The Battlefront of Book Week When Your Kid Doesn't Have a Costume

It’s early morning, and I am yearning to write.

The first rays of sunlight try to peek their way through, making the shadows seem longer and deeper, adding to the quiet.

Somehow, I’ve managed to boil the kettle without waking the kids.

The snooze button was pushed many times (an upgrade from simply turning it off and returning to the comfort of sleep, I guess)

I creep around. I wanted to turn on the light to kick my brain into gear but hesitated to possibly gain a bit of an extra minute before someone climbed on my desk.

Barely before I could decide, a bare bum arrives, accompanied by a ‘Mum….I had a wee in my bed.’

Sigh.

There goes that.

‘Come on, buddy’, I say, surprising even myself at my level of calm right now.

Shit. Book week.

That crept up quick.

I feel like we only just did it a year ago.

Apparently, it was established in 1919! In an ideal world where mothers are WAY more prepared than this one, it is meant to bring stories to life and ignite an interest in reading.

In my mind, my kids are already pretty interested in reading already.

In my mind, I also want to fiercely protect them from the rigmarole of the competitive mums who sew elaborate costumes for hours on end.

It’s like I’ve taken a silent vow.

Luckily, the kids seem to have inherited my lack of enthusiasm and are pretty carefree about the whole day. Is that luck? Or am I doing them a disservice somehow?

Luckily, I also have a quick thinker who suggests they go as….wait for it….themselves. You see, a little while ago now, a book was created—a book from a podcast—a book that included four letters specifically written to the four ‘don’t care about book week’ children.

A chapter titled 'Chapter Indescribable’ with the clan of Kids birthed from this Mama.

Genius.

How many other kids could claim they have had a chapter written about them in a book?!?

So, off down the road they rode on their bikes. With a bucket in the backpack (cause there’s a baby pic on the cover with a bucket on his head….I figured I would make some effort in all of this)

I wonder how many years I can pull this one off?

And, I didn’t even get a photo.