Beyond Excited...by Sheila Claydon

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Anyone who reads my books will know that children feature in a great many of them. Not as main characters but as a strong supporting cast, adding depth and normality to a sometimes taut situation. Mostly they add humour too. In Double Fault, however, the two year old twins are the story. Without them their parents wouldn't be struggling to come to terms with the past or to walk the tightrope that is their future. 

My 3 granddaughters, now aged between 8 and 21, have always provided inspiration as I have watched their antics, listened to them and played with them. And this brings me to the fact that I am beyond excited! 

My two eldest granddaughters live close by so the lockdowns of Covid19 didn't affect us too much, especially as one of them has a horse that has to be tended every day. This meant we could meet up outdoors and chat as we filled hay nets, mixed feed or hacked a short distance into the country to keep the horse's muscles supple. My youngest granddaughter lives in Hong Kong, however, so Covid has been a real problem, especially as previously we spent so much time with her both in the UK, Hong Kong and in Australia (where she was born) The only positive was that Covid quarantine, which was dreadful and prolonged in Hong Kong, meant her parents gave her a very early induction into managing Skype by herself, so we have been able to maintain a bi-weekly Internet relationship for nearly 3 years, reading stories online, drawing, playing games. Now, however, she is coming to the UK and the thought of actually seeing her and hugging her is wonderful.

She and her Dad will be with us for 3 months, including Christmas. Her whole UK family can hardly wait and nor can she. On Skype she beams from ear to ear as she counts down the days. Her Mum won't be joining us because of a job change and yet another country change, to Singapore this time, whereas our son works online so can transfer to the UK without too much of a problem! She is, however, a fab daughter-in-law, who thinks Astrid will benefit far more from being with her extended family than being caught up in the chaos of the move, and we agree. What a change it will make to our daily routine though.

No more leisurely starts to the day over coffee and the daily news because she has a full online school schedule from 9 a.m. No more increasingly flexible mealtimes as she apparently has the appetite of a horse! No more quiet evenings because her bedtime is later than it used to be. No more shared crosswords or reading a book as we eat our lunch because table manners must be honoured! 

There's the house too. My older granddaughters saved their toys for their small cousin's visits, so now my daughter's loft is empty and my spare bedroom is full. Lego of every shape and size, Cindy dolls, Barbie dolls, baby dolls, a walking/talking doll plus piles of clothes for all of them, boxes of games, jigsaws, a doll house, Smurfs, the list goes on and on, and I have to find storage room for all of it. Then there are the two shelves of children's books, the baskets of drawing paper, pens, paints, pencils, craft materials, glue, scissors. The hope is, of course, that with so much to do she will be very happily busy for most of the day. And when she isn't, well there is the horse to visit, tennis, baking, music, a walk to the beach, looking for squirrels in the pine woods....

And of course we need to introduce her to some local children too. There are twin girls who live nearby, and friends' grandchildren, and the junior section of the local tennis club. It will all be fine I tell myself as I wonder if my energy levels will hold up. They probably will and her Dad will take up the slack when he's not working...and when she leaves I might even have an idea for another book...one with a child in it!

In my Mapleby Memories trilogy Remembering Rose (Book 1) was inspired by a 6 month stint in Australia looking after Astrid. Loving Ellen (Book 2) is a follow on. 

How to be 4 years old in a modern world

http://bwlpublishing.ca/authors/claydon-sheila-romance/

If you have read my books you will know that they often include children. Sometimes the hero and heroine are their parents, sometimes not; sometimes they are integral to the storyline, sometimes not; but whatever their role, writing about them is a joy. While I frequently have to wrestle with the main characters, children are more straightforward. Portraying their emotions is easy. It doesn't matter whether they are happy or sad, excited or curious, angry or frightened, their language is always simple and direct.  They are not introspective. They live in the present and rarely worry about what other people think.

