Kiri Pritchard-Mclean talks fostering and crisp sandwiches ahead of Edinburgh Fringe stand-up show

Kiri Pritchard-Mclean performs Peacock | Drew Forsyth

Like any other woman in her thirties I instantly bond with, I love interior design. The home section at TK Maxx is my happy place and as a result my partner and I have had to introduce a hard “no more gold animals” rule to our home. I think our style is maximalist, which as far as I can make out is a nice way of saying “a hoarder who favours jewel tones”.

Essentially our house makes a big impact as you walk in. But maybe we need to be inspired by a property developer,  committed to magnolia in order to flip a house. Because I now worry that too much impact isn’t a good thing? 

Lots of people have a difficult space in their home, an alcove too narrow for a bookcase, a dumping ground under the stairs but ours is a little different. We had to decorate two bedrooms to feel welcoming and cosy for a variety of children we had never met before. 

Just over three years ago my partner and I were approved by our local authority to be foster carers. We are approved to foster up to two young people over the age of four for up to two years. Since our approval, we’ve provided short breaks and stays to an assortment of brilliant young people. With each first meeting, I try to second guess which of the two rooms they might opt for and I can nearly never call it. Presumptions based on gender, interests and age fly out the window. It’s a small but valuable lesson in taking people as you find them and not letting your assumptions take the lead.

You might think that the teenage lads who come to stay with us would avoid the room painted in a forest green and light pink - told you our taste wasn’t for everyone- and some do. But others see a king-size bed and more floor space and it’s a no-brainer. Other young people adore the animal-patterned wallpaper in the smaller of the two rooms and the fact that the cat, using a flat roof for access, serenades the room’s occupant every morning until he is let in for a cuddle.

I used to be surprised when older children chose this room; it’s smaller and so is the bed but I am reliably informed that the curtains are impenetrable to sunlight so if you want a lie in, that’s the best room for it. Plus it’s the only place with decent 4G.

An outside eye on our home and life, from both social workers and young people, has been tough but enlightening. We are regularly analysed, supervised, assessed and fed back on and I’ve been surprised at how rewarding I’ve found that part of fostering. Each young person who comes to us teaches us how to be better at what we do. They also say things like, “you have eleven dead things in your living room” and make you realise you need to thin out the taxidermy in the lounge. 

Decorating the perfect bedroom for an as-yet-unknown guest is a perfect example of how fostering is challenging the way we view the life and world we’ve built for ourselves. For someone as stridently independent and headstrong as me it’s forced me to check my resting state of “I know best” and swap it instead for the more flexible and hopefully empathetic, “what do you think?”. I don’t always know best because how could I know a young person better than they know themselves?

Our aim is to have longer placements in the future and we’re excited about letting a young person take the lead on owning their own space and giving the room a makeover. RIP to that green and pink combo. My partner and I didn’t begin fostering because we wanted to learn more about ourselves, this isn’t a trip to self-actualisation via our local council offices.

However, the more young people we get to spend time with the more we learn and the bigger our world gets. It starts with bedrooms but it leads to a greater understanding of the impact poverty is having on families and the support networks around. We are educated on the lack of mental health support that affects so many families and the really big stuff like which crisp goes best in a sandwich.

We love it and our lives and outlooks are very different even after only three years. We look to a future full of more young people, more laughing, more teenagers and maybe more decorating. Oh and if you’re wondering about the best crisp in a sandwich it’s salt and vinegar discos.

See Kiri Pritchard-McLean perform her stand-up show inspired by her experience fostering, Peacock, at Pleasance One, Pleasance Courtyard, at 6pm between August 2 and 4.