ruminationsofyasmin.com

Welcome to my new blog

My name is Yasmin. I’ve just started this blog so please bear with me while I try to figure it out. Even though I’m a grown adult who has been around tech nearly my whole adult life, I still suck at it ! Sorry. I don’t even care. As long as this blog basically works I’ll be happy.

So why have I started this blog ? Good question. Well I’ve been reading this book by Denise Duffield Thomas called Chillpreneur (I know I know – more on why I’m reading that later) and her advice is to just start whatever it is you want to do NOW. It doesn’t have to be perfect and we don’t have to be perfect. And you know what ? Something just clicked with me. My whole life I’ve been making excuses about why Im not ready to do something and I need more work and blah blah blah, until I finally procrastinate myself right out of anything. So this blog is not perfect and I’m not perfect. I don’t know everything. I probably don’t know anything but I figure why not put what little I do know out there and maybe someone will like it and appreciate it. And then the universe can do its marvellous thing of just knowing what to do next. Universe ? Are you there ? Are you listening ? I’ve put myself out there so now please work your magic.

Anyway, now on to me…. so I live in London. And right now like almost everyone everywhere, I am in this creepy lockdown because of coronavirus. I mean it’s totally unprecedented and surreal. It’s scary as hell because nobody knows how this will all turn out and nobody really knows anything about this disease. We are all legitimately as screwed and as clueless as each other. I have two young kids who will be home with me for the foreseeable future and who are ENTIRELY reliant on me for their meals, health, happiness, entertainment, well being and probably most scary of all – their academic progress. That’s a lot of responsibility. I’m not a teacher and I don’t have the patience to deal with long division and phonics. On top of that I also have a day job and I’m a struggling entrepreneur (see Chillpreneur is starting to make sense now right ?). Luckily I’m not in this alone. My husband is struggling right next to me. So we bear the responsibility together.

While we are on lockdown I’ve been cooking 3 meals a day ! So much. I know we all have been and it’s exhausting. No more popping out to pret for lunch or ordering Deliveroo for dinner because nothing is open anymore ! If I could live on Dominos for the rest of my life I would but I’m not sure how happy that would make my husband 🤔. I am inherently lazy (see Chillpreneur is making loads of sense now) and so cooking all day every day and cleaning my house all the time, getting my actual work done, exercising (so I don’t become the size of a house) and schooling my kids is too much for me. But I don’t have a choice. None of us do. So may as well make the best of it. So on this blog I’m going to focus mostly on cooking. Maybe I’ll talk about exercise and schooling my kids. Maybe I’ll even share my wisdom ! that will be a really short post – don’t worry !! If you like what you read subscribe and reach out to me. We will get through this together. Stay safe. Y xx

Hooked on Phonics

Did you think you were going to hear from me so soon after my first ever post ? That Denise Duffield Thomas has really lit a fire under me and now I can’t stop thinking and writing.

I’ve been whatsapping with a few mum friends of mine about homeschooling and having our kids home with us all day everyday. It’s brutal. I mean we all love our kids. Of that there can be no doubt. And we want what’s best for them. But are we what’s best for them? I don’t know about that. Kids are meant to be at school with their friends and peers and learning from trained professionals. There is this viral video I saw a few weeks ago when lockdown just started. I don’t think I ever laughed so hard in my life. In the video, this mother talks about how her kids’ school are hounding her all day everyday and are expecting her to teach her kids about improper fractions. She then goes on to say that kids will finally understand how stupid their parents are. It had me in stitches. Because it’s true. I’m trying to teach my daughter how to read. And I know how to read. It’s not like I’m illiterate but trying to explain it to her makes me realise just how limited my understanding of the English language is. Why does the sound “ow” sometimes sound like cow and sometimes like snow. No joke. I didn’t know the reason. I had to ask my 7 year old son to explain it to her. I would like to point out that I am highly educated. I have two degrees and a professional qualification and I didn’t know basic phonics.

I dread when my 7 year old starts his curriculum and then all hell will break loose. Who am I going to ask then ? This makes me think – we are going to raise a generation of idiots. Not because they are Idiots but because we are. What a scary thought. I don’t want schools to reopen until it is absolutely safe to do so but good grief don’t make my kids reliant on me to teach them. I can’t think about the tears and the shouting and the mockery. By the way- the tears will be from me. The shouting and mockery will be from my kids when they realise Mama is an idiot. Maybe my husband will join in too. I feel sorry for everyone in my household. But I mostly feel sorry for me because my kids don’t listen to me. They love me. Of that much I’m sure. They even love me more than anything else in the world. Again I’m sure of this. But listen to me ? Value what I say ? That’s a joke. Those kids would rather listen to Captain Barnacles than listen to me. Which makes me conclude that children are only intended to love their parents for four hours a day – 7-8am, 4-7pm. Anything outside of those hours is a free for all and a means by which to torture parents and their children. Which is reason number 8,000,907 why lockdown sucks. FACT. Bye for now.

Oh one more thing. If you like what you read, please subscribe. Then I won’t have to hound you every time I write a post.