Shop Girl

I expect you are all wondering how my first day as a shoe shop girl went....

Well, let me tell you that I think I am going to like selling shoes. I like shoes and I like people. It's fun, it's not stressful, and I get to wear great shoes. I can even get people to buy them - even though most pairs in the shop are between $200 and $400. All excellent.

However, my first day was not without stress.

First I will set the scene.

I have recently realised that my children are not taking enough responsibility for themselves - and I have also realised that this is largely mine and Andrew's own faults. While we were both working, we had an au pair, who along with us, made sure that the house was tidy, and that the children were where they were supposed to be with the stuff they were supposed to have with them. On the whole the system worked and everyone was happy.

When we came here and I stopped working, I wanted to be the sort of mum I'd never been before and do everything for them - laying out their clothes for the morning, and getting everything ready for them. I thought that this was being a good parent. Overtime, I've come to the conclusion that this is doing them a disservice. They don't do anything - not even flushing the loo most of the time!

So - I've written them a manual each telling them what they need to do on every morning, and what they need to do every evening in order to be ready for whatever is going on the next day. It is very detailed. Nothing is left to chance. And I have explained to them that they need to do what is in the folder, and when they fail to do something (forget PE kit, dance kit, lunch order etc), they will have to accept the consequences (get a demerit, be hungry etc....). On the whole, it is working well, and they are beginning to get into a bit of a routine, instead of being constantly amazed that they need to have their shoes on for school, and that they should clean their teeth etc.

On Tuesdays, George gets the bus home and lets himself into the house for half an hour, while I am collecting Anna from netball practice. This Tuesday morning, I checked with him a number of times that he had his key. He said he did. On the way to school he sent me a text from the bus saying that it 'turned out' that he didn't have his key after all. I sent one back saying that I would leave my own key outside for him. In writing this, I've just realised that this is where I went wrong - because by giving him my key he was not experiencing the consequences of not having his.

However...

He let himself in.

I forgot I had taken my key off my keyring.

So when I took them to school at 7am they next morning - my first day in my new job - when I shut the door, I didn't realise that I didn't have a key to let myself back in with. As I had a training session at the gym at 8am (not starting work until 10am), I was wearing my tracksuit, a baseball cap, and had not had a shower. And I could not get back in the house.

Initially I thought it was all going to be ok, and I had had the foresight to give my friend Sharon a spare key. Unfortunately Sharon couldn't find it. I took every key in her house to mine and tried it in the door, all to no avail. Eventually I gave up, had a shower at her house, borrowed all her clothes (right down to underwear!) and went off to my first day a little flustered, but clean.

Work was great.

However....

Half an hour before I was supposed to leave, school rang me to say

BOTH MY CHILDREN HAD MISSED THE BUS AND COULD I COME AND COLLECT THEM PLEASE.

Oh my cup runneth over. Apparently Anna had 'forgotten' she had to get the bus home (despite the conversation we had about it on the way to school). George got on the bus, but on seeing that his sister wasn't there, the little trooper thought he better get off and look for her. When he got off, the bus left.

They let me leave work early, and I went to get my car out of the car park under the shopping centre. Now, ordinarily I would have walked there, but with all the excitement earlier I had ended up driving from Avalon. Whenever I have parked under there before it has been free. Apparently not when you've been there 6.5 hours. For the privilege of working all day in someone elses knickers, I was obliged to pay $30. Oh My God.

It's Mother's Day here on Sunday. I am expecting some really really good gifts.