going on safari

this weekend was a safari at home themed weekend! we had planned a home ed party on a will it/won’t it basis dependant on the needs of my sister. we tidied the house. [since it is currently tidy by our standards, am going to see whether we can keep it that way! a slight fly – or louse – in the ointment was that my niece E had had a bad infestation of nits and lice, and with persistent combing i eventually found 4 eggs on BB one day, then 1 nymph the next. thankfully no more! My head has been persistently itchy, but no findings.

SB’s we couldn’t assess, as she had Brownie camp week! and she loved it – woohoo!! she is quite sensitive to teasing/bullying as we don’t do this at home, and nor do her home ed friends on the whole, so she is always totally devastated. there are a couple of brownies who are more teasing/bullying who i just advise her to avoid. I am entirely at a loss to the best strategy for this as although i was teasted/bullied/ostracised at various times at school, and it made me ‘sad’ it was more that i knew my parents would be sad, and TBH, i think i might be too slightly on the spectrum for me to have thought it my be an issue with me! SO currently i tell SB that this kind of thing happens, and will happen a lot in life. but… it is not related to her, and that some teasing is just that, and should be laughed and shrugged off as part of friendly banter – and some is someone trying to make themselves more important. the way to tell is if it is done with a smile and laugh and moves on to someone else by someone else v quickly, and the latter is not done with a smile, but by one person to one or several, and occais others join in. and that is best dealt with ignoring at the time, and telling me or a leader that it isn’t nice and is making you uncomfortable, or, if with other friends, linking arms with them and laughing it off and changing subject. dunno. advice? but it wasn’t a big issue this time, just one thing that made her cry when telling me, but she had a ball otherwise.

anyway, we tidied hard! cut out and painted an elephant to drape over the climbing frame, cooked and baked and generally made ready. and on saturday our guests started to arrive. we had a lovely time, and were v happy to see all those that came again, and missed those that didn’t. the kids ran around having fun and laughing, and negligible spats or unhappiness or swing injuries! there was plenty of utterly delish food – bring and share such a fab thing! and obviously for us adults, loads of charming company! the kids had lots of pool fun, then we face painted – i had expert help from le ciel rouge, so picked up a few tips! the weather was with us, the company great, the kids lovely and thanks all!! a ate night with a fire pit, a gaggle of non sleeping kids got shunted into our room an early start and then some more playing/chatting/chilling and also much needed support from much loved friends. thanks all x x