What, I hear you cry, is the Laurie Lee Defence? Well, it's like this. Occasionally I have a moment of worry about Patrick being brought up surrounded by eccentric women with no permanent father. Will it turn him funny, will he be feminised, is his life lacking a suitably burly role model? My mother and I frequently have this conversation and just as frequently we say: 'Well, didn't do Laurie Lee any harm'. That, in a nutshell is the Laurie Lee Defence.
Laurie Lee you will remember was the author of that book of bucolic wonder 'Cider with Rosie'. He was brought up by his mother and a gaggle of loving sisters after his father deserted the family. Despite being the little darling of a group of adoring women, he went off manfully to the Spanish Civil War, didn't turn out gay, played the fiddle like a fiend and, incidentally, wrote a best-selling book or two.
Yes, it did him no harm at all. He professed himself: 'perfectly content in this world of women'. His three 'generous, indulgent, warm-blooded, and dotty' half-sisters were 'the good fortune of our lives'. I just hope Patrick will be as positive about his own idiosyncratic mama, outre aunty, dotty grandmother and singular sister.
Laurie Lee you will remember was the author of that book of bucolic wonder 'Cider with Rosie'. He was brought up by his mother and a gaggle of loving sisters after his father deserted the family. Despite being the little darling of a group of adoring women, he went off manfully to the Spanish Civil War, didn't turn out gay, played the fiddle like a fiend and, incidentally, wrote a best-selling book or two.
Yes, it did him no harm at all. He professed himself: 'perfectly content in this world of women'. His three 'generous, indulgent, warm-blooded, and dotty' half-sisters were 'the good fortune of our lives'. I just hope Patrick will be as positive about his own idiosyncratic mama, outre aunty, dotty grandmother and singular sister.
2 comments:
Ooh heavens, I honestly think that being brought up in a family of (mainly) women is not a bad thing for a boy!
I know a few in the same situation and for the most part they grow up with a stronger sense of self-worth and a good understanding of female hormones.
Can't be a bad thing, can it ;D
Well it didn't do Laurie Lee any harm.
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