When I was six my Grandpa built me a toy supermarket.  I spent hours behind the counter weighing out sugar and flour and pouring them into little paper bags for my clientele of teddy bears and walkie-talkie dolls.

Things have changed since then.

Yesterday my children, boy 13 and girl 9, played "Drug Shop".

My son recently earned himself a laptop and on that laptop he watches Skins.  I've never seen the programme but I hear it has good reviews, famous guest stars and a fair amount of comedy.  It also seems to be a good place for teenagers to learn about sex and drugs.

I was busy working upstairs and came down to a beautiful display on the kitchen table.  "Mummy, is this what a drug shop would look like if you went to Jamaica?" 

They had made (and I must point out quite clearly that we don't take illegal drugs in our house and very rarely even drink) little bowls of "coke", paracetamol posing as "pills", a dish of oregano "weed" and several "joints" made from post-it notes.  The table was decorated with Buddhas and a fancy dress belly-dancing outfit.

My daughter had made a sign for the front of the shop; it read "Hedgehog and Drug Shop" with a delightful picture of a little girl with a hyperdermic needle stuck in the top of her head!?

I pondered on the "hedgehog" bit and later my husband relayed a conversation he had had with the children in which he had mentioned that hippy shops were sometimes called head shops ... 'head shop' - 'hedgehog'?  Apparently that led on to a totally different discussion; but that's another story!