Work And Play

Funny isn't it? We're born honest and then we get taught not to say what we really feel.

I used to feel reluctant to be picked up by Nellie, to go and play with the boys. I'd take five hours of housecleaning than 50 minutes of trying to please them. Not one person who I told of my current part-timing express less than surprise. I have always found it difficult to feel affection for children in general. I love my younger sisters and cousins, but not other people's. Treat them as your own, said my mother. Yeah right.

Over the hours I spent at the Claydens, though, I have begun to feel attached to them, because they taught me of so many things that I have neglected to pick up on during my childhood. And they remind me, that children, more than anything, need to be understood.

Meet Oliver (3) and Piet (4-going-on-5) Clayden.

"Can I tell you something really serious?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"I like pink, but I'm a boy!"

"Smile, Oliver!"
"Geessshhhh"

Makes me miss Lahad Datu even more - how I have always neglected trying to understand the younger ones at home.