Every sensible man knows...

Every man knows the marital rules when he commits to the woman he loves for the rest of his life. Know who is in charge. Know who is the primary decision maker. Know when not to argue. Know when to bow to your wife's expertise, counsel and always give her the impression she is in control! I am only joking, and do not share any of the sexist views above, but I had to share this picture that Amy sent me in a text message, which simply implies I need to see marital approval for anything moving forwards. My argumentative nature seriously resists this in how I have relationships with my wife and my daughters. In truth I never really do learn from my mistakes and often argue way too much. Slightly worried the kids will cotton on and send me their own stamp of approval to give me before I can proceed with anything. This is potentially the problem with being outnumbered by the fairer sex in my house.  I was thinking about getting my own stamp to send to Amy and the girls when financial requests come in, although that could be taking it one step too far? Still thinking about it though!

Growing up so fast!

The pace of change in the lives of my girls continues at such a rate that I hardly have time to catch my breath and think it through. None more so than Lucy. Everything if changing so fast. Her level of independence, her insight into the world and she is bounding confidently into new situations every day at school and home. What I have been really impressed with is her discipline has been maintained in a new environment with more distractions and things going on. She does her home work without us pushing her to a high standard, she is walking herself to school in the mornings without drama (almost - apart from the odd phone call when I am in Leicester for example asking me where she has put her gum shield for hockey. I am a parental god and I managed to know where it was hundreds of miles away!) and managing her time and workload really well. I am really impressed with her and her attitude in how she is handling and embracing a massive new experience and change in her life. Of course, the down side is a significant increase in pre-teen strops, emotional reactions whenever I open my mouth or give her an instruction, but you can't win them all!

Dealing with the youtube generation...

Now I like my peace and quiet and the evenings often pose the only opportunity to wind down and get some grown up thinking time in after a mad day of work and family tasks. With the girl's bedtime getting later and later, this window seems to be getting smaller and smaller. However, strange things have been happening in the Hammond house this week and it is like I am not party to a big secret (by the expression on their faces, you know I am right, they are up to something or so I thought...) All the Hammond women are disappearing earlier and earlier upstairs, leaving me to contemplate my thoughts with relative ease. Something is not quite right. The truth behind this mass exodus and leaving me in charge of the remote controller without any resistance is internet and mobile phone related. There have all disappeared to play on their phones and gadgets is what it is. Antisocial lot! It is really great to see them go off and find their own space, but I am not sure how I feel about this new development as yet. Lucy has been moving into the 'going into her room' space for a few months, but Anna is normally downstairs trying to negotiate more time with us and this has not been the case for a few days. I am away tonight and having had an accident and banged my head this evening and wanting to rest, I could not stop her calling me. Still it was good to talk to her. Confusing times to be a dad!