kids these days...

Just got back from babysitting my neighbour's two children... I got a text from the mother J. this afternoon asking if I could come babysit tonight as she had an art class that she had to get to and her husband was out of town. As my plans for tonight had been cancelled, I said yes.

J and her family live in the flat below me, but unlike my old British flat with dodgy carpets, theirs is totally refurbished with a large open plan kitchen and living room area, wooden floors and massive floor to ceiling windows that back into their private yard. It's a totally different place, and to be honest, I've missed being in a family home.

J's children are adorable... L is 9 and the sweetest thing while M is 12, a bit mischievous with a little attitude, but still a good kid. We ate supper together, then M. raided the pantry for some chocolate, which we all shared and then I sat at the kitchen table helping L with her maths homework.

It was an idyllic scene of Martha Stewart-like serenity... the babysitter helping the little girl with her math homework, as she reads each question aloud and works out the answer on a piece of graph paper.

The only difference here is that the babysitter is frantically working out the answers on her blackberry because she can't do simple arithmetic in her head anymore, and the little boy isn't quietly reading a book, but is rather playing a video game which involves getting points for vandalism, beating up other kids and stealing panties from girls... did I mention that he's 12??

Amid cries of M going 'yah, take that' while his character smashes a cricket bat over another player's head, L is sweetly asking me how to solve a math problem that should be simple, but I have no idea how to do...

i feel old.