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Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1044
Southerly: The Joys of Unclehood
My grandfather, an anarchist from Glasgow, had mellowed considerably by the time I started school. He seldom accused policemen of being class traitors any more, and had even -- after 45 years behind the wheel -- taken the plunge and applied for a driver's licence.
andrew llewellyn
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1745
Mouahaha! What is it with kids & McDonalds? I confess I reached the end of my tether one weekend with my nephews (8 & 10 at the time), and admittedly, we'd dragged them all over the place at short notice as we watched, and "supported" a 15 year old in a triathlon, where the nearest McDonalds was miles away & the only snacks were chips, hotdogs on sticks, hippie vegan stuff from a hippie vegan stall, and donuts.
aND i BELLOWED AT ONE STAGE "wE'RE NOT "QUAXING" GOING TO "QUAXING" MCdONALDS EAT YOUR "quaxing" donut & be "quaxing" GRATEFUL!
Told their parents they'd been angels when we dropped them off.
Ian MacKay
From: Bleheim
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 224
My wife used to take delight in giving a sticky chocolate fish to the infants of friends- until we gained kids of our own. A sign of good writing is the resonance in the reader. Keep it coming David.
rodgerd
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 432
What is it with kids & McDonalds?
Network effect. Even if you don't go there, some of their little frinds will demand their birthday there and they get hooked.
Also, McDonalds advertise heavily to kids. I'm not at home, so I can't give you the cite, but I can give you the gist of the quote a C*O level McDonalds manager gave a financial paper, which was to specify their goal of having kids eat at least 20 McDonalds meals per month on average...
Shep Cheyenne
Since: Oct 2007
Posts: 916
Glorious, I was raised under a poster of Bobby Sands and a Mother who told me "Jesus was a Socialist", as a batton from the "Special Constables" of the waterfront strike stood in the corner of the room. My family are orange and green, red and blue, royalist and republican. Always 'considerate' in conversation to ask what the other thinks on a subject, but only as a means to establish the opposite view.
It is the right, no duty of every uncle to load a child up with sugar before dropping them back to their parents, so too buying noisy gifts with which to have a 1/2hr of fun and leave the child with endless hours of enjoyment at home.
Gareth Ward
From: Auckland, NZ
Since: Mar 2007
Posts: 594
Given my son's first present from his Uncle last week was a tiny Motorhead T-shirt he may have a few similar "cool visits with his Uncle" in his future...
Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1148
aND i BELLOWED AT ONE STAGE "wE'RE NOT "QUAXING" GOING TO "QUAXING" MCdONALDS EAT YOUR "quaxing" donut & be "quaxing" GRATEFUL!
Yessss... My ability to be a cool aunt is sort of hampered by my brother's determination to be cool uncle to his own daughter. After several years of observation of said niece, I've been forced to conclude that either my brother or his partner must be Satan.
My mother is the most patient person I know. She once took Brother and Niece to the Bay. Niece spent entire first half of trip whining for an ice cream. Halfway through the ice cream, she decided that what she really wanted was chips. Having already endured a week of Whim Catering, my 80 year old mother said, "If you buy her chips, I'm getting in the car, and I'm going home, and I'm leaving you here."
There were no chips.
samuel walker
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 183
"Maybe a child," said Jennifer uncertainly.
thats sweeeeet.
Kyle Matthews
From: Dunedin
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2497
What is it with kids & McDonalds?
While I can't say I like it, the people who do the marketing, branding, design work, and create the public image of McDonalds are masters at what they do.
Even in my relatively resistant brain they stand above other takeaway places that I actually like the food of better.
In my son's brain, no contest.
Craig Ranapia
From: North Shore, Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 4374
Yessss... My ability to be a cool aunt is sort of hampered by my brother's determination to be cool uncle to his own daughter.
Well, I've got a rather pleasant niche in the family ecology -- the Big Gay Eccentric Cardigan-Wearing 'Uncle' who says 'no' a lot, prefers sushi to Maccas, and has an ever so slightly intimidating bellow (and an aversion to repeating himself). Though when you find yourself saying "You mean yes, dear. 'Yah' doesn't mean anything unless you're a pirate. Or German."...
Isabel Hitchings
From: Christchurch
Since: Jul 2007
Posts: 82
I can say with some pride that my kids (aged 3 and 6) have never darkened the door of McDonalds - largely due to the lack of meatless options. Would that the rest of their diet was pure though. They request take-away pizza for dinner on an almost nightly basis. And I swear it's the pizza connection that is the reason one of the first words my oldest learned to spell was "hell".
Che Tibby
From: the back of an envelope
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1515
heh. i let the neices eat chicken nuggets but never give them any gifts except books.
i also use work gear to record and edit stories to send them to them on CD.
i expect all this exuberance will wear off by the time i a parent myself.
giovanni tiso
From: Wellington
Since: Jun 2007
Posts: 1188
heh. i let the neices eat chicken nuggets but never give them any gifts except books.
i also use work gear to record and edit stories to send them to them on CD.
Would you be available to uncle children outside of your bloodline?
Robyn Gallagher
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1006
This is the second post David's made that doubles as an effective form of birth control. (This is the other one)
Che Tibby
From: the back of an envelope
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1515
Would you be available to uncle children outside of your bloodline?
are they likely to grow up to become wealthy?
Rob Hosking
From: South Roseneath
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 483
Craig wrote:
Well, I've got a rather pleasant niche in the family ecology -- the Big Gay Eccentric Cardigan-Wearing 'Uncle' who says 'no' a lot,
My brother and his partner have a less fierce but occasionally problematic possie in our family: they're the playful big uncles who, when they give neices and nephews back, often accompany it with a gift of a Very Loud Toy.
Just because they know retaliation isn't possible.
Che wrote:
i expect all this exuberance will wear off by the time i a parent myself.
Oh, they remove exuberance from the parents in the delivery suite. It goes out with the afterbirth.
Although I understand in these more culturally diverse times they will hand it back so's you can plant a tree on top of it or something.
But its dead, believe me.
Deborah
From: Adelaide
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 615
For many years now the routine threat among my brothers and I has been to give each others' children a packet of Jaffas and drum for Christmas. It's a powerful threat, and we use it to reinforce our present non-proliferation treaty.
giovanni tiso
From: Wellington
Since: Jun 2007
Posts: 1188
Would you be available to uncle children outside of your bloodline?
are they likely to grow up to become wealthy?
Er, no. Plus becoming wealthy generally is the domain of the uncle himself.
Che Tibby
From: the back of an envelope
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1515
Er, no.
but... how will they support one in his dotage?
giovanni tiso
From: Wellington
Since: Jun 2007
Posts: 1188
but... how will they support one in his dotage?
We'll work something out.
Paul Williams
From: Sydney
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 876
Maccas; meh! We'd not thought though all the implications when we named our youngest Mia - her learning of the alphabet has been somewhat corrupted.
Another great piece David. We've got equally indulgent aunties but I think/hope kids know how to differentiate their behaviour to fit the circumstances.
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