Matthew Munson: A slight change of routine ahead of a busy half-term

Bryan and Matthew

Okay, everyone, we can do this; February is here, and the evenings are getting ever so slightly lighter every day. It might not seem like much, but I can’t stand winter; give me a warm summer’s day instead … please? My lad likes winter; I suspect it’s because of Christmas and the presents.

This week has been busy on the work front; it’s nice to have a lot of different projects on the go, but a laptop died at a critical point this week, and I muttered more than one cross word under my breath (Bryan was home from school that day). It’s funny, though; I was thinking about it afterwards, when I’d organised a plan, and my reaction was different to the one I might have had in my early 20s. I was able to focus a lot more on finding a solution, rather than just allowing my frustrations to sit and wallow; but it was b****y annoying when it happened – who else has had a computer shut down just at the point when you were 20 minutes away from finishing a job?

Bryan and I have changed our routine slightly this week, with one of his dance lessons moving to a different day, we’ve had to shift things around a little. But it actually allows Bryan more access to a couple of new opportunities, and leaves Fridays clear for us to relax when he gets home from school – I like being a little more chilled at the end of the week where we can, so now we get to do that a lot more. Now that we’ve had a dry run, I’m confident that I know what I’m doing; being my son’s social scheduler is one of the biggest roles any parent has, so I’ve just embraced it – he deserves every opportunity I’m able to give him.

I don’t remember a lot of my school days, but I know which subjects I enjoyed; English, History (when I had a teacher who really captured my interest), and some parts of Science (although I refused to dissect a frog) – and I was not very good at Maths. I am fascinated by the range of Bryan’s lessons now; he has developed his own interests and, with his inquisitive mind, Science is a natural way for him to express himself. I rather like it when he brings work home; I can peruse it as well and find myself learning things along the way.

Bryan still tells me a lot about his day – what he’s learnt, what he ate for lunch, and so on – and I always make sure I ask questions, listen carefully, and try to make sure I’m not getting too confused about what lessons are on what day. I hope Bryan keeps on telling me about his day for a long time to come; I enjoy being with my son and knowing what has sparked his interest.

Recently, I came to a crashing realisation – I left school entirely in 1999 … 24 years ago. I have 24 years of experience as an official adult. Given that I don’t necessarily always feel like an adult, it’s come as a bit of a shock that 24 years could have gone by without me realising. I tried to explain this to Bryan, but he looked at me as if I were entirely mad. His time will come …

Bryan and I don’t have huge events planned for this weekend; half-term is coming up, and we have a lot going on – I still have to work, so Bryan has some activities planned that he’s chosen, and then we have some time together before we spend a couple of days out of Thanet as we visit family. It’s going to be busy, so our weekends in advance are a slightly slower pace. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to have fun; we plan to visit Board at Home in Ramsgate again over the weekend. We’ve become fans of this shop, as we’re being introduced to games we’ve not even heard of before; given that neither of us are into computer games in any meaningful way right now, board games are something we can do together and try something new along the way. I cherish these moments.