Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
A quieter week ahead for me, which makes a pleasant change, with husband travelling and the oldest child embarking on his first Duke of Edinburgh expedition in Oman.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a youth awards programme founded in the UK in 1956, which has since expanded to 144 nations.
The awards recognise young adults for completing a series of self-improvement exercises including volunteering, skills and physical, but for now the teen is concentrating on the expedition section.
Map reading, a lot of walking, team building and camp craft are all skills that he should gain in abundance, but hopefully not much first aid!
The young man is very excited to be going and in the age of connectivity with no phones, computer or tablet in sight, I am also ecstatic.
Kids are also better off when they accomplish something without having to think about how their parents would view it, most of our happiest childhood memories are of a parent-free moment.
Exploring, taking risks and trying new identities are all good for our children.
So here’s to a week of independence for many teenagers.
I’m sure the students will return home happy but exhausted and, hopefully, more thankful for all those home comforts.
He is lucky that Oman is the chosen destination, with stunning landscapes, deserts, mountains and soft sand beaches. There are no natural predators either so he is more likely to be woken by a gazelle than a hungry bear.
Oman also has fairly mild weather which certainly beats the deepest English countryside on a cold, wet and muddy day.
In comparison Bahrain has had chilly, misty mornings but the afternoons have been sublime, with sunny, crisp days. Hopefully there’s a few months to enjoy, for me, Bahrain at its best.
