Sunday, October 18, 2009

Parenting by Pizza

My children are with their father today. I will never forget the first day they went off with him (and not even to go away from their home town). I felt totally devastated and drove away with tears blinding me, my chest heaving with great choking sobs. I thought I would never get used to it but I did and now when they are away I do things I need to do or things that are just for me (a novel concept at the beginning) and I find I miss them but it doesn't kill me. The important thing is they come back and for them where I am is home.

Today, as on countless occasions, the children have gone to Pizza Express with their father. Pizza Express has become the venue of choice and indeed seems chock full of absent fathers 'treating' their children to some quality time. It's as if all wrongs can be righted by a bottle of Sprite and a Margherita pizza. I wonder that social services or Relate haven't thought of having outposts in branches of Pizza Express, they are so full of part-time dads making a window for their part-time children. Ditto Toys r Us and McDonalds. What a wasted opportunity for the support services.

'That's three Margheritas, two Sprites, a beer and a parenting workshop please'





2 comments:

Violet Fenn said...

We went camping recently and there was a chap next to us with his two daughters, presumably having his allocated weekend with them.

Bless him, he spent all afternoon putting the tent up, all night up with the littlest (a tiny tot) crying and the next morning taking it all down again.

But the kids looked chuffed to be there and there wasn't a pizza in sight ;D

jenny.spacedog said...

Good on 'im.