Last night my middle daughter, who is halfway through Grade
3, decided that when she is in Grade 6 (her final year of primary school), she
wanted to be Head Girl.
This came as rather a shock to me, and everyone who was sitting
at the dinner table when she announced her decision, because within the family she
has a well-established reputation as being both the laziest and most selfish of
all the girls.
My husband, who had been Head Boy of his school when he was
in Year 7, and who as an adult is drowning in work said glumly ‘there’s so much
extra work you’ll have to do, why bother?’
I shot him a look that said ‘perhaps the wrong message to be
sending’ and instead turned to my daughter and queried why she would want to be
Head Girl.
‘Because I want to sit on the chairs at assembly rather than
sit on the floor,’ was her first response.
Swallowing my laughter I told her that probably wasn’t a
good enough reason and asked why else she wanted to run for Head Girl.
‘Because I don’t want to leave school without having done
something big and important.’
Wow.
That was not what I had expected her to say.
And she meant it.
With her older sister slumping down in her seat, eyes
rolling like a bingo machine, my middle daughter fixed me with a look that said
‘take me seriously’ and then proceeded to spill dinner down her chin.
Even though I had a million ideas that automatically came
bursting to my brain, I knew that I needed to leave this one entirely in her
own hands. She hadn’t asked for help and I suspected part of her little speech
might have been a none-too-subtle dig at her sister who had run for Head Girl
and not made it. She has a real talent of going straight for the jugular,
something that might come in handy one day as an adult.
‘You know,’ I said to her. ‘If you want to do something big
and important at the school, you don’t need to wait three years’.
And that would be the end of it, I told myself.
But later that night she surprised me, while I was naked in
the shower (naturally), with some ideas she had. She already had written a
letter to the Principal and drawn a picture ‘it’s not my best’, she admitted. ‘I
just wanted to start.’
She had come to ask if I would help her make an appointment
with the Principal.
Gesturing at my nudity I said ‘not now.’
She glanced at me, as though only just realising I was in
the shower and completely wet and naked, and told me ‘I’ll wait.’
Indulge me for a moment while I give some back story – our school
is running a fete later this year, and I am up to my eyeballs in it. Her class
is running a pet stall, and I have been sewing doggie bandanas and we will be
baking jars of dog biscuits. Because I have no idea how well these things will
sell, I had always told my daughter that anything we don’t sell, we would
donate to the local dog shelter so the dogs could look handsome for their new
owners.
Her idea is to collect old towels that the shelter is always
asking for, to add to the donation. Everyone at the school is already being
asked to bring in their pre-loved toys and clothes and books – why not some old
towels as well, she said.
It was a pretty good idea, I thought.
This isn’t one of those excruciating mummy-blogs full of
humble bragging mind you. This is blatant bragging! I might have raised one of
my children correctly. Hallelujah. Especially since she’s the one we thought
would grow up and become a mob boss.
So I have told her that I will back her up with anything
that needs adult-ing, but otherwise she has to do this on her own. I think she
will do this, after all this is the kid who made some embroidery for Queen
Elizabeth (and got a reply) and the kid who sent a thank you note to the show-bag
sellers at the Royal Show and got sent a huge box of free show bags.
I’ll let you know how she goes.
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| Anyone want to buy a bandana for their dog? |
