A piercing scream rent the air, a blood curdling cry that penetrated Jennifer’s brain and shattered what was left of her nerves. Instinctively she covered her ears and prayed for silence. For a moment there was blissful silence as the victim drew breath.
‘But I wanted to open my banana myself’ cried the little boy.
For the umpteenth time that day Julia wondered why on earth her brother Gerald thought she would enjoy looking after her great nephews for a few hours. What had possessed her to agree?
With her nerves already torn to shreds she had absent mindedly started to unpeel the fifth and last banana of the bunch. The two boys had constantly pleaded hunger since lunch and had not believed she had no Monster Munch or Peppa Pig yoghurts in her house.
One more hour to go, how to distract them…
Across the floor were strewn the toys they had brought from home, quickly abandoned after fierce arguments as to who owned which Lego figures. Drawing had resulted in a nasty stabbing, obviously a mistake to sharpen the pencils. The cat had been a distraction for a few seconds until it fled to hide under her bed.
There was always the last resort, television, totally against her principles turning them into zombies staring at a screen, but needs must. However, when she looked in the Radio Times she could find no young children’s programmes, what was the matter with the BBC, what happened to Blue Peter?
The doorbell rang at last.
‘Is that Grandad?’
Julia looked at her watch, a few minutes early, supposing it wasn’t Gerald, but the window cleaner coming for his money or her new curtains being delivered…
If it was not Gerald she was going to scream…
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
My worst nightmare . . . :O
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Yes indeed Liz, for many of us!
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For fiction, I could so relate to taking care of my grandchildren. A whole day of being the responsible adult is just more than I enjoy. And yet I still say “yes” when asked…
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Yes Lorna, a day is definitely longer with children, especially if every distraction only lasts three minutes.
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Fun post, Janet. I hear you (including the screaming) 🙂
PS – Captain Pedantic noticed ‘principals’ vs ‘principles’
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Well spotted Doug and duly edited; one of those words that likes to catch us out. Captain Pedantic does give me an idea for a story, unless it’s already been done.
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Go for it 🙂
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Watching over challenging kids is not for the faint of heart—a form of birth control.
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Too true Pete, in fact someone I know was talking about getting a vasectomy after looking after his nephews!
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🤣
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They don’t call them ‘little monsters’ without good reason. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Quite right Pete, we should get back to describing children realistically!
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