Pickle

I've never used Napisan - very occasionally I use a bit of vanish, but generally just standard washing powder and the magic of sunshine.

When I was filling out school nursery enrolment forms, I had to text my husband to ask whether daughter's birthday was the 16th or the 17th :-$ I ALWAYS forget, I blame it on the fact that I went in to hospital to be induced on the 16th... so to me it was just one long day!

I took mine off as soon as the kids were able to climb up and down by themselves - we didn't use the harness. Strict rules from day 1 of no baby set about not getting down from the table seem to have worked.

Early days with baby #1, postman rings doorbell while I'm still in bed feeding baby. Pull on a pair of trackie bottoms to make myself semi-presentable, and open the door with one boob hanging out of bra. Oh the shame.

This is much needed in the area. If you provide a facility that is bright, clean, and caters well for both kids and parents (coffee?) I think you will do really well. Good luck - we will be customers!

Yes, as we got older we were allowed to read in bed too, and I plan to do the same with my kids once they're old enough to read by themselves.

7pm in our household, for both the 4.5 and 3 year old... that's been their bedtime since pretty much day 1 and I figure I'll get at least a couple more years of that time as once they start school full time they'll be knackered. Both wake somewhere between 6:30 and 7am, but don't get up until 7am. I grew up in a household where we were all in bed early - by 8pm right through primary school, and 9pm in high school. My neighbours operate to very different hours, their 4 year old is often heard charging up and down the hallways at 11pm or even later with her brothers who are around 8 and 10 years. I wonder how kids who are up that late can function at school?!

Hi MrCheeky, Are you referrring to private messages you've been sent rather than just replies to posts on the forum itself? With private messages you do hit reply, but once you've written your message you have to "post message" to send it. To see whether your messages are getting through and being read, look in your "sent items" folder - this will show you whether it has been read by the recipient or not. Hope that helps.

My kids are counting down the minutes until the procession - noise making implements at the ready! Looking forward to it, despite the weather.

As parents of the school (which I think the majority on this thread are) it's important to be positive, and see the change as a good thing for the school. Here's hoping a great new head is found who will help the school move onwards and upwards. I haven't had many dealings with Shirley, but on the couple of occasions I met her to speak to I found her very friendly and wish her the best.

Letters have been handed out a few times this week (they've arrived home in my son's Pact bag). We got another one today saying the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday has now been postponed until the start of the Autumn term "so that we can all thoroughly prepare, and give you more detailed information. It will also give us time to take on board your feedback and incorporate responses to that in the next meetings". Very sensible, here's hoping the meetings later in the year are more informative and conducted in a more constructive manner.

My friends took their little girl to a festival when she was about 2.5... she was notorious for peeling stickers off so they wrote their mobile numbers on both arms and both legs in felt pen just in case :))

All the theory and well meaning opinion in the world does not compare to the day when you have your own children who you are dealing with 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Would be interesting to revisit this thread in the future Zeban, if and when you have kids :) Would be interested to hear what's happened today from the OP too... please update us.

Zeban, do you have children?

Zeban, in what way is Moos taking it personally? As far as I can see she's asking a genuine question of people (including yourself) who don't use the naughty step/time out methods and wants to know what you do instead. Perhaps you could just answer the question?

I'm sure they'd build you a helipad right outside your house in the street, they are a solutions type of company!

Ever have one of those days where you wonder whether these people have an ounce of common sense? Just had a young guy ring the doorbell. "Hi, I'm Ashley from XXX, I'm here to sell you our stuff" "Your stuff?" "Yeah, we sell stuff like windows" "Oh, OK. We don't need any windows thank you" "We also sell garages. Do you need a garage?" "I'd love a garage, but (indicate mid terraced house with no real space out the front) there's not really anywhere to put one" "Have you got a back garden?" "Yes" "We could build you one in there instead". "What a great idea. So I'll just consult with all the people in the streets that back onto our garden, to make sure they're happy with me somehow creating a driveway down the side of a terrace, through some of their gardens, into our new garage" "Great, shall I send someone round to write up a quote?". Sigh. I sent him on his way, wishing him luck, I think he'll need it!

One visit to Daniel Harvey the chiropractor on Crystal Palace Road and you'll be sorted - trust me!

Surely "time out" type discipline is a very common thing? I've never read a book on discipline in my life (and can't stand the supernanny woman so never watch it), but in situations where one of my children is kicking off to me it seems like a very logical way of dealing with it. Naughty step, time in their bedroom etc, most parents I know use variations on these techniques (albeit with over 2's). In my son's school nursery they have a seat which is used for time out purposes, placed away from the other children (kids are age 3 and up).

It doesn't sound like they are babies though, if they can say "I love you Daddy, let me back in". I guess some people would consider it a much preferable way of disciplining than smacking. But without knowing more about the situation you can't really judge.

I agree with Redjam. On occasions, if my kids are really pushing the boundaries, I will put them out in the garden to allow both them and me to blow off some steam (or their bedrooms if it's raining/snowing, I'm not THAT mean!). They will often scream and shout much more than is justified in the situation. I'm not sure I would leave them for 10 minutes, but at the end of the day I guess 10 minutes in the garden (which I assume in this case is enclosed and safe) isn't going to harm a child.

I went in one morning with my little girl, for a quick drink and snack before we went to pick up her brother from school. The place was almost empty, I went up to the counter to order and were told to sit down as it was table service. We sat down, 10 minutes later nobody had come to serve us, so we left as were starting to be pushed for time. There were two other tables of people, all sitting with empty plates in front of them, while the waitress stood round at the till examining her nails. Not the best customer service I've ever come across! Such a lovely location and a fabulous airy building, it could do so well, but I walk past often and have noticed the number of customers dwindling.

At the meeting we were told that preferred admissions only result when it's a "hard federation" model, which is not what's being proposed for Goodrich, so not sure this would apply. No names of schools being approached were provided to parents, so probably best to avoid speculation at this point.

Irrespective of whether becoming an academy is the best for Goodrich or not (I'm undecided if I'm honest, I need to do some more reading on the subject), I thought the major downfall at the meeting was the way in which the governors approached it. To me it was very a much a "this is what we're doing, we'll listen to your feedback, but it makes no difference to what we're doing" approach, which was a shame. If they had approached it with a more constructive, open-minded, discussional approach I feel they would have gained the support of a lot more parents. I'll be attending the future meetings with interest.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy - one of the best books I have read for a long long time, highly recommended.