lucky with my management team. They totally understand that family is a most important part of our lives, and that work/life balance is key to happy teachers and success at school for all.

No.

I am talking about that internal tug of war we educators will all feel, at one time or another, if we decide to start our own families.

The amount of times I have had to argue with myself about letting my class, the parents, and the school down, if I end up taking a day or two off because own child is unwell…

It’s silly really, isn’t it?

Obviously my child should come first, and they do, believe me, but I am also lucky that under normal circumstances, I have their grandparents to help out if they are under the weather. If they are really bad, there are times only mummy will do.

But times like now, when the in-laws are away, it gets hard.

Take today for instance.

Lil Princess was battling with a severe headache on the weekend. She woke up on Monday with a slight ache still, but wanted to soldier on. Dosed up with Calpol, she went to school but I worried about her a lot, as she wasn’t right, and I also had the added joy of Parent’s Evening that night, until 7pm…

She walked to her grandparent’s house at the end of the day and developed a really bad cold, which was what the headache was a precursor to… Head cold. No fun.

Tuesday, she was full of it. Bunged up. Head ache, cough. Temperature.

It was awful for her.

My bro and sis in law were both home and they had already offered to have her the next day, as they knew I had another Parent’s Evening and they happened to be home.

But I felt so bad.

I know this parents meeting is really important. But so is my kid.

Again, I feel thankful. I am lucky enough to have a solution to childcare. And the offer of her being there today too, if she is still not right, is reassuring. I am not fobbing her off on anyone. But the guilt…

The guilt that I am projecting on myself… I should have stayed at home. I should have not thought a toss about work.

Yet I did.

And I left her… (in good hands, of course)

Written for Linda’s #1LinerWeds Challenge

Colleen’s 2019 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 126, “Poet’s Choice of Words”

05 Mar 2019 39 Comments

by Ritu in #ColleensWeeklyPoetryChallenge Tags: #ColleensWeeklyPoetryChallenge, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Etheree, Micro Poetry, Pancake Day, School, Shrove Tuesday

It’s Tuesday, and that means Colleen’s Tanka Challenge! And as it’s the first challenge of the month, it is the Poet’s choice of words. All that is to be adhered to is that the poem must be one of the structured syllabic forms, and so this week, I have penned an etheree…

It’s Shrove Tuesday today, so that is where my inspiration comes from.

Pancakes, Pancake, Crepe, SÃ¼sspeise, Egg

Flip
Pancakes
For today
Is a day to
Indulge your tastebuds
Eat to your heart's content
As today is Shrove Tuesday
Tomorrow its time to give up
All manner of luxuries for Lent
Start counting down to those chocolate eggs!

Ritu 2018

Today, we discussed Shrove Tuesday in my Reception class, though most children know it as Pancake Day. It was interesting to ask if any of them were aware of why people eat pancakes on this day.

Surprisingly (not) none of them knew any of the religious significance; even the ones that are from church-going families.

It was down to non Christian me to give them a potted history of why, and talk about using up all the fats in the house and giving up these things for Lent. I had to explain that many people give other things up instead nowadays; chocolates, fizzy drinks, that sort of thing, and that it is a countdown to when we celebrate Easter, which is not (as they think) chocolate egg day, but us celebrating the ressurection of Jesus… who they only think of as a baby, as he is who we portrayed in our Nativity a few short months ago, and not a grown man.

Confusing for children much?

Just a tad!

But Christmas, Easter, Shrove Tuesday are going the way of all these ‘special’ days, commercialised so the real reasons aren’t even widely known!

We watched pancake races too, and ended with a tasting session of sweet pancakes, as some children had never eaten them before too!

For me though, my Pancake Day will be tomorrow… or the day after, as we don’t eat eggs or meat on a Tuesday! Totally against the Ash Wednesday beliefs… but then, I’m not Christian!

I just love pancakes!

https://colleenchesebro.com/2019/03/05/colleens-2019-weekly-tanka-tuesday-poetry-challenge-no-126-poets-choice-of-words/

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #243 Swim&Float

04 Mar 2019 29 Comments

by Ritu in #ronovansweeklyhaikuchallenge Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Haiku, Micro Poetry, Ronovan's Weekly Haiku Challenge, Senryu

It’s that time of the week Peeps, and this time, Ronovan has given us the following words:

Swim & Float

Sink or swim - your choice
Live sends many floats your way
Just grab the right ones

Ritu 2019

Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge Image 2016

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #243 Swim&Float

Chai And A Chat #22 #ChaiAndAChat

04 Mar 2019 50 Comments

by Ritu in Chai and a Chat Tags: #ChaiAndAChat, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Catch Up, Chai and a Chat, Parents evenings

Well hello, again Peeps! I’m already chugging away at my chai as I type this to you. Yes. Week one of no In-Laws is over!

