23 May 2012

Lessons learnt from working in a girls boarding house

1. Doing any girls hair in plaits starts off some kind of chain reaction- you can't get away! "Miss Beach, can you do my hair next?"

2. The younger you are the quicker you are out of bed in the mornings. As in nearly out of bed before the light is switched on in some cases.

3. Small girls have NO SHAME. Clothes. What are they?!

4. Girls under the age of thirteen never get bored of writing in notebooks, doodling with coloured pens and collecting stickers. That includes trading the latter!( Incidentally I don't think I ever grew out of this- the notebooks not the trading stickers!)

5. Teddies and soft toys all have names and all have to be lined up on the beds in the morning.

6. If you get post you are the envy of the other girls.

7. A girls pinboard is, from observation, an exact representation of her character. The organised ones have a neat pinboard with carefully selected photos. The scatty ones have notes, photos and sweet wrappers??! stuck haphazardly all over the place!

8. These girls love being read to at night.

9. When reading Matilda try not to take the description of a "loud and booming voice" literally. Or your own voice will have exited by the next morning. This may or may not have happened to me! eep.

10. Small girls gravitate towards the stairs to sit on when they are feeling sad or want a good chat.


11. No matter how many I do, I HATE nit checking for nits.

12. No matter how many play clothes the girls bring back they will always wear the same outfit each evening.

13. Tuck boxes are a very private place. No one but the owner is allowed to go in them and they are all lined up at the ends of the beds.

14. If in doubt have a cuddle.

Thanks for stopping by.

* The pictures are very unrelated but taking pictures of the girls would be sort of wrong!*

3 comments:

Sian said...

I think your careful, compassionate observations are an indication of what a good house mother you must be

Lizzie said...

I think those little girls have been very lucky to have you this year. They won't forget you in a hurry!
Love this list, Abi. X

Beverly said...

Wonderful and perceptive observations, Abi, I am sure they will miss you.