#proudmama

You may or may not be aware of the political news from Down Under.   If you are, you will most likely have heard that the Australian people ( I can't say 'we' as I can't vote here yet) have just elected Tony Abbott's Liberal (read Right wing Conservative) Party into Government.  I think it was rather a vote against the nonsense from within the ruling Labor Party, but there we go.  Anyway, you will surely have seen the many quotes from the newly minted PM about women, the environment and refugees ("Stop the boats!") to name but a few.  You might also have seen that the government of Afghanistan has more women in it than the cabinet of Australia. Good times.  

I never thought of myself as particularly political until we came here.  I also used to laugh at my husband for describing himself as a feminist.  Maybe I am changing with age, maybe I see the world differently because I have children.  Certainly I am much more aware of injustice and inequality than I was years ago.  

A couple of weeks ago I was helping our most-likely-to-be-an-engineer boy to write an essay.  The topic was Life in Other Lands and was to be based on a novel they had been reading about a girl in Afghanistan.  We spent a lot of time talking about the way that women and girls were treated by the Taliban in the 1980's.  Jonathan, really struggles to get his head around the issues of sexism.  It makes absolutely no sense to him that women shouldn't be able to do any job that they want to, or that they should be objectified.  He gets that there are maybe some jobs that are physically more suited to men than women or vice versa, but believes that anyone should be allowed to have a go at what they want to do.  All 3 of my older boys have asked many questions during the (interminably) long election campaign about the Liberal Parties views about women and about issues of feminism in general.

He loves the tech subjects at school, electronics and graphic design are his favourites so far, but he has throughly enjoyed the traditional 'girl' subjects, food tech and sewing.  Last night he noticed that the pocket of his hoodie had come unstitched so asked, NOT if I could mend it for him, but, if he could borrow my sewing machinre to fix it himself!  I did offer to do it, but he got quite annoyed at me!  

He did a great job and has asked if he can use my machine during the holidays to make some cushions.  Absolutely!  I posted this pic on instagram last night with the hashtag  #proudmama

After dinner, Joseph, decided that he wanted to make muffins.  This has become his thing and his favourite are the Gingerbread muffins from Susan Reimer's wonderful 'Muffins: Fast and Fantastic' book.  He refused all offers of help so I took photos!  Again these got posted to instagram #proudmama.

And here's the result with my cuppa at 11 o'clock this morning.  So very good!

Now Archie has not been making muffins or mending things, generally he is just being 'nearly 15'.  To be honest, it hasn't been a fun year, I struggle to parent him and often feel like we're in a big black hole.  He drives me to despair but then I see glimpses, as I did on Sunday

We were at the new house of friends.  While the other boys were vegging on their ipods, Archie came and spent ages entertaining my god-daughter, then he and John played games with Robert and his friend while we organised lunch.  He was polite, helpful, thoughtful and cooperative and John and I both told him how proud we had been of him.  It can happen occasionally and it's always good that it happens outside the home, but it would be lovely if it happened more often at home...

I didn't post this then, but I will now #proudmama

The point of this post was really to show how proud I am of the fact that my boys are growing up to be the kind of men that, I hope, will treat others with respect no matter whether they are male or female, black or white, rich or poor.  The kind to take responsibility for their actions, not put the blame on others.  My motto in life is from Micah in the Old Testament.  Ch6 vs 8 encourages the reader to 'do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God'.  This is what I hope for my kids, it seems to be so obvious, doesn't it?

Anyway, enough of the heavy stuff for now, more reasons to be a #proudmama -

Smallest Boy has his very first Sports Day on Friday.  He has been preparing for weeks.  He loved the running races, had fun in the egg and spoon race, but really showed them who was boss in the sack race!

That's me in my green cardi to support Green House!

And last, but certainly not least (or quietest),  Miss Meg sat her piano exam and got an A, then proceeded to perform for the whole school in the annual Talent Quest.  No photos of that sadly, but I do have a pic of her up a tree...

That's my girl! #proudmama