The Farce Factor

The X Factor.  I was under the impression that the winners are supposed to have it all, be able to sing, dance, entertain etc.

So far this year the favourites are only able to entertain.  John and Edward can't sing or dance, but are weirdly entertaining, I look forward to watching them, but groan at how utterly crap they are, then groan again when the get through to the next week.

The winners from the last 2 years, Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke were both totally deserving of their wins and have gone on to get better and better, but if John and Edward win it'll make a complete mockery of what the X-Factor is meant to be about.  Or does it??

If the papers are to be believed the twins are being groomed for great things, but how???  The boys have no talent at all and couldn't even win a school talent show.

I will keep this short as everyone has opinion about the twins, but the last thing I must say is this:

If you can't stand the twins, then pick up the phone and vote for someone else!  If all the twin haters did this, surely they would get knocked off their perch?

What Defines 'Family'?

family

• noun (pl. families) 1. a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit. 2 a group of people related by blood or marriage. 3 the children of a person or couple. 4 all the descendants of a common ancestor.

So, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, my little family unit isn't technically a family as beloved and I aren't married and Little Robbie Dude isn't his son.  What utter tosh.

I was brought up by 2 parents, my Mum was my birth mother, my Dad my adoptive father and my younger half sister, who I never think of as 'half sister', she's my sister full stop.  We were a proper family, a happy family unit. 

Then along came Roddy.

Roddy fell into our family and became part of it.  When my Dad died he was mentioned under 'children' at the funeral, and gave my sister away when she got married a few years ago.  When talking about him, I refer to Roddy as my brother, he is Godfather to Robbie Dude and my Mum couldn't care for him anymore if he was her own.

So all this begs the question - What really makes a group of people family?

In my book, blood ties don't mean you are family, it just means you're related. Just because someone gives birth to you it doesn't mean you should automatically love them, lets face it, there are many kids out there in terrible family situations, there are other kids living with people who are no relation to them, but who love and nurture them. 

My definition of family is:

A group of people who care for each other and regardless of often they see each other, will always be there right til the very end.

The Need to Procreate

I adore my little boy.  He has just turned 8 and I simply can't imagine what my life would be without him.  I never for one moment thought that I could have this all encompassing love for another human being, I simply didn't think I had had the capability.  I'm sure to other parents this isn't news, but I wonder if other parents can felt the same way about kids as I did pre Dude?

I started pondering this recently, you see, my baby sister and her husband have been trying for a long time for a family, they're currently going through all sorts of tests to establish why it isn't happening.  My older sister went through the same.  My older sister now has 2 beautiful girls, but went through all sorts of emotions prior to becoming pregnant, she so desperately wanted kids.  My younger sister is now in the same boat, it's worse for her though, as 2 of us are already Mums.

The thing is, I can't imagine feeling like that.  My pregnancy wasn't planned, I didn't even particularly like kids, I didn't automatically love my neices (which I thought I should) and quite honestly found babies rather boring and children noisy and a pain in the arse.  I never ever felt that I would only be complete if I give birth or that I wouldn't be a real woman without a baby.  If I'm perfectly honest if I had never had my son, I don't think I would have felt I was missing out on anything.  I just didn't have that yearning to be a Mum.

If I had done as Dude's father told me and had a termination, I would be financially much better off, able to go out more, have holidays, more handbags etc, but if I was given the option now, knowing what I know, would I have had the termination?

Not a chance!  I would rather be skint and go without material things than be without my little Robbie Dude, the love and laughs that come from him are worth far more than anything money can buy.

Don't get me wrong here, just because I adore my son, I don't want any more!

Walter the Worm

When I was little, I wanted to be many things, but my longest running ambition was to be an author. I used to write little stories in an excercise book and read them to my little sister, who wasn't the slightest bit interested (she was only a baby though).

As time went on I realised that I had neither the ability, talent, application or imagination to pull it off. I'm also not particularly clever at putting my thoughts on to paper, so that was that idea out the window!

I'm currently running a childrens story competition at work, for kids up to the age of 10. The title of the story has to be 'Walter the Worm', but beyond that the kids have to work it out for themselves. And boy have they!

I've been reading some of the entries this morning and the standard ranges from really good to outstanding. These kids have what I wanted all those years ago.

In the stories, Walter has been on holiday, to the job centre, a spy in search of the worlds largest cake, a whole array of different things. Some of the kids have made their stories up into little books, others have done comic strip style stories. Some are handwritten, some are typed.

One thing sticks out more than anything reading these stories. The kids today are so much more aware than we were at the same age. They have so much more than we ever did. My 7 year old son has the world at his fingertips in his bedroom and I often find him searching the internet for various different things, he recently had some homework about inventions, so he Googled the wheel, then did his whole piece on the laptop and even inserted pictures!

In creating Walter the Worm, I have discovered some authors of the future. I'm led to believe that one little girl's ambition is to write for a living, her story made wonderful reading, it made me laugh out loud. I sincerely hope her dream will be recognised and that one day I'll be able to pick up a book she has written or an article with her name on it.