The Battle for the Front
Throughout history, War is littered with examples of the Battle for the Front. Our forefathers often had huge casualties for the gaining of small patches of turf, merely a few yards or metres. This war continues today, and the battle that gets played out each day in our household continues to be a battle for the front, the front seat of the car.
If I take the elder boys out driving anywhere where it is just the three of us, Ethan normally gets to sit in the front on the “way there”, and Aidan gets to sit in the front on the “way back”. This works fine for single destination journeys, but add a third destination and war breaks out. The bickering between the two is incredible, and there never seems to be any happy medium. I am at the point where I don’t believe either should get the front position, and I’ll force both of them to sit in the back. That too has its own punishments, as if they do sit together they niggle and pinch and poke and prod each other to the point of distraction for me, the driver.
This culminated tonight when we went to get fish and chips for dinner. Our first failed attempt was at a shop which claimed to have Fish and Chips, but really had no variants, and the mangy piece of fish sitting in their display window turned me off pretty quick. I went back to a fresh fish place I’d seen in Broadbeach mall, where I knew it was fresh and there was some variety – but I also knew we’d have to wait. This also meant that we had the notorious “third destination” and the conversation when we got to the car went something like this:
Ethan: “So I’m sitting in the front.”
Aidan: “No. Me.”
Ethan: “But you had your turn, its my turn again.”
Aidan: “My turn in the front.”
Ethan: “No. Aidy.”
Aidan: “Yes. Aidan.”
You get the picture, with me of course yelling at both of them, much to the amusement of a group of surfers sitting on their balcony sucking back stubbies.
The weird thing was I ended up getting complemented on my parenting skills at the fish and chip shop. We knew we had at least a half hour wait, so we went off after ordering and played in the park for about 20 minutes. On our return, a nice gent in a beautiful safari suit happened to be waiting. Aidan started up a conversation with him, and after I first got over what he was wearing, which seems to be standard attire for oldies on the Gold Coast, he was a very pleasant man. I was more interested in how he was there to “sell horses” – knowing that the Gold Coast Magic Millions had just been on, but he was more interested in speaking with Aidan, and telling me how he was a retired school teacher. After about five minutes he leant over and said how proud of me he was, and how he wished there were more parents out there like me, looking after two wonderful boys. I told him that if he had seen me about half an hour prior to that he probably would have had me arrested!
Ciao for Now, Angry Dad.
If I take the elder boys out driving anywhere where it is just the three of us, Ethan normally gets to sit in the front on the “way there”, and Aidan gets to sit in the front on the “way back”. This works fine for single destination journeys, but add a third destination and war breaks out. The bickering between the two is incredible, and there never seems to be any happy medium. I am at the point where I don’t believe either should get the front position, and I’ll force both of them to sit in the back. That too has its own punishments, as if they do sit together they niggle and pinch and poke and prod each other to the point of distraction for me, the driver.
This culminated tonight when we went to get fish and chips for dinner. Our first failed attempt was at a shop which claimed to have Fish and Chips, but really had no variants, and the mangy piece of fish sitting in their display window turned me off pretty quick. I went back to a fresh fish place I’d seen in Broadbeach mall, where I knew it was fresh and there was some variety – but I also knew we’d have to wait. This also meant that we had the notorious “third destination” and the conversation when we got to the car went something like this:
Ethan: “So I’m sitting in the front.”
Aidan: “No. Me.”
Ethan: “But you had your turn, its my turn again.”
Aidan: “My turn in the front.”
Ethan: “No. Aidy.”
Aidan: “Yes. Aidan.”
You get the picture, with me of course yelling at both of them, much to the amusement of a group of surfers sitting on their balcony sucking back stubbies.
The weird thing was I ended up getting complemented on my parenting skills at the fish and chip shop. We knew we had at least a half hour wait, so we went off after ordering and played in the park for about 20 minutes. On our return, a nice gent in a beautiful safari suit happened to be waiting. Aidan started up a conversation with him, and after I first got over what he was wearing, which seems to be standard attire for oldies on the Gold Coast, he was a very pleasant man. I was more interested in how he was there to “sell horses” – knowing that the Gold Coast Magic Millions had just been on, but he was more interested in speaking with Aidan, and telling me how he was a retired school teacher. After about five minutes he leant over and said how proud of me he was, and how he wished there were more parents out there like me, looking after two wonderful boys. I told him that if he had seen me about half an hour prior to that he probably would have had me arrested!
Ciao for Now, Angry Dad.
posted by Wes at 9:44 pm
3 Comments:
Nice entry AD06.
No real interesting things to add tonight (not that I write anything interesting anyway), except that JJJ Hottest 100 closes this Friday. I voted for:
Landed - Ben Folds
Little Sister - Queens Of The Stone Age
Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand
Why Do You Love Me - Garbage
Every Planet We Reach Is Dead - Gorillaz
Na Na Na Na Naa - Kaiser Chiefs
Take Take Take - White Stripes
The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails
The Widow - Mars Volta
Gabrielle - Ween
No songs about Poop Holes though.
I'm curious as to why that rather than explain your life through posts on this blog, you don't just start your own and post a link!
But AD06, then I wouldn't get all the poetic lube that has the potential to attract so many more readers.
I guess I'd better pull it out, and write some silky words of my own .... so now there is my National Enquirer blog. "Why National Enquirer" I hear you myelin sheaths bend and fold and strain to try and understand. Yes, I've been Lords, and this will be the last post as this poor person, but as you can see, this character fails to represent me. Of course the other reason is because that name is taken so I've got to choose another one.
Half a fricken' hour I was trying out various blognames with no success. So I started down the thread of one of my pet peeves - the media and so came up with the unoriginal name 'National Enquirer'.
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