Progresk

The trouble with children is that they keep growing and keep getting older. It's a challenge keeping up and I'm sure many parents of very small children don't realise what their kiddies are capable of because they are not aware their child has moved on.

When the boys were small, I was working and they both had to go to the crèche. Professional child carers are much more alert to the progress of their charges because that is their job. I remember being amazed at what the boys were able to do at various stages simply because in my mind I had not got there yet for them.

That was several years ago, and the boys are now pre-adolescent, and just about to start CP. My eldest will have serious work to do at home. Up until now, he's done all his homework at étude. Why did I make him stay at school to do his homework? Simple. He was so odious about doing it at home that it ruined the entire evening for everybody. He would rather play than work and even though I suggested he do his work the minute he got home to liberate him for the evening, he just couldn't drum up the self-control. Home is where you hang out and have fun.

I choose my battles, and this one was won all round by him staying, with much of the class, for an extra 45 minutes after school. I got the feeling I was not the only one fighting this battle!

As ever, though, he is growing, and will need a desk this year. I browsed the internet and found a very snazzy corner desk in Fly. I went down there after work yesterday and got the desk, a chair and a lamp. Today I put it all together.

I was a bit apprehensive as I am a seasoned Ikea shopper and some of their furniture is the very devil to put together. My kind neighbour had helped bring the desk box in last night and left it downstairs, so I opened it and took it bit by bit up to my son's bedroom. Taking it slowly and carefully I followed the instructions. They were very clear except for one thing. You couldn't tell when to use the underside of a shelf, so twice I had to undo what I'd done because I had used the wrong side.

It takes, according to the instructions, 1hr45min for two people. I started around 9.30am and by 10.30am had done the first side. By 12.30 I had finished, but I had had a coffee break in the middle. I put the chair together after lunch, tidied everything up and Ulysse (the cat) and I admired my handiwork.

Children may surprise me with their constant progress, but I'm also pretty impressed at my own.

I'm considering letting my eldest use the internet phone (once I buy it...) to keep him off the land line, with strict instructions not to use it to call mobile phones. I hope he'll like that idea. Of course, if he abuses my instructions, the phone will simply be removed. He might be growing, but I think I'm ahead on progress...

Can't Stop Progress

It goes without saying that my parents only have to arrive for the heavens to open promising a week's worth of downpours for the duration of their stay. Today they were shower-hopping buying bread, and were denied watching my youngest play footie as it was too wet.

So much for languidly reclining on the sunbed a book in one hand, a freshly squeezed orange juice in the other, their only worry whether the suntan lotion needs topping up. The height of today's excitement was not finding limon cello in Intermarche, and buying a Norma plastic bag. Living on the edge!

Meanwhile the art auction preparations by Promo'Arts continue unabated, except for the May 1 bank holiday, general April 30 pont and weekend apathy by 99.9% of the population. May is not a good month for being dynamic. You are likely to be the only one at it if you are. However, it's best not to rock the boat as the status quo is a very important element of French life. It'll be interesting to see who gets to be president on Sunday, and whether whoever is chosen actually gets to upset the status quo.

The Creationist status quo is likely to be upset in the coming months with the experiments being carried out by the Large Hadron Collider which being built in Geneva at the moment. It hopes to recreate the conditions right after the big bang and solve the mystery of the Higgs Boson particle which explains how fundamental particles acquire mass. The Horizon programme on BBC2 last night did a fantastic job presenting the research and some of the historical lead-up. I would be most interested to hear how crazy Creationists could explain the discoveries that have been made over the last 40 years and are continuing to help scientists understand the realities of the Big Bang; discoveries that go beyond Creationist thinking of 'oh, it's far too complicated for us to understand so God must have dunnit'.

The status quo is a very cosy place to inhabit, but it's anti-progress. France is on the edge of an opportunity to right the problems that will not go away if the voters choose the status quo. Voting is a first step; the second, more important is not to sabotage the efforts made by those who have been voted in by taking to the streets and refusing change.

Creationists will soon be confronted by possible proof of the making of stuff. Will they go with progress or ignore it?

Me? I'm just hoping it stops raining and that we find some limon cello for my dad. I can't vote and I'm not a crazy Creationist, but I love progress!