The ant farm debate
There we were in Madeira, surrounded by eight (EIGHT!) pools, spa facilities, tennis court, minigolf... And the great topic on my darlings' minds were spiders (Madeira is the lucky home of Europe's largest spiders...). So the boys had an agenda of capturing one 20 cm long monster, secretly bringing it to the hotel... In the hope it would make baby spiders for us. You can only guess how popular this idea was amongst my love and I.
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My determined baby[/caption]
Well, as this plan turned out slightly complicated to implement, they shifted to ants. More specifically, building an ant farm. My older son studied everything there is to know about ants in this world - now his plan is to capture a queen ant, bring it home and start a terrarium. He was thrilled to discover the queen ant can live up to 30 years, all along multiplying the size of the nest... What other future plans does one need...
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The no-nonsense brother[/caption]
I tried to say no in a million ways - and then some - but he is just too sweet in his arguments... Quoting books 'Owning pets grows a child a sense of responsibility, I sure could use some'... If he studies very hard all next year, could I then reward him with the farm next summer... He will pay all the costs from his weekly allowance... He has always wanted a pet, yet can't have anything cute and furry as I'm allergic - therefore he is generous in compromising with the ant farm... And the worst point of them all - I had promised he could choose something he really loves for his birthday. And now this is the one thing he really loves.
That did me in. Can you believe it, I promised.
Next summer, if he still loves the idea of ants, we will take shared custody of them with my ex husband (they will live with HIM but I have to take care of the buggers when Serge and the boys are on holidays). They take darn many holidays.
Okay I hear I am the best mother in the world. Definitely one of the most desperate.
I just wanted to hang around the eight pools... And somehow ended up in a soup. Argh.