We get loads of these and also do one, mainly because we have moved round so much and it's a good way of keeping in touch. Hate the boasty ones tho. Love this spoof by Adrian Plass (christian author mocking round robins which seems to be a bigger thing amongst christians for some reason) Here's some bits of it:
Naomi [age 5)
...She is also very bright, but Rebecca and I are anxious that she should not be pushed too far, too quickly, where school work is concerned. She must certainly finish her reception year before taking maths 'A' level, and there is absolutely no question of her undertaking piano recitals in Europe until she has passed her seventh birthday.
Naomi's after-school activities include a chess class on Monday (she earns her own pocket money by teaching that), applied thermonuclear dynamics on Tuesday, netball training with other members of the County team on Thursdays, and a soup-run into the East End every Friday evening. Typically, Naomi taught herself judo and karate to black-belt standard from textbooks before embarking on this potentially dangerous occupation.
Joshua{age 16)
Joshua has gained fifteen A grade GCSEs and nine spiritual gifts this year, including Sociology and Prophecy (the one to be most earnestly sought after, according to the apostle Paul - prophecy, that is, not sociology). Over the next two years he hopes to take the Word of the Lord to Communist China, and twelve 'A levels.
Joshua spent his summer holiday converting Guatemala with a group of pals, constructing a life-size working model of Apollo 3 out of drinking straws, and practising the five Cantonese dialects in which he is now practically fluent.
It is not all plain sailing with Joshua, however. A typically wayward and rebellious sixteen-year-old, he has several times sneaked off to his room to do a couple of hours extra academic study when he knows he should be concentrating on tightening up his dressage skills in the back paddock ready for the Olympics, and on more than one occasion he has actually disappeared from the house altogether, only to be discovered guiltily shopping for the elderly lady who lives two doors away from us, or sitting and reading to her for long periods after cooking and serving her evening meal. When Rebecca and 1 gently pointed out that we can't always do exactly what we want, Joshua asked our forgiveness and repointed the
brickwork of every house in the street as an act of repentance. Rebecca and I feel sure he'll come through in the end.
Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities have applied to have Joshua join them in two years' time, and he will probably fly up (as soon as his pilot's licence comes through) to look over both establishments before making a decision
Rebecca
Rebecca continues to enjoy producing homemade jam, bread, cakes, wine, preserves, crocheted bedspreads, small animal models made out of baked dough, dried flower decorations, knitted baby-clothes, banners and kneeling mats for our local church, and meals for the housebound.
She has completed her first novel this year, held a successful one-woman oil-painting exhibition, been awarded a third Open University degree, and continues to single-handedly look after our twelve-acre ornamental garden, when her duties as mother, wife, amateur apiarist, semi-professional photographer, local magistrate, prison visitor, hospital volunteer, leading light in the amateur dramatic association, treasurer of the ladies tennis club, district council member and world chairperson of Women Against Poverty allow.
Rebecca is currently looking for some new challenge to occupy the spare time that she, in common with many non-working mothers, finds hanging so heavily on her hands. Next year, in addition to her present activities, she plans to become a special policewoman, stand as a prospective parliamentary candidate, complete a solo sailing trip around the world, and find a method of bottling gooseberries that doesn't lose all the flavour.