Duvet Days

By request, I wrote an article for a journal, which, as far as I know, has yet to be published. This was brought to mind by a series of posts in our Forum over the last few days; my article was called 'Duvet Days'.

Now, I am not claiming credit for this terminology, but am instead going to make an admission: I never used this expression with my daughter!

Reading recent posts, some of which gave me joy, and some of which brought tears to the eyes, I find that we should have been giving these days recognition for what they were, rather than as just another occasion for confrontation. But how do we find a happy balance between encouragement and submission?

Whilst many of us have found that our child needs to feel some measure of control, we also need to be able to exercise our parental responsibilities. We also need to be able to have a balance in all our lives where there is time for some fun.

Maybe by admitting today is a Duvet Day we can manage that, but reserve the right that other 'blip' days are not?