Bedtime Story.
"Thanks Dad you've been kind to take young Benji to the pool.
I wonder if you wouldn't mind, he thinks it would be cool,
If you would read a book to him before he goes to bed."
I nodded blithely unaware of what would lie ahead.
Little Benji's only three. It wouldn't take too long.
A hug, a kiss, a cuddle and maybe a little song.
So down we sat. Read 'Peppa Pig'. "Another one." he said.
He plucked it from the reading pile. I looked at it in dread.
'Mum laid an egg, ' the title ran. Claire looked at me and grinned.
My promise of 'another one' I could not now rescind.
A book on making babies. I had fallen in a snare.
'Grandpa will explain it all.' I glowered back at Claire.
I gulped and started manfully. I'll read it to the end.
I'm sure I'll manage. somehow and he will not comprehend.
He just likes the pictures and he will not understand.
Then in walked Eli, five years old and sat at my right hand.
This upped the ante drastically. An enquiring little mind.
So I began the dreaded task to which I'd been consigned
But then before I'd read a page young Joshua walked in.
Eight years old, and sharp as nails. He sat down with a grin.
"Whatcha reading Grandpa? Great! Please can I listen too?"
"Of course you can," I answered. What else was I to do?
So I began to read the book, which really is quite good.
It must have been for even poor old Grandpa understood.
Told from the children's viewpoints it was putting parents right.
Debunking tales of storks who bring new babies in the night.
Mums don't lay eggs on sofas and there is no gooseberry bush.
The processes are complex and it ends with one big push.
The pictures were amusing. How parents 'fit' together.
Unusual "positions!" with both going hell for leather.
On skateboards or as floating clowns with balloons, on a space hopper.
I think if ever I'd tried that I would have come a cropper.
So many questions followed and I answered straight and clear.
"Your willy's called a penis." I stated without fear.
"Peanuts?" Eli shouted. Laughing fit to burst.
So many questions followed. That one was not the worst.
Suffice to say the reading lasted longer than it should.
All questioned asked and answered and their onslaught I'd withstood.
I felt for Josh and Eli that their learning curve was steep.
And Benji who had picked the book? Well, he was fast asleep.
Copywright and curtesy of
Babette Cole
