toddlers don't care for politics

ALL hell has broken loose in our house because it was just announced that Kevin Rudd has been elected leader of the federal Labor Party.

The reason for the civil unrest in East Victoria Park is not because we are all great union-friendly Labor supporters, nor is it because we are friends with the Beazleys (although Kimmy lives in nearby South Perth and I see him about from time to time).

No, the reason this not-so-shock-announcement has caused shockwaves in my home is because the announcement, the breaking news, interrupted "CHARLIE AND LOLA".

Now little-miss-I-don't-sle ep-all-night had just finally cried herself off to her morning nap and Mr 2.5 was happy watching telly. I had just boiled the kettle to sit down for the first coffee of the day, with a new Madison magazine. Then the news broke.

"Where's CHARLIE????" he wailed and ran to the television . "Go WAY MAN!!" he yelled at the talking head on the screen, live from Parliament House.

He was most upset as he then proceeded to reset the tuning and change the screen to a sea of psychadelic colours in a vain attempt to change the channel back to 'Charlie".

He also managed to turn the volume up as high as possible which meant he had to yell even louder to get me off the chair and over to him.

Unfortunately, my consoling didn't stop the anger and when it returned to usual programming, Charlie was over and "Little Robots" was on. Which he quite likes...usually. But he was now quite worked up - "NO ROBOTS NO ROBOTS NO ROBOTS" he yelled as I hoisted him up and into his room to cool down.

But the damage was done. As our house is not one of those big ones with activity rooms and parent zones (ie was built in the 1930s, and is kinda little) all this going on happened just outside of the little madam's bedroom door.

So as I returned to my coffee I heard that oh so familiar "eeeiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaa aa" from her room. Crap, the little b*tch was awake and there goes my five minutes of sanity. She is wailing now and I am pacifying her with my foot as I type.

So to the Labor Party - good on you, congratulations, fantastic. To the ABC who thought a bunch of pre-schoolers would actually give a rats-arse, brickbats. I know the ABC is run by a bunch of left-wing tree-huggers who are probably excited about this news but really, it could have waited.

I am now sleep deprived and cranky and my coffee was cold. Grrrr!!!

For the record, I quite like Kevin Rudd. I think he will be a good leader and heaven knows, the fed Labor Party needs one.