Risk taking and back to work decisions

Here is our new bike tent in the garden, to save having bikes in the house :-)

Hmmm...Older Daughter is worried about Waif. She (OD) said to me this morning that she heard from a mutual friend that Waif never has her morning snack. I asked her at breakfast -

"casual talk, casual talk, so Waif, casual talk, casual talk, what have you been having for your morning snack lately?"

She said a doughnut or two large cookies. Hmmmm....... she didn't sound very convincing.

OD also toldme that I needed to talk to Waif about the facts of life. Apparently Waif has been saying that you "will most likely be okay" if you have sex without a condom. Whilst I hope that, at 13years old, sex is many years away, that kind of attitude towards risk is concerning.

Similarly, when pulling out into traffic today (only coming off a bike lane and into the traffic, so not crossing any lanes) I reminded Waif to look over her shoulder first.

"Why should I?" she replied.

"Because there might be a car or van coming".

"Well, they ought to slow down for me" she said.

Whilst clearly Waif is right, equally clearly she is the one who will come off worst in an accident.

Waif has also been implementing a new tactic of delay:

"Oh, I am not having much for lunch because we are going out for supper". 


"Oh, I won't have a snack here in Starbucks because I prefer what we have at home."

Of course, being deeply fallible, I often then forget to supervise that later on the calories are truly being made up. Having said that, I DO supervise the breakfast fish finger sandwich and bowl of cereal, the 2 glasses of milk in the afternoon and supper, including pudding. Hot chocolate is now off the menu, replaced by a glass of milk btw. I guess that's okay even though it is less calorific.

The next Maudsley appointment is Thursday of next week. When we were last there I asked the psych how most anorexics eventually recover in light of the fact that she said that most do not recognise or fully accept that they are ill. She told me that they eventually get fed up with coming to appointments and having meals dominate their lives and so, effectively, give in to pressure. I guess that is why the success rate is better for younger teens than older, as the adult pressure is less easily resisted.

That same day I am due to go to annual drinks for my team at the law office from which I am on sabbatical. This brings to mind the fact that I am due back at work in September and need to decide what to do. Whilst Waif is SOOOOO much better, I wonder how she will fare if I am once more out of the house when she arrives home from school and often not back until 7.30 or 8.30pm. My husband is almost never home before 9pm. Older Daughter will not even be here for company as she will be at boarding school by then. Hmm.....perhaps I need to find a way of working from home. Perhaps I should give up my job and do something completely different. The time has rushed past.