My third child – and only daughter – is turning out to be quite sassy.

In her Grade 000 Term 2 report, her teacher tells us she is the self-appointed class leader who does her very best to ensure the rules are followed.

“At times, her strong sense of fairness and approach to enforcing these rules can lead to tricky situations, as she is still learning that using her body to communicate is not a solution when negotiations fail.”

In other words, my sweet three-year-old is wrestling her classmates to the floor when they refuse to follow her instructions.

The other day she matter-of-factly told me one of her friends had bitten her at school. When I asked why, she insisted it was completely unprovoked. In light of her report, I suspect her classmate may simply have grown tired of being ordered around.

Hopefully she’ll have fine-tuned her leadership skills before anyone asks her to run the country.

The July holidays have been a lovely mix of beach days, soaking up the vibe at the Ballito Pro, and the kids mucking about at home while we worked.

The older boys’ favourite pastime has been running their sweet shop from the street corner.
And good gracious, they have been doing well. They must be much cuter than even I realise because the number of people who tip them or let them “keep the change” is astonishing. They have been racking up a healthy profit and are regularly begging Papa to take them to Makro to restock.

We’re now seriously considering charging them fuel money for all the shopping trips.
On Saturday night we were given tickets to the rugby, which was a real treat.

It was fantastic to see Kings Park so full and the spirit of support so high.

Although I did wonder about the cultural appropriation from the section of the crowd that started paddling furiously at one point. But perhaps there were some Norwegians among them? Either way, full marks for enthusiasm.

While I love going to the Shark Tank to support the Boks, any game that’s a total walkover is rather a bore to watch. My suggestion that we hobble a few of our players to even the odds went down like a lead balloon with the male supporters in our group.

But honestly, you can’t pretend it wouldn’t have been more exciting if Wales had managed to put even a single point on the board. The 43-0 victory was a bit of a snooze-fest, but still far preferable to a loss.

Which got me thinking, perhaps Wales could use a Grade 000 class captain. Esti certainly has the leadership qualities. Whether the tackling techniques are World Rugby-approved is another matter entirely. We just need to swap the ear-piercing toddler shriek for a proper William Wallace-style roar, and I bet she’s get the job.