Most mornings I manage to make lunch for my wife before she heads off to work.

"How cute," you say, and maybe that's true.

It seems fair after all those years she had to satisfy the fickle demands of three children - plus do their hair, the shoe laces, and those many random things no parent is trained for.

Me? I most often retreated into the world where men can only do one thing at a time, usually that was making sure the Vegemite was spread right to the edges of the toast.

Big job, the kids were watching like hawks to make sure it was done right.

The kids have left the nest now after we made certain they could find Vegemite on the supermarket aisles.

So I figure a bit of payback doesn't hurt, and there I am packing some strawberries from the fridge into the wife's little freezer-bag-thingy she keeps her lunch in.

"No single use plastics, the kids are right onto it," the wife advised.

I forgot to mention she is a school teacher, her love affair with small children shows no signs of abating.

Unless they're related to me, I can retreat into a welcome new world, that of the grumpy, old codger, and keep a respectful distance - the children, not me.

So my wife is critiqued by a whole classroom of Greta Thunbergs, she of "how dare you", the Swedish climate activist.

Sweden - the home of ABBA, Volvo and H. & M.

H.& M. you know, the clothing retailer, anyway I have to mention it, my daughter runs one of their stores in Melbourne.

Yes my daughter knows how to make toast, and no, she has never met Greta.

My daughter did have the Swedish ambassador around when she launched H.&M's store in Canberra late in 2017, maybe the ambassador knew Greta?

So now I send the wife's lunch off in reusable containers with a new respect with the youth of today.

I have been so impressed with their efforts these past few weeks, please continue.

My generation has failed to make a difference with so many things, I for one am happy to take the lead from the next, or the one after, on how to make it right.

Chris McLennan

Editor, Katherine Times