HOLA amigos!

Yes, I have returned in one piece – just – from what turned out to be a fantastic, but exhausting, family holiday.

Right from the moment that we got off the bus at the hotel and were greeted by my waiting parents (they’d flown separately from Northern Ireland), it was terrific to immerse myself in their company. It fully reminded me both why I love them so much and how quickly they can drive a person up the wall. That’s family for you.

As we have a three year-old, we were more knackered than usual throughout the duration as her timetable went out the window. She was up with the lark each day and didn’t go to sleep until many hours past her bedtime, resulting in a terribly grumpy mini tyrant on certain afternoons.

So keen not to miss a moment was she that she didn’t collapse on a sun lounger for a snooze until the second last day.

The stresses and strains of daily life may have been left behind but they were replaced by concerns of a different nature, primarily concerning the behaviour of other people’s children.

I am constantly tormented about what I am doing with my daughter, if I am too strict, if I over-correct her behaviour or if I am too protective. Due to her young age, we never let her swim in the pool, regardless of depth, unattended. And when I say we were there, I mean we were right beside her, not lying observing from a sunbed some distance away.

For quite a lot of the holiday, however, I stewed over what I am teaching her because it seems that manners aren’t being instilled in a number of contemporary children. 

In a tree house area of the pool, our daughter was pushed over, barred from entry and had an expletive shouted in her face. In none of these instances did the parents of the offending child show their face to rebuke their party or get involved in any way.

In the expletive instance, a young boy of approximately four was shouting ‘eff off’ to every young child who dared to walk up the ramp and attempt to play.

I am not a person who is ever backwards in coming forwards, so believe me, I intervened. It’s the teacher (and the Celt) in me, but I really don’t think in cases like this that other adults present should say nothing.

If a parent had appeared and was offended at my addressing their child, I’d happily have debated the situation with them. 

It’s so hard to navigate the behavioural path when some children are corrected and others are clearly free to operate like feral animals.