Want to know something about the Treagus family? They’re what’s simply known as an ‘MDF (first coined here to stand for ‘Modern Day Family’). Now let me tell you something about this enigma called an ‘MDF.’ Firstly, mom and dad have a choice. They can either go for a 2-child ‘MDF’ or they can go for a 3 or more child ‘MDF.’ The 2-child version is generally a bright idea because it means you may still have a bit of a cash-flow and some semblance of a life as a parent. However, when you opt for the 3 or more child version, oops. There goes your bank balance. Forever. And that place you once called your bedroom – that’s gone too. Ditto the lounge, the remote control and pretty much everything you every called your own. Why? Because that’s what 2, 3 or more child ‘MDF’s’ do. Teenage daughters tend to steal your pyjama bottoms to sleep in (and if they don’t, their friends will). Teenage sons tend eat that extra burger you had your heart set on (and if they don’t, uh-huh, their friends will). And every so often, when you want to just relax and watch Nicholas Cage in ConAir one more time, guess what, there’s a new episode of Glee on TV, so you end up mowing the bloody texasgoldengirl.com/celexa/ lawn while the mobsters put their feet up with some popcorn. That my friends is what life as an ‘MDF’ parent is all about. 24 hours per day, 365 days per year (give or take a day or two) of pick up, drop off, cook food, take to doctor, pay school fees, take on holiday, mend broken hearts, and so on! Sound hectic? Oh it is. Especially when you’re just about to go for that bi-annual Sunday nap and you hear ‘moooooom, I just stepped in dog poooo!’ But make no mistake, it’s also incredibly rewarding, funny, entertaining and pleasing. I don’t know of any ‘MDF’ parents who wouldn’t do it all over again in a heart beat. Because if there’s one thing modern day children absolutely excel at, it’s how to make us as parents burst with pride. And I could see that from the get-go with the Treagus clan – good, solid, upstanding, darned fine young South Africans. Our country has a bright future, even if it does mean that some of us have to forgo that odd burger and Sunday snooze…
