Reclaiming my role

Today I am setting aside all thoughts of this nosy government, the interfering NSPCC and the slanderous Mr Patel, and asserting my rights and responsibilities as a home educating parent.

That means I can plead, cajole, yell, sob, tear out my hair, bribe, lose all the arguments about Henry VII and, at the end of the day, wish I'd done it all differently.

And just in case the NSPCC is peering through the curtains, that's what I want in my family too. I want to be surrounded by complex, interesting and thinking people, and I accept that means we all do some screaming, shouting, and slamming doors. We'll cope, thanks.

But sadly I didn't need to yell and throw myself on the ground today. I took the little grits happily to the RSPB bird workshop run at the local library and afterwards everyone did the stuff they like. That means argue over the computer, pretend to be seals eating cod, demand more bread and honey, roll about the floor in a game where you catch a wild baby tiger to tie its ears together, then make a model cat.


After supper we all slammed some doors and went to bed. But not before we all said sorry and I love you.

And we didn't need any government interference to do that either.