I sat down with my son to go through his Maltese homework today and it was an exercise of filling in the missing word from the Cinderella story.  So I first had to read him the story, in Maltese. To my shock, at every couple of sentences he was pulling a face and going ‘Yucky’!

‘Luke, why are you saying that!?” I said.

‘I hate girly stories,’ he said.

‘It’s not a girly story, it’s a fairy tale,’ I said.

‘It’s about pretty dresses and kissing’, he said.

I looked around the room for some mutual shock but saw my husband and younger son playing happily with some cars and dinosaurs.  OK, so I guess it’s down to me to straighten out some gender balance around this house!

Half maddened by this ghastly reaction I said, “LUKE, your mother is a Cinderella almost on a daily basis!  You saw me this morning washing the floor after you and your friends brought your muddy footsteps into the house from your Halloween ghost hunt!  And how many times have you seen me scrub the dishes and wash up every plate & glass you and your brother manage to use up in one morning? And do you not see me, at some point during the day,  going off to be transformed into a somewhat glamorous gal? Granted, I do not go off to a ball and nor am I picked up by a carriage. I am also not visited by a ‘fatatina’ (fairy godmother) you will be glad to hear! Mateja Camilleri & Alexander’s are my ‘fatatinas’ and if I’m running out of time I have to be my own ‘fatatina’. And I am not normally exhausted after a night out dancing but after a night out working. And finally, I never lost a glass slipper but I did lose my car keys and when I called my prince to come and get me,  he did tell me it would be easier to get a cab. Right, now, there you have it. Your very own Cinderella story! Now try calling that ‘yucky’!

There was silence in the house from all my boys and Luke was somehow lost for words even if for just a few seconds which was enough for me to catch my breath and move on to the do the religion H.W.  Let’s see what challenge this one brings!