Mr. Waffle and I like to watch University Challenge. He likes it a lot more than me as he knows more of the answers. I have forbidden him from shouting them out if he thinks I might know them and I seize control of the remote so that the bright young things on the telly can be paused and not get there before me. That way, I get to enjoy it too.
Sometimes I like to make this a family viewing opportunity. This is always a mistake. There is usually at least one round where the children know the answers and this is pleasing for them [there was one on the Horrid Henry books the other day, they are also very solid on Greek legends which is always a help]. So that is a plus. As against this, the following things usually happen:
The children can answer no other questions and get bored;
One of them starts to make noise by tossing something around the room [balloons have been a recent favourite];
Mr. Waffle gets annoyed with a child for making noise during the questions;
The child he is annoyed with stomps out of the room;
The offended child has to be lured back into the room;
The show has to be paused again so that one of the children can tell a random story from school;
Mr. Waffle gets annoyed;
The whole thing has to briefly be suspended to allow for the “everyone be quiet now and be good or it’s straight to bed” speech;
The remainder of the show is watched in surly silence by all of us.
Somewhat related: one evening Queen’s were on and I said, “We have to support the Irish university”. One of the children said, “Well, maybe they wouldn’t want us to support them, are they the English Irish or the Irish Irish?” This is why they say that Irish identity is complex.
