A Spoonful of Sugar
Timeless wisdom for modern mothers.It all began with a conversation with my grandmother…When Liz Fraser spent a month with her grandmother, she was at her wits' end as a parent, fed up with crop-tops, pester power and the pressure to consume. So she asked her grandmother - what works? What helps make a good childhood?The answers were surprisingly simple - and stunningly effective.From early bedtime to giving your child room to play, the old-fashioned common sense of her grandmother's generation changed Liz's family life for good.Liz reveals the traditional rules that allow you to give your children back their childhood, while adding her own experience as a modern mum, aware we have to work with the world we live in now. The result is a book that reminds us how precious and short childhood is, and delivers practical solutions that every parent can employ.Comforting, friendly and reassuringly traditional, this is all everyone needs for a happier, simpler family life.
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A Spoonful of Sugar
Old-fashioned wisdom for modern-day mothers
LIZ FRASER
For Granny, with love.
CONTENTS
Author’s Note
Introduction
Meet Granny … and what you’re in for
Chapter One: CHILDHOOD
The very basics
Chapter Two: HOME SWEET HOME
Chapter Three: EAT YOUR GREENS
We really are what we eat
Spilling the beans – was it really all home made back then?
Chapter Four: PLEASE MAY I GET DOWN?
Animals feed, humans dine. Which are you?
The evening meal – nervous breakdown anyone?
And you’re not getting down till you’re finished
And for desert: a serving of realism
Chapter Five: BECAUSE I SAY SO
The importance of discipline: at home
Crime and punishment. What to do when they cross the line
It stands to reason … or does it?
Chapter Six: RESPECTFULLY YOURS
Thinking of others: spending time with the Real People
The drinking culture, family and behaviour
How to bring back a little respect
Chapter Seven: DRESSING UP
You’re not going out dressed like that!
Sexy baby. Ummm, isn’t that exactly the problem …?
Mummy, I want to look just like everyone else
Chapter Eight: SCHOOL TIME
Oh, litigation’s what you (don’t) need
Solution 1:throwing out the rule book
Chapter Nine: ’TIS WISE TO BE THRIFTY
The curse of consumerism, and how to escape it
‘The price of everything – and the value of nothing’
Chapter Ten: … AND DON’T COME BACK TILL TEATIME
A train ride
A new kind of risk: the internet
Abductions and sexual assaults: the facts
Chapter Eleven: OH I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE …
Family holidays
Searching for that missing ‘something’
Everything but the kitchen sink
But there’s a whole world out there!
Holiday clubs – love ’em or hate ’em?
Chapter Twelve: MOVING WITH THE TIMES
The ups and downs of the modern world
Conclusion
Final Note
Acknowledgements
Permissions
About The Author
By The Same Author
About the Publisher
Liz Fraser, aged three
This book won’t make you or your children perfect. It won’t solve all the problems of parenting; it won’t stop kids writing ‘Suzy has big nokkers’ on bus stops or flicking snot into the freezer compartments in Tesco’s. It won’t answer all of your parenting prayers or make your husband’s tongue more agile. Sorry, but it really won’t.
What it will do is offer a whole host of practical, simple, common-sense solutions to many of the dilemmas faced by all those of us who, despite trying really jolly hard indeed to raise decent citizens of this world, feel we might just be making a dog’s dinner out of it.
Those of us who feel hemmed in by public opinion, government legislation, rules and regulations, by the pace and stress of modern life, technology and consumerism. Those who have had enough of the Negotiation Generation, of the early sexualisation of our daughters, the cotton-wool parenting of our sons, the loss of respect and manners, of not feeling that we can parent our own kids: who feel something precious has been lost and who are equally worried and saddened by what is happening to the people we love the most. In short, those of us who want our children to be allowed to be children again.
What I hope is that this book can make the experience of childhood better for thousands of children growing up in this country today, while making the job of parenting them a good deal easier and more enjoyable for you.
Sometimes you need to look back in order to go forward. Talking to my grandmother – and thereby to a whole generation of parents gone by – has been the most eye-opening and helpful experience I’ve ever had where child-rearing is concerned. I just hope we can pass some of our combined experience and knowledge on to you, too.
Take your pick and see what works for you. Children are only young once and they are our future – so listen to those who have done it before, and then give it your best shot!
Liz and her Granny, 2008
