Childhood - Blog Hop

Despite also struggling with anything on the social media front I am willing to give this one a go for a good cause (see http://sonnyandluca.co.uk/)

I was lucky enough to have a fantastic childhood & since my siblings are the ones also blogging on this I thought it worth mentioning a few of the tales that made it so special...


Was it that both of them convinced me that there existed a certain 'Mr Winkle'. A little friendly man (not unlike a borrower I suppose) who lived under the radiator for about 4 years of my life up until the age of about 5 (yes I was quite naive as a child).


Or that my big sister and her husband ('to be' at that point) let me walk about with a condom blown up telling me it was a balloon on holiday (until Mum firmly told me take it back to them, only years later did I get why, wrong on so many levels).


Or that my brother (probably after years of learning from the master) used to give me a 5 second head start up the stairs before running after me with a rolled up tea towel as a weapon. Even now if G Kisby runs up the stairs behind me I instinctively turn round and stop.

Being the youngest meant that I was teased and ridiculed but all that aside I wouldn't swap my family and my childhood for the world. I sadly have only a few memories of my Dad since he died when I was little but Mum did an amazing job of bringing me up on her own and, I hope, passing on to me lots of what was important to our Dad. 


I am often reflective nowadays about what makes a good childhood and how we can ensure Mabel is safe, happy and secure. And who am I kidding, advanced for her age! 


Whilst in France the book I was reading described a parent trying to keep her child safe during war time. I read it too late one night & then couldn't sleep thinking of how on earth you would manage in such a situation. 


And I am lucky enough just to have a sleepless night. I am definitely more troubled and upset by the thought of any kind of child poverty since becoming a Mum. It is another thing which brings everything else into context.


The purpose of the blog hop is to highlight the gulf in differences between our own childhoods and those of youngsters around the world who don’t even know the meaning of the word childhood, let alone share in any of the joys each one should include as a guaranteed minimum entitlement. Surely a cause worth supporting...
As part of the campaign, every £1 donated will be matched by DFID so there really is no better time to donate than today, and it’s dead easy, just follow this link … Word Vision – Single Gifts


Hope I have done this last blog hop bit right...