Get a proper job!

[MrsSnaplegs]

My dd (5) said to me tonight
Mummy would you like a real job, you know a proper job?
Me: what do you mean a proper job?
Her: well like a teacher or something
Me: you do know mummy has a proper job in the navy
Her: yes but all you do is work, if you were a teacher you could have fun
Me: well in the navy I am a sort of teacher
Her: yes but all you do is work
Mm I think this role reversal with DH as sahp clearly has her confused so much for me being a positive female role model!
So what do your kids think you or your DH/DW do in the military?

The kids thinks DH fixes the helicopters himself (he doesn't) and that when he goes on op tour, he's helping save the women and children from being treated unkindly - rose tinted I know but in essence, the uk forces are peace keepers more than anything else.

Mrssnaplegs - is there a 'take yur child to work day' your dd could go to - then she'd see how much fun you have.

We live almost on top of my work so she comes in at least once a month I think she may be right though I do work too much

The DC think daddy tells people off (an unfortunate hangover from when they crashed into his office when he, as OC of a squadron, was giving a poor private the telling-off of his life) Cue me and two children backing out as quickly as possible....

Good one MrsSnaplegs!

Although they're grown up, I expect the offspring would be hard-pushed to say what Dad does at work. It'd probably go along the lines of "something involving ships. And lots of phone calls about ship-type stuff, usually during dinner. Working very strange hours and disappearing off for months on end."

That'd be a pretty accurate summary, too.

DD knows DH flies, but she thinks he's in every helicopter that goes past. And if it's not him, it must be xxx's daddy.

She thinks he's about to go to the desert to look at camels .

DD is 3, and as far as she is concerned 'Daddy goes to work to play with his friends.'

He's an armourer, so she's probably absolutely right.

cryhavoc good one for your DD, my DCs think daddy fixes helicopters (like vintage DH), plays with guns, shouts at people, drinks coffee a lot and goes on holiday without them which is not being helped by talk of next years Cyprus tour

DS 8 did say the other day
DS "mummy is daddy working nights?"
me "no he goes to work during the day doesn't he"
DS "oh just he is gone when we wake up and not here when we go to bed, but I know he isn't deployed because his stuff is lying around all over the house when I get up"
I had no answer to that one

As for me my DD4 thinks that when she grows up she will be a mummy too as you drink tea all day and play with your DCs. Yes she does need to learn about washing, ironing, taxi service, fitting in the odd bit of actual work when she is in bed, etc etc etc

sorry the bold didn't look like that on the preview

DS knows that DH does things with computers, but wishes he was out shooting baddies with guns

DS is too little but all I know about DHs work is that it's very time consuming and inc

thanks DS! Touch screens aren't the most child friendly invention.

...involves telling other people that there are pirates and pirates are bad.

fractious know what you mean just came back to my ipad to find the 4 year old has moved all my icons around and deleted angry birds (how will the 7 year old cope now)

they know i ran an airport and that dh had lots of people that fixed tanks for other people to break again (). mostly they look fairly baffled though if asked, and they have absolutely no concept of rank at all. even at 11,9 and 7. i'm quite chuffed with that. they do know that x's daddy runs the whole camp, but only because x has to wear a pretty dress and smart coat and help take the salute on remembrance day. and they get a big house for sleepovers.

but dh has got a proper job now. it's even more incomprehensible than anything he did in the army. so now i make the baffled face when anyone asks me what exactly is it he does... just got to find me a real job and and i can start having me some fun!

I do also get "oh look mummy that man does the same job as you because he's wearing the same clothes"

About the security man in morrisons

My kids have pretty much each gone through the same transitional process with regards to their understanding of my job.

When they're toddlers, they thought it was really cool that "Daddy's a soldier" (I didn't go into specifics, I'm not that much of an arsehole) and that he shoots guns and fights baddies all day long (this is only a bit true - the fact is I just drink a lot of tea.) They know I enjoy my job very much, "That's why you spend so much time there!"

That's still pretty much the case with my younger two, but my eldest (12) is starting to question what it is I actually do, I think it's just curiosity really. I haven't really held back on what I've told him in response to his questions, apart from once when he asked in all seriousness, "Have you actually ever killed someone?" to which I lied. I'm ashamed that I didn't tell him the truth, but I can't help seeing him still as my little boy and I dunno how I would feel if I knew my dad had killed before. Anyway, I digress...

With going away to Somewhere Hot and Sunny, I just told them all I was going to do some really important work in another country (luckily they never clicked with all the news stories from Iraq and Afghan, especially all the reports of service personnel deaths).

I just asked DS(5) what he thinks his Dad does in the Navy.

DS - "well he bangs those things"
Me - "what things"
DS - "those balls I think"
Me -

oh dear humperdink that sounds a bit dodgey, hope he doesn't say that to anyone official

My DS doesnt know what his Daddy does, all he knows is that Daddy has gone on a big trip and will be back after his sisters birthday.