ONE of the plus sides to having Teens...

Parents evenings. Love them, hate them, with kids it's part of the package.
With four grown/teen children I've had my fair share of them.
About 90 of them (omg!) so far, by my estimations.

With littlies. Sitting hunch backed on an undersized chair discussing 'word recognition' and 'Number play'.

Fast forward a few years to Secondary school parents evenings.

I loathed these. Surely I can't be the only one?

5 minute slots allocated to each subject teacher. Which your 11-16 year old had the responsibility to arrange. Duh? You just know this isn't going to end well. Just getting this age group UP and OUT the house with all the correct, relevant books/coursework is difficult enough. Asking them to remember to arrange time slots for parents evenings? Ha...

Teacher no shows, just empty chairs. There go 2 of your slots. Teachers clock watching, waiting to get home, you're probably lucky to get 2 of those 5 minutes.

Lines of parents looking at watches and tapping their feet whilst glaring daggers at the parents who have the cheek to be, god forbid, running into the 7th and 8th minutes. That then means you've missed your slot with Mr **** for maths, who has now packed up and gone home assuming you're a 'no show'.

Yup, as I said, I hate parents evenings.

But, finally, now, after all these years, I'm a convert. 

This has to be one of THE most enjoyable Parents evening I've ever been to.

A 3 course meal, at £10 a head for family and friends. 

Cooked and served by students.

Admittedly, these 1st year students are studying a 3 year Catering and Hospitality course at the college and the evening is hosted in the colleges own restaurant. And yes, it is their own Parents' Evening. 

How very civilised. 

Between the 1st and 2nd courses Teen D's head tutor/chef sat at the table with us and discussed how TD had improved over the last 3 months 'noticably turning a corner during a very, very difficult year for her' and how things seem to have 'clicked into place' for her during those 3 months, how she now shows great promise for her 2nd year. 
They've seen the change, as had I. I just needed confirmation they'd seen and recognised it too.

After Dessert, a short informal speech by the Head of Department (while we were still drinking our coffee and supping our wine. Did I mention how much I'm loving this parents evening?) Followed by a brief talk from the Head tutor of year 1. Which I must just add, included an extra special mention of Teen D as THE most outstanding student of the year...

...in the 'hair colour changes' category!

Other staff members then stopped at the table, sat and chatted about Teen D. What she'd achieved during the year, what she could improve on during year 2, options etc.

If I could only go back in time and have all the Parents Evenings I've ever attended run like this, oh the joy..
Now where did I park that Time Machine?



Here are some photos, so you know I'm not lying to make you jealous or anything. Oh and of course so you can drool over the lovely food and see my Gorgeous Girl doing her stuff!

Potato Rosti,spinach,poached egg with Hollandaise

Stuffed leg of Lamb

Individual Lemon Meringue

Chocolate Fudge Brownie & Homemade Icecream

Taking my money!

Brighton Parkour...I LOVE living here.

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook and I wanted to share it with you.

I'm guessing they come from Brighton. I'm not sure, but whether they do or don't, it's quite wonderful to watch them leaping around my City.

Have a look and see where we live, from a slightly different perspective. Also, one of the buildings they use a lot is Teen D's school.

I don't remember seeing these guys bouncing around her school when she was there? I would've noticed, wouldn't I?
Enjoy...


Brighton Parkour from Visive Productions on Vimeo.

Dear So and so...Cars, Colleges and....Well, you'll see!

Go over and see Kat to find out who else is having a moan today...

Dear #1 Car...

FFS! I don't appreciate the 'non-starting' thing this morning. Not at all, I'm not impressed. Panic phone call from TD to drop off 'correct' uniform for college, key in ignition and...Hello?!...nothing. 

I know it's been cold, I understand that. But a dead battery, come on, please! But I am a little sorry for all the foul #&%! names I called you, but trust me, only a little.

Yours, annoyed

-------------

Dear #2 Car...

Look, I get you might be a bit pissed off at being usurped by #1 Car and being stuck on eBay for a mere 99p, but a completely flat tyre? That's not even remotely funny.

Yours, saving my air.

--------------

Dear TD...

Find your bloody Timetable...

Then you won't take the wrong set of uniform in to college and end up calling me to drop off the right one. See #1 Car.

I know I offered to drop it off, but the alternative was you coming all the way back home. Which was all so unnecessarily complicated. 

Frustratingly, Mum

----------------

Dear College Tutor of TD...

Don't call me at home to ask where TD is, 25 mins after having her sent home for not having the correct uniform for the day ahead. Find her something else to do?

Ahh...Right, I see, you haven't seen TD this morning? Erm..er..okkaayyy....Bye!

Yours, red faced & trying to get off the phone fast.

Dear TD...

??.......#%*...!!!!

Yours, lied to and annoyed, Mum

--------------

Dear Me...

??....#%*...!!!

Yours, lied to and very annoyed with self.

Are your Teens waiting?...Results day.

If you have teens of a certain age then you'll already know that tomorrow, Thursday 19th Aug is the day they all get their AS and A Level results. So at the moment there will be thousands of 17 and 18 year olds now wondering if they did enough.

I've already seen status updates on FB and Twitter, of friends of friends, teens, all worrying about picking up their little bits of paper with those magic letters on. I've resisted the urge to comment about how the time for worrying is long gone. It's done & dusted.

TD gets her AS Photography result tomorrow. 

Then she gets her 2 GCSE resit results next Thursday.

I really hope she gets the result she wants. But do you know what?

At the moment I honestly don't mind what result she gets. I hope she's done well, if not, does the world end? No. But of course, being a dramatic teenager, it probably does!!

