“I’ve got a baby giraffe!”
“My snow leopards are in danger!”
“The elephants are bored with their paddling pool!”
These are all phrases which have rung around our kitchen table over the last month. Don’t worry, I have not changed our strict pet policy (“one cat is enough, we will consider a guinea pig when you’re 10 and NOT before, and absolutely NO dogs), but our children have become somewhat enamoured with Roar – an interactive CBBC game where you set up and run a wildlife park.
It is of course terribly educational, breeds responsibility but really, my love of Roar is entirely related to its pre-school bribery potential, which works something like this…
“You can play on Roar but only after you have had breakfast, put on your uniform and brushed your teeth.” Or even “If you don’t stop squashing your brother’s head I will let your lions STARVE!”
Such is the attraction of this game that I’ve barely had to raise my voice before 8.30am for a number of weeks.
Sadly, two recent developments have left me needing another pre-school distraction. Firstly, Archie, who, at two and a half is becoming scarily obsessed with all things technical, managed to reset his sister’s wildlife park and wipe out the entire 25,000 points she had amassed (which, of course, she took incredibly well) and secondly the site has, for the last two days simply said “Oops! We're sorry but we're having a couple of technical problems with Roar at the moment. We're working really hard to get these fixed as soon as possible. In the meantime, please feel free to have a tantrum of such volume that the neighbours will call social services” (or something along those lines).
I am, of course, attempting to distract the children with matters horticultural. At the moment this involves a post breakfast ‘check on the bulbs’. Last year, even by my usual standards, I’ve been a little over the top with bulb purchases. However, this is now paying dividends. In the bleakest time of the year, there seem to be shoots everywhere.
We planted up about 40 containers of bulbs which sounds ridiculous although, in my defence, many of the pots are small. Pint-sized containers work particularly well with small, early bulbs such as muscari, crocus, species tulips and early dwarf narcissi. Partly this is to do with scale but also, from a practical standpoint small pots are more susceptible to drying out which can become a problem here from April onwards.
The other bonus with small pots is they can be brought in to stand on sunny windowsills and give the children something to check on daily. So far we have daffodil shoots bursting from three pots, crocus appearing on top of some wellies and a basketful of muscari nearing full bloom.
And to set it all off, I have even strung up some homemade bunting*.
OK, so I’ll admit it probably isn’t in the same ballpark as getting a new baby panda but, for now, it will have to do.
*I shall not be putting this lot in the washing machine. Never let it be said I don’t learn from my mistakes.
I do hope that they have one of those lovely hyacinth glass vases where you perch the bulb in the top bit and watch the roots grow down into the water. House of endless excitement with that!
Posted by: Arabella Sock | February 03, 2011 at 09:46 AM
Arabella - I must admit the roots and indeed the vases are supremely attractive, but there's no esacping the fact it still gives you a very smelly hyacinth in the end. And that's a step too far for me...
Posted by: Dawn | February 03, 2011 at 10:05 AM
A few years ago, I bought my kids Zoo Tycoon, which is a video game version of the same thing.
I became addicted, but had to stay on the learner/intro bit, as I wasn't really interested in the zoo, but in designing the planting! You don't get points for making it look beautiful, unfortunately. But I recommend it, if it's still available. There's a dinosaur version too.
Posted by: Victoria | February 03, 2011 at 11:18 AM
The bulb checks are a great idea to keep the kids interested at this time of year. Ours aren't aware of ROAR yet, thankfully, or all hell would have broken loose with the site down, the equivalent of losing their favourite Peppa Pig DVD behind the sofa the other day!
Posted by: Damo | February 04, 2011 at 06:32 AM
My eyes widened when I read 'bunting'. Bravery!
My indoor bulbs, despite being on windowsills, have grown leaves like beanstalks - which have splayed like the legs of octopuses.
Do you not have trouble with drainage in wellies? (They look great though!)
Esther
Posted by: Esther Montgomery | February 04, 2011 at 07:01 AM
Vote number 2 for Zoo Tycoon, which I became entirely addicted to, and doesn't rely on someone else's server.
Roar is ace but I have to admit that Steve Backshall's psychopathic good cheer in the face of deadly bugs / teeth / stings etc (plus the odd flash of ripped shoulders) often lures me to Deadly 60 instead.
Posted by: Joanne Roach | February 04, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Victoria - thanks for the Zoo Tycoon recommendation although I am shocked you get no points for horticultural flair.
Damo - You lost Peppa Pig? I'm surprised you loved to tell the tale.
Esther - I do drill holes in the wellies (and my leg when the wellie slips, which is unfortunate)
Joanne - I'm not sure it's entirely dignified to lust after CBBC presenters (although I suppose it's less worrying than a crush on Mr Tumble)
Posted by: Dawn | February 04, 2011 at 04:30 PM
Just so we're all clear, EVERYTHING is less worrying than a crush on Mr Tumble.
Posted by: Joanne Roach | February 05, 2011 at 10:45 AM