Reader's Story - Sarah Murphy

Sarah is an old friend of mine. We used to teach languages together many moons ago.
When Natty was around 2 and Mia 4, and my need for some sleep, the odd break and some time alone with individual siblings became pressing, she helped me out through the summer holidays.  Here are her recollections of that time, although I think she is selling herself short. The girls still remember her teaching them how to do a wicked foot massage too. "Say hello to the feet" she would tell them :)

Those pesky pirates!



Natty, Mia and the incompetent Nanny

Poor girls.

At the tender ages of just 2 and 4, to be faced with the prospect of a whole Summer being looked after by someone with no experience whatsoever in how to change nappies, read a story with the right voices for each character and heaven forbid, had never even heard of Sporticus......A challenge indeed.

The whole situation could be summed up in 3 small words: BAPTISM OF FIRE.

Here is a list of things I hoped to teach the girls:
1.     How to make the longest daisy chain ever.
2.     NEVER pick Foxgloves.
3.     The words to Yellow Submarine.
4.     How to stage a fantastic dance performance.
5.     Who Mrs. Doyle of Father Ted fame is (Go on Go on Go on....always achieved results)

Here is a list of things I learned during my brief time with the Goleniowskas:
1.     How to ensure that shoes stayed ON.
2.     How to pronounce “Protarchaeopteryx” and a variety of other dinosaur names.
3.     How to spot a choking hazard at 100 paces.
4.     What to do when the afore-mentioned choking hazard had not been spotted, and how to deal with the ensuing results.
5.     Mr. B the teacher cannot be usurped in the dressing up stakes.
6.     Princess towers can be made out of absolutely ANYTHING.
7.     How to bake a show-stopping Walnut and Banana cakes with a plethora of healthy   ingredients that shouldn’t really be in there.
8.     With perseverance ANYTHING can be achieved.

God bless those little pixies and all that they taught me. 
I wouldn’t have swapped this experience for the World.

Sarah
x

2 comments:

  1. Nice to hear about you, Sarah!!! It's a great post, I enjoyed reading that.
    Love from another former colleague from the same school.
    XXX
    Marion Tellier

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome. Sorry to hog the comments, but these posts are all so much fun!
    Thanks Sarah for sharing, every time we teach children we learn, eh?
    And thank you Hayley for this great idea of perspectives. - Mardra

    ReplyDelete

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