Chatter,Natter,Talking.

It's been half term here and I have spent lots of time at home with the boys,the weather at the start of the week was drizzly and murky so we stayed in quite a bit.

During this week I have been happy to watch the boys mixing with their grandparents and enjoying their company.

It's not always that you get teens that want to be with older members of the family and I really appreciate the fact that my boys do.

One afternoon my dad bought his sister and her husband around to see us.They haven't seen the boys since they were very young so everybody was quite excited to see them.

And I was so proud of these boys,they spoke and mixed so well with my auntie and uncle and I did take on board how lucky I was as I watched them because it's not every teen that would give up a afternoon to sit and talk with their older relatives and it was the way they did it too,so effortlessly,you could tell they wanted to do it and weren't being forced to do it,if you know what I mean!

When my auntie left she came to me with a smile and said

"You have a lovely home and a lovely family"

And again,I could tell that she meant it,her eyes smiled as she spoke and I just knew what she was trying to tell me.

Since then I have heard T (19yrs) discussing music and groups with my dad and playing what's the capital of ... where my dad chooses as random country as he can and T has to give him the capital city of the said place and I've heard Sharky discussing the civil rights movement with my mum,the depth that conversation went to was unbelievable and as I flew around getting Chipmunk some tea and packing his swimming bag I could hear snippets of this conversation and I was smiling to myself because I heard such a lively and healthy conversation,both sides speaking,both sides listening to each others information and at one part my mum was trying to think of a name and Sharky got it and I thought woah boy you have nailed this!!!Only been doing A level history for 7 weeks but something has certainly sunk in!

After that conversation my mum came to me and said

"I really enjoyed talking with Sharky today"

And yet again I saw her eyes sparkling and smiling,she really meant it.

I think I have something here more precious than any scrap of paper telling me a GCSE result or any academic result really.

I have children that want to be involved with our family,that like talking to us and feel comfortable in doing so.And at their ages this is a really good thing.

I see it quite clearly,Iam aware of what I have got,I lovewhat I have got and I will do anything to protect and nurture this special relationship that is present in this house.

It's easy when children are young to have these kinds of talks and moments but when your teens are doing it you know something has gone very right and it makes me smile because this is what I wanted all along.Long may it stay.