I’m feeling marginally better after my outburst. Have just had chinese takeaway with the kids and a few funny conversations have cheered me up a bit….
My 7 year old got caught out lying today. I brought it up over our meal as thought it might be better if we all discussed it together. It wasn’t a huge lie, he just didn’t quite tell the whole truth. I told him it was one thing I wouldn’t put up with. I hate lies. I asked him to reconsider his story and I would give him one last chance to tell the truth, before he got into REALLY big trouble. After several moments of shifty looks all round and a lot of cajoling from his brother and sister who pointed out how disappointed I would be if he didn’t tell the truth he said “OK, I THINK I MIGHT have said something else, but I really can’t remember and you don’t understand how difficult it is for somebody of my age to REMEMBER EXACTLY what it was I said”….he then, without being precise about details said “CAN WE PLEASE MOVE ON AND TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE NOW? I’VE TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT TELLING YOU A LIE. You can’t be cross now”.
Daughter then spent some time baiting her older brother about a potential new girlfriend. She told me he’d “got off” with someone. “Do you know what that means?” she asked me as if she was talking to an idiot. “OF COURSE I KNOW”. I told her. But apparently I don’t. It’s confusing because “getting off with someone” as far as I am concerned means having a snog. But she informs me that to them it means “Going to BASE TWO”. “Do you know what that means?” she asks as if I’m still an idiot. I decide to pretend I don’t know and leave it at that. Anyway, I recently had a conversation with a friend about “Bases”. She asked me how many bases I used to have when I was growing up and I said “four”. She was horrified. When she was growing up, she used something like 52 bases, involving top buttons, kissing on the neck, holding hands, belly buttons and god knows what else. Bloody hell, it must have taken forever. Consequently I then felt quite worried that four was clearly nowhere near enough. I wonder if boys had conversations about girls who had four bases compared to girls who had 52 bases. Please tell me I’m normal in thinking that it was quite common to be only working slowly towards base four?
SusannahS
June 8, 2008My goodness. Over here, we only had 3 bases and a ‘homerun’. And I only knew what first base and the homerun meant; I was always a little confused about 2nd and 3rd.
I (secretly) read the Georgia Nicolson series and laugh over her Snog Scale–it’s very complex.
Anonymous
June 9, 2008She is winding u up. It has to be 4 or the imagery in “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” is wrong and that just can’t be….
family affairs
June 9, 2008Phew. Only 3 bases? That makes me feel so much better. Lx
Kitty
June 9, 2008It seems so long ago, I’m not sure I remember how many bases were the vogue back then? I can imagine that 4 was about right. 52 is just silly and surely implies some kind of control freakery/obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Oh and viz a vis your Crap Weekend post … I don’t have anyone to love me either. It’s pants sometimes, isn’t it?
x
Maggie May
June 9, 2008That was SO funny about the lie! What a way to get round it.
As regards bases, there couldn’t have been many when I was young & everyone stayed at the bottom for fear of getting pregnant! Some of us weren’t quite sure how that would happen until we were getting on a bit!
Hadriana's Treasures
June 9, 2008My daughter (aged 4.5 going on 36 yrs) argues in the same way as your 7 year old son…i.e. in a very clever way so almost impossible to argue back cogently!
Re: bases…hmmm depends on the “depth” of the bases 4 may equal 52 sotospeak……
Lin
June 11, 2008That was funny! The whole ‘base’ thing is, ahem, based on the American sport of baseball…at which point I know everyone is saying duhhhhh… First, second and third…each more involved and then bingo, a homerun.
I like your friend’s 52 base approach.
family affairs
June 11, 2008Oh. Thanks Lin, now it all makes complete sense Lx