All over the country children go to stay with step-parents, stepbrothers and stepsisters at the weekends. It's just like an endless chain. A step-chain. One Mum's Enough is the first link in this step chain.
I'm Sarah, and my parents are separated. Not for much longer, if I have my way. Why should I have to stay with her and her 'perfect' daughters whenever I want to see my dad?
“Last night, on the phone, Dad gave me the wonderful (ha ha!) news that from now on, starting this weekend, we will be spending every other weekend with him. Up till that point in the conversation I felt fine. It was the next bit that nearly made me rush to the bathroom and be sick in the loo. In order to see our father, we will have to stay in her house! The thought of doing that every other weekend is too much to bear. I really don’t see why Dad can’t come home for just two days out of fourteen. It’s not asking much, is it?”
So as much as she hates the idea, Sarah agrees to go and stay with her dad and his new family for the weekend. As well as being angry and upset, she is curious to know what the “home-wrecker” and her daughters are like. Their attempts to welcome Sarah into their home and put her at ease only serve to make her feel claustrophobic and childish. Will these feelings of jealousy and distrust ever leave her…?
Anne Bryant’s punchy yet sympathetic writing provides an insightful exploration of a twelve-year-old girl’s thoughts and feelings faced with the prospect of having two families.