I was thinking about this the other day as I worked on the as yet unnamed sequel to Remembering Rose, because the same children will feature in that, and while I was thinking my phone rang. It was my almost four year old granddaughter calling from Hong Kong. Why was she calling? Because she wanted a bedtime story! So I dutifully exchanged my phone for my tablet and complied, not once but twice. I read a Charlie and Lola story, and Superworm. The previous week we read Stick Man. Then we said goodnight and I returned to my writing. It was only later that I registered how very different her childhood is to mine and to that of her parents and even her older cousins.

At almost four years old she is multiracial (Chinese/English/Irish), multicultural (she has already lived in 3 countries and been totally immersed in their cultures (England, Australia and Hong Kong). She has visited mainland China, Wales in England, Paris in France and Dubai. She is also multilingual (English, Mandarin and Cantonese) and will soon attend an International School where she will also learn French. She has attended 4 different nursery schools, all of which had a rainbow mix of children  from across the globe, and the wonderful thing is, that to her, all this is normal. Far from confusing her, it has enlarged her world so that she is confident and friendly, and interested in everything around her. What she isn't, is introspective. Just like the children in my books, she lives in the present and very definitely doesn't worry what other people think. Sadly she might in ten years time because that is what teenagers do. Until then may she continue to enjoy her life as a very modern four year old who thinks asking for a bedtime story on Skype is normal, and I'm looking forward to the day when she decides to read to me across the miles instead.

How to keep 3 children happy for one week without really trying... by Sheila Claydon

Anyone who reads my books knows that children frequently feature, usually as background or secondary characters, but occasionally battling for prime place with the hero and heroine as in Double Fault and Kissing Maggie Silver, so it stands to reason that I like them.

Sometimes this liking leads me down unexpected paths. For example, when I was younger I never thought I would spend months in Australia helping to care for my youngest grandchild, nor that I would attend school sex education meetings for my middle grandchild when neither of her parents were available because of work commitments. Then there are the concerts and the prize givings, the birthday parties, collecting grandchildren, and sometimes their friends as well, from school, and the sleep-overs... the list goes on and on, as any grandparent knows.

This week, however, could have been a real challenge. 3 children aged 15,10 and 3, 2 dogs and a husband all staying together in a cottage on a working farm in very rural Wales. How easy was it going to be to keep children of such disparate ages interested and happy. The older ones brought their technology of course, but the Internet in such a remote place is unreliable to say the least. So is the weather!

I need not have worried. The resident donkeys and goats arrived at the kitchen window for breakfast each day and for the price of a few bags of the cheapest carrots and apples kept all 3 children occupied for hours. The younger ones also learned how to chop the food and how to keep their fingers safe as they fed their new friends. Then there were the alpacas in the next field, and poor old Sunny, the one male alpaca who had been banished to live with the donkeys while his babies were growing up, much to his disgust.

There were the ducks too, and the ducklings, and the chickens and newly laid eggs. And a field of swishy grass behind the duck pond that was exactly like the grass in one of the 3-year-old's story books, which made the whole holiday just that bit more exciting.

Then there was hide n'seek. Bales and bales of newly cut silage waiting to be bagged provided hours of fun, as well as comfortable places to stretch out in the sun. And for the little one, the sight of the tractor moving the bales a few days later made it even more interesting.

Then, on the sunny days, there was the local sandy beach. Fortunately it wasn't just any old beach. It had a freshwater river running into it, with small fish darting through the weed. So a couple of 99p fishing nets later everyone was happily engaged. And when they were all fished out there was the river to splash in, or jump over, or sit in.

A barbecue was another hit, especially as it was in a wooden Hobbit House that was complete with benches covered in furs, and lit by fairy lights, just like the one Bilbo Baggins lived in in The Hobbit. This came courtesy of the farm and provided high excitement both before, during and after the event.

Nobody was bored, nobody wanted to go anywhere 'exciting', and everybody loved being muddy and dusty and not having to care what they looked like, and that included the adults! Even a walk in the rain offered excitement, what with the muddy puddles and dripping hoods.

All it took was a few bags of carrots and apples, 2 fishing nets, a hay field and a whole lot of friendly animals. Now I need to see where I can add that to the mix in my next book!

You can find Sheila's books at Books We Love on her 

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