A week’s parenting in Hout Bay

A pair of peacocks – extended part of the family.

Our parenting days are well behind us, but every now and then we do a run of acting in loco parentis – and we always enjoy such occasions whenever and where ever they occur – in France, Germany or like now in Hout Bay. It makes us aware of our hard-won equilibrium, makes us rethink of how on earth we were able to keep our sanity more or less intact over all those years and always refreshes our admiration for present-day parents.

Baking ginger bread men and women. The first lot got burnt, unfortunately.

Parenting comes as a matter of course, for sure, but it seems so much more demanding these days. In our childhood days we walked alone in the dark to the bus stop for a 40 minute’s ride to school. In Colleen’s case she rode to school on horseback or in a horse-drawn cart. These days it involves complex logistical coordination. Transportation is an issue where appropriate infra-structure is missing. In preparation for hosting the Soccer World Cup in 2010 an integrated rapid transit system was initiated for Cape Town which is up and running and still being extended, eventually reaching Hout Bay.