Growing up

When you're in the middle stages of child rearing, when they can walk and talk and even read, but aren't yet anywhere near adult, it can be easy not to notice them passing milestones and life stages. But suddenly you realise that they are not just cherished dependents but also rational beings entirely capable of independant thought. Today was my mother's birthday: she's 79, finding housework difficult with arthritis, and weighed down by the clutter of a lifetime, which she's trying to weed out as she can. I didn't want to buy her yet another un-needed object, but I feel a birthday present should be something one would like yet not buy for oneself (unless, of course, money is so tight that any useful thing is welcome). So I was going to buy her non-permanent things, like flowers and chocolates.
And then the 10 year old said, "Why not get her a DVD player?" Fantastic idea. My parents never even got round to getting a video, but now that Mum finds it hard to get out, what could be more useful? So we looked around and bought one, and took it over to them this afternoon, with a couple of bought DVDs to start her off, and a couple of borrowed ones, and she was really, really pleased. Well done, that child.
Interesting sideline on the retail industry: the DVD had been opened in the shop and resealed with shop security tape. When we unpacked it at Mum's, the remote control was missing. So John rang up the shop, and they told him to bring the whole thing back. He explained that he'd already given it to someone and that the whole family was already watching a film, so they said, "All right, then. If you come in and buy another, then take the remote control out in the shop and ask us to refund it because the DVD player's defective, then we can give you your money back on the DVD and you can keep the remote control." Bizarre. So he went back, and the assistant went out the back and came back with...a remote control. And the manager said, "Did you have to open one to get that?" and the assistant said, "No." Mmmmmm...