Roll up, roll up! It's The Bad Mummy Moments Carnival!

Yes, I know what you're all thinking. What's with the picture? Not exactly seasonal is it Gappy? But please bear with me, for all will soon be revealed....

You see I have (after some fairly perfunctory how-to research) decided to host a carnival. I thought that perhaps it would be a good way to help us bloggers come together and discover some new authors, and that also the theme, "Bad Mummy Moments" (don't snigger, it took me bloody ages to come up with that) might provide us all with some laughs and reassurance along the way. I suppose that strictly speaking I should have called it "Bad Parenting Moments" but that didn't have quite the same alliterative ring to it, so "Bad Mummy Moments" it is, although of course anyone who would like to join in is more than welcome.

Soooo if you would care to write (or already have) a post detailing your finest slackest hour, simply leave a link to it in the comments section or e-mail it to me so that I can feel so much better about myself No! I mean so that we can all support each other and take comfort in the shared knowledge that there is no such thing as a perfect mother - and that as long as we are genuinely doing our very best - then that is good enough. Your post can be humorous, thoughtful, poetic, or whatever you feel. The carnival will go live on Thursday 24th June and the author of my favourite post will receive a special prize...

And so back to the picture. That picture actually accompanied one of the first posts that I ever wrote. I have decided to re-publish it here as my own contribution to the Bad Mummy Moments carnival as I distinctly remember worrying at the time that the drawing of satanist snowmen might just be considered reasonable justification by my sons teacher for a discreet wee call to social services... I give you:

Sinister Seasons Greetings

Tis the season to be jolly... And with that in mind presumably, my sons were asked by their teachers a while ago to design christmas cards, which could then be printed out and bought by parents wishing to send personalised seasons greetings to family and friends. I gave the school what seemed an inconceivable amount of money, in advance, for four packs of five.

Today Eldest Son comes out of school grinning proudly and gives me a stack of cards with what appears to be some sort of evil snowman on them. On closer inspection, one can see the snowman is carrying a forked staff, and is sporting sharp red horns. He is surrounded by ice blue snowflakes, and if you look really closely you can see a vague smudge of red around the mouth, as if he had failed to scrub up properly after feasting on bloodied corpses. The 'Merry Christmas' written on his body looks like an oddly obscure threat. 'We could send one to Grandma' chirrups Eldest Son happily.

Now Eldest Sons favourite song is Monty Pythons 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'. His favourite and most oft repeated lyric (regularly sung with gusto whilst zapping aliens on the computer) is: 'Always look on the bright side of death. Just before you draw your terminal breath'...

Ever wonder if perhaps you're doing something wrong?