A date with Sarah-Kate; Kate’s home truths

Mum and Marley have so much to chat about!

Ilove the school run with my daughter – it’s the best chat time ever. No matter how bad the morning has gone or how many dramas have unfolded before breakfast, by the time it’s just her and me in the car, it’s all the healing and soul care I need.

“Mum, don’t worry about the big kids – you’re the best mum ever,” she’ll say after a hard morning. She’s the greatest cheerleader.

“Mum, it doesn’t matter that we’re late – it’s just life,” she’ll counsel me on terrible traffic mornings. She’s my soothsayer, full of sage, wise words and heart-warming pep talks. But not every morning’s a counselling session. Sometimes we just laugh and sing, and do funny accents or impersonations.

Then by afternoon, the roles often reverse. A day of school can sometimes take it out of her. There may have been dramas, accidents, friendship issues or “horrible teacher” problems. Then it’s my turn to pick her spirits up.

Other times, she comes home with interesting pieces of info. Things she’s studying and issues they’re raising ... palm oil, orangutans, sugar contents, cyber-bullying, robotics, digital footprints.

Today she hopped in the car wide-eyed and ready to break her latest news. “Today,” she announced, “was very interesting. Constable Jude came and we had a talk about being online.” She looked at me, pausing momentarily for effect.

“Mum, did you know you can’t have Instagram until you’re 13? But everyone has it. But no-one should have it without their parents’ permission.”

She continued, breathless, “Did you know that on Snapchat, you have to turn off your location setting or anyone can find out where you are when you send your Snapchats? Anyone, Mum! They could just go, ‘Oh, I see where Marley is’, and bam, they can come and get you!” She looked aghast.

“Also,” she said, “it’s wrong to say mean comments online, but I already knew that one.”

As she prattled on about Constable Jude, I thought back to my own childhood when a police officer only ever came to school to talk about stranger danger – a real-life stranger on the street, not a virtual one. Oh, how times have changed. Now the stranger danger is the entire internet. These children’s existence will be surrounded by strangers and every comment or post they put out there could put them in harm’s way.

“Mum, did you know that whatever you put on the internet is there forever? So like when I’m an adult, all my pictures from when I was little will still be there, which is kinda cool, but that’s another reason why you don’t make nasty comments, eh, Mum?”

“That’s right, babe,” I replied as she carried on explaining the internet to me.