If we were sipping chai together I’d say “Yes! We survived the first week!
If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that things have been going pretty smoothly on the kids at the end of the school day front. They either come to me or to their uncle if he’s working from home, and that has been really helpful… except one day when Lil Man (he had to do something, didn’t he?) when he took so long to get to me, I wandered the roads outside our school for twenty minutes and even called up his school, only to find him sauntering into the gate, with a lollypop stick hanging from his lips and a blue mouth! He can’t seem to grasp that I have to fit a whole load of work into less time at the end of the day at the moment, so I don’t leave late, and takes his sweet time getting anywhere!
If we were sipping chai together I’d say that the migraine decided to come back with a vengeance too on Monday evening… I guess I am stressing a bit about everything. It made me go to bed early, after popping a pill, and I woke with it still there. More tablets and I managed to get through the school day, and once that finished, it reared its ugly head AGAIN! No fair! But please don’t worry, I am better now!
If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that I’ve had a few interesting emails over this week. The first was one from that blessed car servicing place, who tried to fob me off with a 20% discount on next year’s service, even though in my original email I had expressly said I would not be using their service any more. Then they came back and offered me a £20 refund… I still haven’t replied, since I paid nearly £300 for the pleasure of being carless for 2 days for NO REASON!
If we were sipping chai together I’d excitedly say we got some lovely news on Friday for Lil Princess. She got her first choice for her secondary school place in September. I can’t believe she will be going to big school soon, but am so happy that she got where she really wanted, as so many kids out there didn’t… seems the Government forgot there was a baby boom in 2007/2008 and places were going to be scarce!
If we were sipping chai together I’d let you know I got another email that, though it might seem negative to some, is actually really positive. I received my first REJECTION from an agent. This is, so far, the first and only one I have sent out, so to get a response was just amazing!

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If we were sipping chai together I’d say that my Tootie Frootie lades and I had a great night out on Saturday for a Comedy Night, a few bevvies and a bite to eat. We giggled our way through the evening!

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If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that I had a lovely video conversation with my Finndian family on Sunday morning and I can’t wait for a couple of month’s time when I get real cuddles!
If we were sipping chai together I’d let you know that we have managed to book a long weekend away to yet another Center Parcs too, this time in Elveden Forest! Another exciting time! We need to get booking activities now!
f we were sipping chai together I’d say that thankfully the in-laws arrived safely, though my father-in-law left here feeling a little under the weather. We were a little worried about the whole India Pakistan thing going on, especially as they closed the airport closest to where they stay, but they assure us they are okay, if wet, as they combat rain, whilst here we had three days of glorious weather, and on one day we were hotter than the tropics! (It’s wet now, but shhhh!)

If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d tell you that I have two busy evenings this week, with Parents Evening rearing its head. So School gets me for nearly 12 hours on two days… I know it is a long day, but I do enjoy catching up with the parents and discussing their children’s’ progress.
If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d mention that I don’t want to have anything else planned next week. I deserve a quiet rest of the week, after the parents evenings, but let’s see…!

Have a wonderful week, Peeps! Let me know how your week went!

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 211 – Friendship

03 Mar 2019 32 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Friendship, Sereme, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.” – Jim Morrison

Oh, I do love it, Spidey, when you give me something to think upon, something that is totally relevant to life right now!

Friends are the family you choose for yourself.

There are so many types of friendships; the acquaintances, the ‘specific times of your life’ friends, the work friends, the kids’ parents friends, and the real friends.

You do indeed get to a time in your life when you find that, though you can surround yourself with people on a daily basis, there are only a few people, possibly as many as you have fingers on your hand, that are your real friends.

All through school, I had plenty of mates, friends who knew what school was like and we could grumble together, fawn over music and crushes together, that sort of thing. But I don’t think I ever really forged a true, strong friendship with anyone. Because no one at my school saw the full, real me. They saw the quiet Indian girl who was a bit quirky and fun, but not the Ritu who was the loud one at home and in family functions. The Ritu who embraced her Eastern roots and culture as much as she loved her adopted Western roots too.

That Ritu, and the one you all know today, really found those friendships after starting university. There, I learned more about myself, and became more confident being me. And there is one person, the Buzz to my Woody, who carried me through a whole loads of ups and downs over the last nearly 30 years… My beautiful best friend.

She is a beautiful soul, inside and out ❤

We don’t live close. We speak less than we ought to, but we have a connection that is always open. She knows me better than almost anyone.

And, I feel blessed to have at least one other person who I feel like that about too.

You hear me talking about my special group of girls, my Tootie Frooties, here in my marital hometown. We try and meet up regularly, to have a catch-up, a chat, a drink and a laugh, and they are all so special to me.

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But there is one who is another soul sister to me. Since we had children, well more since Lil Man was 4, we have connected, and she has been another one who I have been able to rely upon for support, laughs and general sisterhood.

Of course, I have so many blog friends who I count upon as true friends, those who I look forward to meeting yearly, and have personal contact with regularly, outside of blogland too! There are some of you who I have contacted for support as well as laughs, and I know some of you will email or message me for that same support, which I gladly give ❤

I count myself very lucky to have these folks in my life, and I want to thank each and every one of you for letting me be ‘me’ with you ❤

So… tell me, who do you count as your true, ‘be myself’ friends?