Let’s do this together

MY AMAZING PHOTOGRAPH

There are three main parenting roles in life – The Guardian Angel, The Social Secretary and The Fixer.

The first two are temporary positions. Toddlers eventually stop running headlong into certaindeath situations, and if you’re still arranging your kids’ playdates once they get into double figures, you need to get yourself a doggy if you want to keep something on a leash.

But the role of The Fixer is permanent. It starts with mending broken toys and glueing plastic body parts back on. “Mummeeee, can you fix Baby? Her head just camed off,” I remember The Dark

Lordette saying as she waved a headless plastic torso in my face at her fifth birthday party.

It’s a special moment when you realise all the other little girls and boys have been doing their party craft kits nicely, while your spawn is sacrificing Barbie, ripping her head off and stuffing it round the U-bend.

I remember kneeling down by the loo and looking The Dark Lordette in the eyes.

“Before I rescue dolly’s head, you need to tell me if you’ve pooed in this toilet,” I said.

She met my gaze and even looked hurt that I would even suggest such a thing. A minute later, I was up to my elbow in blonde doll hair and brown matter.

Since then, I’ve fixed ripped books, scissored clothes, eviscerated teddies and scalped dolls. It’s like clearing up after a particularly messy serial killer.

But it never ends. Just this week The Dark Lord handed me her laptop.

“I accidentally left my headphone jack inside it when I closed it down, and now the screen’s cracked and it’s glitching,” she said casually.

I dropped it off to be mended, and it’s only when I got a call from one of the hairy techies, that I realised I’d been caught with my hand up the U-bend again.

“The smashed screen is the least of your worries. The casing’s broken where it’s been dropped on the ground from a height. I’m not sure it’s worth fixing.”

The laptop killer back at home seemed delighted with the news. “Oh good,” she said, “Can I have a new one then?”

Email siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or else

Write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.

It’s not often you’ll spot one of our native red squirrels while out for a walk on a crisp, cold day, unless you’re in one of their protected habitats.

This is the best time of year to see our rare reds while they’re out gathering food and there’s less leaf cover on the trees. Amateur snapper Steve Beckwith, from Tyne and Wear, captured this perfect moment at Pow Hill Country Park in Durham.

The 57-year-old says, “The photo was taken at the country park on the edge of Derwent Reservoir. There’s a small colony of reds there and if you sit quietly after leaving a few seeds or nuts, the wildlife comes to you. Small birds like blue tits and robins will even take seeds from the palm of your hand.”

If you are an amateur photographer or artist, send your work, a selfie, your age and location, and tell us what inspires you.