I had been idly thinking I might like to be a grandmother until I caught the bus home from work yesterday with a screaming toddler.
I am definitely not ready.
The screaming was ear-splitting. I felt so sorry for the mum taking her exhausted kid home from childcare. The toddler was outraged about being strapped into her stroller. She would scream and scream and scream and scream, then lapse into silence for 30 seconds.
The brief silence would lull passengers into a false sense of relief that it was over, then she’d take a deep break and arc the screaming back up again to wince-inducing levels.
I got all PTSD and twitchy remembering how difficult it is to calm a hysterical toddler. I can remember clapping my hand over the youngest’s mouth in panicked desperation once in a shopping centre. It did not go well.
As for the eldest, he was born enormous (4.3kg) and cranky …
And he screamed so much in those early months that we took photos to immortalise it …
I can still vividly recall how his hot, enraged back skin felt in my hands all these years later, as his 21st birthday approaches.
The wailing years may have felt long, but the passage to adulthood was too damn short.
Song of the day: Janet and Michael Jackson “Scream”
housegoeshome 
I hate being old, my oldest isn’t interested in having kids, and I agree with that…I do not want grandkids…I never let my nephews or nieces ever call me anything but Warren, never ever uncle…I felt the same of ever being called the boss….I’m just warren period….the only advantage to being older, watching election results from the USA, I can say I’ve seen this show before, and like someone once said, things ain’t what they used to be, in fact they ever were…..and this too shall pass….