Happy Monday! Today’s the day I take my son (seven years old) ice-skating.

I always say to him, “I remember when you were a baby, you couldn’t even crawl! We used to have to carry you everywhere. Then you learned to crawl, then you could walk and run, and now look at you. You can skate!”

He’s probably sick of hearing it, but I’m taking the opportunity to sneakily reinforce the idea that no-one taught him a lot of crucial stuff. He can’t remember being between the ages of 0-3, being helpless and then helping himself.

We did our first stint on the ice at Christmas. He was wobbly at first, there was a fair bit of falling over, but after about three sessions, he stopped holding on to me, another three sessions after that, he’s like a pro!

He only asked me once, at the beginning, how to skate. I said, “Just try and stay on your feet and go, there’s no secret.”

Don’t get me wrong, he might benefit from some lessons, but I like that he’s gotten himself to the point where he’s having fun with it.

This week, I’ll be writing and singing for my supper. A lot of people taught me a lot of different things (thanks!), but no-one quite taught me how to do this kind of work I’m doing now.

It was (and will probably continue to be) a fair bit of falling over.

(A bit like being a parent!)