Ondine

From today's Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9645626/Ofqual-more-schools-penalised-over-exam-cheating.html

Does she like jewellery? My 12 yr old says shamballa is all the rage. Or what about a Kindle

DD(14) says there are some good strong girls in the Cherub books, as well as Malorie Blackman.

I have girls of 12 and 14. The older one was largely immune to girls talk of weight and body image but it all got a bit wild when she started secondary school and also hit puberty around the same time. She would avoid eating all day, eat sweets and chcolote on the way home, then not want dinner, consequent impact on energy and mood. All very tough. She had friends who claimed to go 3 days on a bag of crisps and a coke. Etc etc etc Younger one had a classmate through years 4-6 who constantly told the other girls she wanted to be anorexic, commented endlessly on her own and others' weight and generally got them all going. Main thing is as in most parenting questions, just keep them grounded and talk about everything when the chances come up. I reinstated breakfast when I clocked they were not eating at school breakfast club and we eat round the table at home every evening - no matter how horrible they are being! And teaching them to cook seems to help with keeping a sound attitude towards food.

We traded down from the big brown bin to make room for the 2nd blue bin. Can go and get garden waste sacks when we need to, so it works out ok

We got a 2nd blue bin and fill about 1.5 per fortnight

And ps yes I agree the Hunger Games are good for this age - my older one was around 12 when she read them and both DDs loved them

I've just looked in my 12 yr old daughter's kindle and her recently read books are: The demon headmaster series - Gillian Cross dizzy - cathy Cassidy Face - Benjamin Zephaniah The gone novels by Michael Grant - she LOVES them and re-reads the whole series obsessively! HTH

Hmmm my older one saw homework as a necessary evil so would dash through it but she's naturally pretty neat and organised so it was never a problem. With no 2, I ended up refusing to battle with her and said it was her responsibility. Missed homework was the one criticism in her report that year (year 4, I think) and the fact it got a mention in the report did have an impact and she did it a bit more readily after that. She's now year 7 and they get punished straight away so she has has to get her act together somewhat. I've never seen the point myself. Other than things like spelling and times tables, which we would do walking to and from school.

My teenager volunteered to support the reading scheme in the libraries last summer and ended up doing 5 half days a week for 4 weeks, which was slightly too much but she mostly enjoyed it. She was at a Southwark secondary school and it was organised via Southwark libraries and the school librarian. My daughter was 13 at the time but when we went to the thank you event, most of the others were more in your son's age range. She basically administered the reading scheme during the times she was there - creating records of children taking part, asking them about what they had read and giving out stickers etc.

Great programme - I remember the houses at the top of camberwell grove were all squats when we first moved into southwark in the mid-90s. Not sure Lettsom Estate is as golden as it was depicted but I realise it was principally an architectural point and undoubtedly nicer than Aylesbury/Heygate

Can anyone remember some books with a girl called daisy - possibly one of Lauren child's series but not sure. There was a great one where she needed to dress up as a bridesmaid and she came up with a combat/khaki version of the dress. One was called something like "Reslly" and was all about her trying to bamboozle a babysitter

Why not cash ? My 14 yr loves a bit of imdependence. Or a trip to cowling & Wilcox if she likes art

Last year we had merlin passes and got discounts to the chessington hotel visit that gives you early entry to the theme park. The hotel is ok - dining room was dire but nice space behind and then the pre-opening entry to the theme park feels really privileged. We had about 3 rides on the bumper cars before it got busy

There is a whole element of what goes around comes around on this one. I gave my work blackberry back a few years ago when I noticed one of my kids starting to comment on it - constantly checking in on work was creeping up on me. And now they are 11 and 14 and I am so glad I gave it back as I was not a hypocrite when I needed to overrule the big one's wish to listen to her iPod at family meals! We are technology mad as a family but it's the point about how thinly you spread your attention. So now we all have kindles and we discuss whether we sometimes want a "reading dinner" when we're all a bit frazzled. Or we might have an iPad on the table and be sharing music or a film, but I csn't tell the teenager to keep her attention in the family if I am sitting there working.

we stayed in the Butlins hotel at Bognor a few years ago. Hotel itself was modern and comfortable but didn't like it otherwise. And it was one of those summers forecast as hot but turned out to be cold and stormy so we didn't get to enjoy the beach much either. DD2 still talks about the way she nearly blew away walking along the seafront!

Deal is nice if you want to go that far. Small and manageable for kids - creepy narrow passages you can wander around in the basement. And very close to town centre and beach.

I didn't try to teach my 2 to read but just concentrated on embedding a love of books. Trips to the library and/or lots of your own books, looking for vsriety - everything from Dr Seuss to traditional stories, tactile books, those first picture dictionaries. I also swear by audio books - both my kids have excellent listening skills (other than when being asked to do chores of course) and I'm sure this is from the audiobooks. In fact the younger one was listening to an audiobook on her iPod coming home from school yesterday. She was tired and grumpy from a long week and it calmed her right down.

I second the Lush suggestion - possibly even taking her along with some money to spend. The staff are lovely and will spend time talking to her about the products. I have an expensively addicted 11 yr old!

Hmmm yes. Unpleasant tone here. I spent 10 years living in supported housing with people with learning disabilities and they got so much of this kind of attitude all the time, including from children who had not been taught about tolerance and difference. Perfectly fair that she is curious but she can do that quietly. And as for the "hard stares" - shocking.

Do they know Just William?

Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am a rubbish singer but hAve yet to find a > situation where a little song isn't help with > difficult moments This made me laugh. My boss was giving me advice on coping with teenagers and she said threatening to sing in public works miracles!!

yes my kids came home last night saying inspectors are in, and there has been an email to parents today with the usual Ofsted survey

Their rules explicitly forbid supermarket deliveries

what about center parcs? You can do Longleat v easy by train