Family
LIFE LESSONS Jemma Dempsey
O
nce upon a time, it was just me and the dog. We enjoyed a relatively simple existence, albeit an unequal one, with her asleep in a variety of locations or watching to see if I put on my walking shoes, while I tried to master the art of self-discipline writing my novel or endeavouring and generally failing at the housework. Now, it’s ALL changed. The house is literally bursting at the seams - there’s me, the dog, a permanently working from home husband, who emerges from the spare room squinty-eyed and mole-like seeking coffee from time to time. And then there’s our two children who used to go to school. They used to go to school to learn things; now they have to learn things at home and it’s up to me to make that happen. This 50 | Sherborne Times | May 2020
is all happening against the context of a world that’s been turned upside down. A world none of us recognise anymore, where the light of touch has become heavy and wearisome, and where an occasional brushing past someone is now mortifying. Illusions I may have had of me as this great home educator are soon turned to dust. Attempts to be upbeat on the first Monday, encouraging both my sons to laminate their timetables so we can all see what is going on, are met with undisguised disdain. My eldest, now at the Gryphon, takes himself off to his room, waving a hand dismissively, saying he knows what he has to do and that he doesn’t need my help. Staring at his younger brother, I choose not to be offended and