Parenthood – the biggest game of life - Guest Blog - Lisa Blackler.

Having a baby will be easy, right?  Every girl played dollies as a child.  What fun to dress it up, push the pram and sing it a lullaby.  Once it’s asleep you can go off and play with your other toys, right?

Well that fantasy is shattered within hours of the birth!

But is parenthood a game?

Perhaps it is the most serious game you will ever play.  It has things in common with many familiar games:

·         Looking after a tiny baby can be like playing 20 questions – why are you crying?  Does your nappy need changing?  Are you hungry?  Are you too cold?  Are you too hot?  Are you in pain?

·         With a toddler you move on to a game of charades as you have to guess what the heck they are trying to tell you without the use of fully functional human language.

·         Ages 4 -7 are one long game of Top Trumps – a repeating cycle of threatening punishment and having to follow through when the threat is not believed...and then needing a bigger threat to top it with next time...

·         Pre-puberty is Guess Who time.  “Mum, guess who has a new computer console/baby brother/pet iguana?”

·         The teen years are a combination of the strategic elements of chess,  the deductive skills of Cluedo and the delicate skills of Kerplunk.

The only problem with it all is that nobody ever explains the rules to you at the start.  Not that it would makes a difference anyway, because your child will change the rules all the time anyway.

Lisa Blackler, Mum of 2 girls, owner of www.honestymarketing.co.uk  Twitter.com/LisaBlacklerL

Travelling down a road...but which road?

Life is full of dangerous roads....I'm amazed at just how easy it is to walk down one without glancing back. How often have you done this without realising until its too late and you can no longer see where you started?

Some time ago things were almost simpler for people, at every level!

Not only did you know where you stood socially, financially, but educationally, religiously and in fact within almost every part of life, there were clear frameworks within which you were placed. Even if you did your best to work your way "up and out" of which ever one you were currently standing in.

It doesn't take a genius to realise that this is no longer the case in the 21st century. What with a university education available for those who wish it, inter-racial marriages no loner illegal (in the UK any way), credit of all sorts often thrown at us from every side, and religion being sidelined more & more every year.

But my question to you is this...

Where does that leave someone looking for just a little guidance with their place in life? Which directions are the "signposts" facing?

What parameters can they now use to place themselves in their particular "human role"?  ... Or is there such a thing any more?

Have we begun to walk down the very dangerous road of losing the ability to identify ourselves from each other in an attempt to break free from stereotyping? Or have we set ourselves apart, truly started the levelling of the classes?
I'm not so sure.
To me it feels a little like running away from who we are. Maybe even hiding from reality...
Do we really want to talk this path, as once you start walking down it, it's very difficult to turn back.
The signposts are all pointing in the wrong direction...