The Transition Tightrope by Wilcock Angie;

Author:Wilcock, Angie; [Wilcock, Angie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Tearing your hair out yet?

I must admit that I am a creature of systems and order – I just can't function in mess. I do like to think I am reasonably normal, however, as I have encountered some who not only label every item in their pantry, but also order everything according to size! I have bent my own rules over time… because I live in a world of men!

My husband, an engineer by profession, can be meticulous over details, but not so much over where he may have last placed his keys, sunglasses, wallet, screwdriver, secateurs, sun block…anything, really.

Our two boys – both now gorgeous young men and still living at home – seem to have developed their father's liking for the question, “Any idea wheremy…is?” This question is always asked in my direction, as I appear to have unwittingly earned the title “the gatekeeper”.

In their younger years, our older son Adam, would know where everything lived – quite taken by the view that everything had its rightful place. Even his slippers would be carefully lined up, right next to each other and placed at the foot of his bed. Meanwhile, younger brother, Ben, had perfected the laissez-faire attitude (i.e. wherever it falls is where it stays). I always wondered how two children, only 13 months apart in age, and having the same parents, could be so different!

As time progressed, the gap between Adam's fastidious nature and Ben's, shall we say, casual nature began to lessen. Right through the primary years Adam maintained his system (with Mum applauding his every move) and Ben maintained his ‘she'll be right’ flair. However, once we hit secondary school a whole new monster emerged.

Adam, as the first to experience secondary school, felt a little overwhelmed by the whole experience and his very ordered world hurtled in other directions. He needed to store and file notes, make summaries of topics studied, keep returned assignments instead of throwing them away as was his custom in primary school and learn a whole new system of study and revision. We tackled one obstacle at a time – a very smart move for those whose children have difficulty coping with change. We got through it, Adam developed a new system, and his world regained its balance.

Ben, on the other hand, was a much more difficult customer. In terms of his ability to cope with change – his resilience – he was a star. In terms of his filing, storage and organisation in general, he was a meteor crashing to Earth! In his very first week at school he lost his entire sports uniform. He left it on the train – sports shoes and all – but sadly did not even remember that he had lost it until I asked him to put his washing in the basket – at 7pm that night.

The following week he made sure he remembered to return home with his new sports gear intact – but left his jumper on the train instead, “because

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