Beta Mum's Blog Beta Mum on 08 Sep 2008 08:59 pm
Aim, Method, Results, Conclusion
Science kits - don’t you just hate them.
Ben was given one for Christmas/Birthday at least 8 months ago, and I thought I’d managed to hide it somewhere he’d never find it.
But I’d forgotten that this is the child who can smell a confiscated Nintendo DS at 20 paces.
Se he found it, carefully buried beneath toys I thought he’d given up years ago.
It’s amazing how appealing a few toy hamsters can be when it’s raining and your weekend TV limit has been decisively breached.
So he found the big box filled with dangerous chemicals, evil-looking implements and unintelligible instructions.
And I was the only adult at home - Blog Fodder having slunk off in shorts for his weekly hash with the Crapauds.
I did my best.
Chemistry was never my favourite subject, and just distinguishing the Iron Sulphate from the Sodium Sulphate sends me back in time to the days of Miss Mason and her infernal Bunsen burners.
Ben is keen to get started with the explosions, but first I have to find some old yoghurt pots to use as petrie dishes, and a ruler to measure stuff.
It doesn’t take long before I get cross.
Ben spills iron sulphate all over his pyjamas, leaving 2 large yellow stains.
And he’s wearing the bottoms from one set and the top from another - so that’s two pyjama sets with no re-sale value.
Then he moves on to the next experiment before finishing the first, which, as a main-lining Completer-Finisher, sends me into a sharp decline.
And this second experiment requires the mixing of sodium hydrochloride solution before we can even start.
It’s like getting half way through a recipe and finding that before you can cook the cake you have to make your own chocolate. It’s just too much.
Before my brain explodes, Blog Fodder arrives home. Sweaty, yes - but up for a bit of chemical mixing.
So I pass on the baton and retreat to the Archers.
Five minutes later I decide to pop back into the kitchen to check all is going well and spillage is not on the horizon.
As soon as I show my face, Ben makes it clear I’ve had my chance and blown it.
“Mum, it’s my job to think. It’s your job to screech and complain.”
“And isn’t she good at it,” Blog Fodder adds, helpfully.
The Archers win the day. They don’t answer back.
