I realised today how much young Luna and Willow remind me of the plays of Shakespeare. It’s not their clever use of rhetoric (where excerpts from a lengthy repertoire of Julia Donaldson’s published works are wittily embedded into utterances which commonly focus around the frequent repetition of the word “why?”). Nor is it the high drama that can ensue if I offer a drink in the wrong cup. No.
It’s that the vast majority of the Bard’s plays revolve around a state of order or stability disintegrating into disorder and confusion. Which is rather a familiar state of affairs.
Nevertheless, while the day may gradually deteriorate into a chaotic muddle of furious small children wading through half-chewed breadsticks and Duplo to battle over whose turn it is to switch off the ‘beeper’ on the oven timer, starting the morning with a state of order and stability certainly helps maintain everyone’s sanity.
And while the children may leave a trail of chaos and disorder in their path, they do seem to be looking for a sense of order. They sing the alphabet, chant the months of the year and Luna wears knickers reminding her which day of the week it is. They sing in tune, beat a rhythm on the drum and tell the time when it’s on the hour. And they’re a little bit obsessed with the moon.
So I think maybe, just like in Shakespeare’s plays, order will be restored by the end. And in the meantime, maybe I’ll get them to learn a few of Puck’s lines:
“If we shadows [substitute ‘toddlers’] have offended
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear;”
Because realistically, we do spend most of our time so exhausted we are almost asleep. And I imagine one day, these crazy days will seem like no more than just a midsummer night’s dream.