Hello crepeys and welcome Issy, stick around. Sorry to hear about all the drama queen dds - I too currently have a delightful and helpful, bed making dishwasher emptying dd (she's 9) but am fully aware I should cling to this version of her as it won't last long. DS1 started senior school yesterday which was fine, until I dropped DD and DS2 at primary today and DS1 wasn't there (obv, duh) and I cried a bit on the train home as it felt so odd to have him Somewhere Else Where He Went On A Bus All On His Lonesome which is ridiculous as he has been going to school and scouts on his own for a year. It didn't help that he came back from new school yesterday all a bit wobbly and did a couple of teary voiced moments while telling me about the day - he's never liked change and is also aware of his own sensitivities, so it's a double whammy - feeling wobbly and knowing that others might see him as wobbly and take the piss. He's majorly hacked off about the alphabetic desk placement which put him right at the front of the class with 2 girls while his mate (surname beginning T) is at the back in what ds1 perceives as the cool section. I have assured him that his mate is truly the least cool person on the planet and makes ds1 look like Mick Jagger, but he's having none of it. He will be sat next to the teacher and only allowed to speak to girls for the WHOLE of the rest of his time at school and it will be Terrible. I did at least resist the urge to follow him into the playground on the first day, so at least he didn't lose any cool points for having a clingy mother. And I didn't lurk a bit down the road out of sight to make sure he went in the gates ok, oh no.
But then I read about MI's friends and think that I will follow my children wherever they go for always because to lose them would be beyond unbearable. It sounds like they were extraordinarily brave, MI, and I'm sure they really appreciated their friends being there for support.
I very much like the 13 things article, BD, am planning to do something like that for ds1, especially the cooking. A friend told me about someone she knows who does a kids camp weekend in her garden every year. She gives a group of kids - about 10 of them from age 12 down to 6 - the tents and gear, a food budget and they have to survive for 2 nights, shop for themselves, budget for 5 meals and do the whole thing. Think it sounds brilliant, and am going to see if we can do something similar next year.
Another fun thing I recently came across is v simple - get your kids to fill in a list of things they like or that pop into their head using the letter of the alphabet - so A maybe Auntie Jo, B - Bakugan, etc. Quite a fun way to remember current obsessions or find out what things they really think about. Definitely going to do that this weekend as a moment in time snapshot.
I do have some S&B thoughts, but will share later as I have to get on with some work.