On the flip side, I made my own
mum discoveries – including the
meanings of those words mentioned
above. (I scored Ds in my own
science exams many moons ago.) I
learnt that I needed the deadline to
actually set aside time to prepare
for my turn in the rotation. (Science
Club meets weekly after school in
the host’s home, where we natter and
play, do the experiments, and then
eat dinner together. Thankfully, help
from helpers means we don’t have to
plan or make the dinners!) And I also
realised that the deadline allowed me
to honour the 30-minute block of time
with my daughter and her friends.
Let’s not kid around. There
have been times when I was running
around 30 minutes before a session
trying to source the marbles essential
for any good handmade marble run;
where I’ve put out an alert to the other
mums for bottles because the stash
I’d been astutely saving had been put
out for recycling. There have been
afternoons where Science Club feels
like Whinge Club, where the kids
are tired and the mums are too, and
all we really want is a good gab and
a chocolate biscuit or eight. But we
know now that even three minutes in,
the girls will be wide-eyed and batting
their baby brothers out of the way so
they can get on and really work things
out. When we shout, “Science Club,”
the girls come running. It’s amazing
to think that the wise thinking of my
(now) good friend and neighbour put
those wheels in motion. (Motion is
another great topic we’ve investigated.)
As a working mum, I don’t think
that I would have ever chosen Science
Club. But Science Club seems to have
chosen me, sparking my daughter’s
interest, prompting her to ask why
and deepening all of our friendships
to boot. Now, despite one founding
member having emigrated, the oldest
scientist going to Primary Two and
the youngest starting school full-time,
we’ll be grabbling schedules, test
tubes in hand, to make Science Club
happen again this year. And since the
girls’ baby brothers are turning three,
I suppose we’d better finally start
involving them, too…
October 2014
41
