Meet The Parents

I have a bit of a split personality. I'm an extrovert, like to have fun, and do stuff. Did someone say part-ay? And yes, I like to rave. But when it comes to my kid, we may have fun, but I am S-T-R-I-C-T. I takes it back to the old school for my parenting style. I call it Home Training. It's "yes, mum", not "yeah". Please and thank you at all times. No, I ain't your friend, I am your Mum. If rules are not followed there are sanctions. I don't need to beat my kid, because when I start shouting she runs for cover. There is room for discussion, but I have the final say. If you get in trouble and it's serious, I tell Dad, and the whole family so when they see you, you get in trouble from them too, even if it is weeks later!
Me and Father Of Clarke are on the same page where discipline is concerned. Our main tactic is Denial of Privileges. No TV, no Playstation, no treats, early bedtimes.
But as y'all know Home Training has largely gone out the window when it comes to 'our' kids. The only thing they fear is that they may not get the hot trainers on road.
When you meet other kids parents, it's easy to understand why their kids don't have any manners. Like the mother of a girl Clarke's travelling to school with. She wasn't able to take her daughter to school on the first day so I said the child could come with us. We planned to leave at 7.30am as we wanted to be early. Clarke and I always aim not to be the Late Black People (LBP)- you've seen them, they're the people that walk in the cinema laden down with popcorn and food, half an hour after the film has started.
This woman, who I have never met before said to ME, who was doing HER, a favour, that it was "too early"! That immediately made me dislike her. How you gonna tell someone who's doing you a favour, that it's too early?!? Anyway we met at eight and got there as everyone was sat down in assembly, and just missed being shut out which was the fate of the LBPs that came after us.
The next day, the child came at 8.10am, even though I saw her Mum at the station before eight buying the child's travelcard. No meaning. So Clarke was late for school on her second day. So I called her and said, we had to meet at 7.45am.
UP 'TIL NOW (phrase borrowed from my Mum) the woman has not had the decency to call me and say "t'anks dawg" for taking her child to school! How do people expect their children to have manners, if they don't have any.
Every day since last week Clarke has been complaining about the child. She's loud, she stopped in the sweet shop on the way to school and made them miss the bus, she wanted to get off the bus a stop early before they had reached school, she plays her loud ringtone on the train, she laughs out loud and there's no joke. Clarke is now planning to duck the girl by getting an earlier train.
I know she's young, and Clarke is quite mature for her age, but they are travelling quite a distance. I don't want Clarke to get caught up in foolishness because of someone else's bad breed pickney all the way in Putney where she don't know no one, or none of my friend's are likely to see her.
I went to school on my doorstep, where I was surrounded by 'h'informers'. My mum's friends didn't hesitate to tell on us if they saw us doing something they thought wasn't right. Even if they were wrong. Like the time I was in the park with one of my girlfriends. She was with a boy she wasn't supposed to be with ( a bit bad breed, but you know he was fine), and I was playing tennis (fo' real) with his friend. It was the afternoon, and not late. Her mum comes stomping into the tennis court, and guess who gets beats right in front of us all, all the way home. Because her mum was mad at her for being with the bad breed boy (and I've never forgiven her for this) she then run and told my mum that I was there and I was put under curfew for the WHOLE SUMMER. I had to be in at 8pm. And when you lived on an estate that was EAR-LY, cos you could hear everyone outside playing run-outs. VEX!
But it ain't like that no more. So 'our' kids NEED to be mature, and need to pick their friends wisely. I think Clarke's on her way to learning that lesson. Week two of school and at playtime she's already trying to duck the girl.