TD is in the enviable position of already having a secured place in September, at a different college, on a completely different course, which is not reliant on her grades this year. So I suppose it would be fair to say that's why I can say that I don't mind, too much, what her results are.  But that wouldn't be the complete truth. As I've been writing this, I've thought long and hard about if the situation were different, would I feel differently?

We all want our children to achieve their best, we want them to succeed in whatever they choose and reach their full potential. And if they fail to gain the 'right' result in an exam it may well be devastating for some of them. Of course we don't want to see them disappointed and upset, as a mum when our children hurt we feel their pain, but things can be learned from all of our experiences. 

So, the answer is yes, in all honesty, I would feel differently. I would be upset for her, and I would hug her, commiserate with her and console her as best I could, as I have done the whole of her 17 years.
I also know, that after letting her lick her wounds, that I'd be able to help her understand that we can always take things from and learn from everything we do, including any of our failures...


If you're a parent awaiting tomorrows results along with your teens, I do wish them every success....and I would baton down the hatches, I've no doubt it will be a couple of bumpy days! 
Just saying....

SO true..What goes around...

My beautiful, independant TD decided today she wanted her hair cut and dyed blonde, for a completely different look. So whilst OH, my Mum and myself went for a leisurely lunch at a local park, she had a friend come round to help her with the cutting and applying of bleach (not sure why she didn't ask me for cash to go to a hairdressers?!).

Before we left, she'd told me she was going to have a few inches off, have some layers added and "Is it okay if I go blonde all over?"

I replied with what I felt were quite wise words...Hah! Don't you sometimes wish you could just stuff them back in!!

"Aww! Darling..thanks for asking me, but really, you're nearly 17, it's your hair and you're the one wearing it, so you're the one who should decide. If that's what you want"

Phone call received by OH, 5mins after leaving the house, and relayed to me while still driving to the park.

"TD wants to know if you're okay with her having her hair cut like Mollie's?"

"SHIT!! F**K"

.....actually that was in my head, what came out my mouth sounded more like this.. 

"Ermmmmmmmmmmm? errrr...welllllll...um?" 

While my brain was engaged in some very rapid thinking. Could I go back on what I'd already said? Yes? No? Maybe? Would that just give her the message that I wasn't 'truly' ready to give her responsibility for making her own choices? And about something so personal as the way she looks? Worse still, was she asking me because she wanted me to say no?...Or yes?...and oh, all her long, thick hair...*sniff*

With my Mum in the car I was reminded, fleetingly, of all my experiments with multi colours, and, to say the least, rather dodgy looking haircuts I'd had at a similar age, and thought sod it, it's only hair, it'll grow back!

"Tell her, of course I'm fine with it" But I'm sure it came out more like a squeak..

Bright red, close cut and shaved over one side is how it ended up, sort of like Mollie's...

It's fine...*sniff*

And my Mum? She just grinned serenely from the back of the car "It's only hair....."

A little stroll along Brighton Seafront..for Mussels.

Tuesday afternoon TD and I took a little stroll along Brighton seafront. There was a mission in mind, it wasn't just for a leisurely amble. The aim was for TD to take photos for her A-level Photography Final exam, which starts next week.
The theme the examining board have chosen this year is 'Rhythms and Cycles'. This caused a few groans from the 1st year students, as the 2nd year students were given, what they saw as, the far more exciting subject of  'Passion and Obsession'.  

It can be anything from rhythms of music/heartbeats/life and cycles of life/death/decay/nature/buildings, the list is endless. TD can produce any image/s, any size, as long as it fits the theme and is Black and White Film, not digital.

The idea she's going with at the moment is 'Sealife; from sea to plate' sort of thing and to capture images at various stages, in the sea, on the beach, for sale at a stall, and finally on a plate as food.
This was because she took some stunning shots of mussels (below) on the beach and walls, a while back with a digital camera. She was hoping to get the same again but on film.

 

 

Unfortunately for her, that part of the mission was thwarted by the fact they had cleared and were still clearing most of them away while we were there...
So no mussels to be found on the beach.
She did manage to get shots of a couple of the stalls selling seafood though, so maybe all is not lost.

Below are my efforts at the same shots TD was taking.

 

The Gallery - Portraits

I'm not going to apologise, I was extremely lazy last week, and if I'm completely honest just couldn't work up any enthusiasm about anything, not just The Gallery, so I didn't post a photo. Actually, I didn't do very much at all last week. Life's just like that sometimes.

The theme for The Gallery at Sticky Fingers this week is Portaits, and if there is one thing I love in photography, with a passion, it's portaits.
Which thankfully gave me a small, but swift kick in the rear...

Above is a photo of my Mum. It's her first school photo, taken sometime in 1950, when she was 5 years old.

And this is my first school photo, at the same age. The interesting fact about both these photos is they were taken at the same school. Mum, Dad and I lived with my Grandparents until I was 7, opposite the same school my Mum and all her siblings attended. As we were living with them, that was my first school too.

Below is my all time favourite photo of my 16 year old daughter.
And I have now, in theory, taken this photo twice, 10 years apart. 

Originally taken on my Minolta SLR film camera in 1999, when TD was six and again (yesterday) with my digital camera. 
Why twice? Because, our all singing, all dancing printer/scanner, which I bought for the specific purpose of scanning, has now decided printing and scanning is NOT in its job description after all! Luckily the first two photos had already been scanned before it decided to p**s me off. So I had to take a photo of the original photo.

Three portaits, three generations...

Generations apart maybe, but all three images portray the very same wonderfully, direct 'The world is my oyster' innocent gaze...

...and just look at those eyes...like butter wouldn't melt...