Saila

are you talking about those little red tunnels? the ones that would never hide my arse in a million years, let alone a pack of drug fueled paedos?

What was wrong with the swings?

but.... if we get 'proper' inflation i.e. wage inflation which hasn't happened yet, then house prices may participate in asset rises. Equities and Houses have historically risen in moderate inflationary environments in the past. Who knows - it's only a matter of time before the unions will be out demanding wage inflation (by year end?) then we'll see real inflation... If this happens and houses participate (an assumption that may not happen), then everyone's mortgages will shrink, relative. A painful way of sort of paying everyone's massive debts off is to stimulate moderate inflation... i.e. just print a load of money and keep interest rates low.. hmmmmmmm

Completely agree: 'get back to the kitchen sink' stuff What riles me is that men weren't mentioned ! It's all *our* fault. Rising self harm and depression must be linked to woman having a life... In the same way that erm... Scooter sales have gone up? Does that mean scooters cause children to self harm? That program probably caused a load of mums to self harm after watching it Hmmm... I think it may have made me angry too :) They had mums on there with serious issues and problems in the home And then made out that their issues somehow represented modern mums today Anyway, perhaps the ending was better...

Parents?! I like how they used that word ... It's 'MUMs under pressure' And this sort of program fuels the pressure I have to admit I turned this off through boredom but I didn't see a Dad being interviewed once... So predictable

yes - i looked into this the other day i think 3-bed, terrace houses are renting out for ?500/week (correct me if i'm wrong here - i didn't spend much time looking at it) which at 20x makes the value approx >?500k to buy which i think is about right?

more nanny Q&A NANNY/CHILDMINDER Q&A Do you have CRB check, First Aid and Nanny Qualifications? Why do you want to be a nanny? What do you like most about looking after children? What do you like least about looking after children? How easy is it to get to the house? What?s your experience of looking after babies? Why did you want to change jobs? Why did you leave x, y, z job? What would your ideal nanny job entail? What do you look for in a family? How do you discipline a toddler? Do you have a routine to your day? Describe a typical day looking after children? How do you get a baby to sleep? Do you have weaning and potty training experienced? What would you do if you had two children crying at the same time? How do you manage your relationship with the parents? How many sick days did you take last year? How long are you looking to stay in your new role? What?s your notice period? How much are you expecting in terms of pay? Do you have any questions? References

And leave the doors unlocked to save on bent door draft or smashed window costs They rifle through your cds occasionally (none of mine have been nicked yet... Hmmm) All I've lost is a radio that didn't work and my shopping trolley pound coin

Hi - thanks i guess the reason i posted the thread was to get ideas as to what else to do in public situations that aren't child friendly - whether it's a post office queue or supermarket or cafe cafe trips are no more than a once month experience so i'm not (at all) worried about this becoming a bad behaviour. new ideas from other mums could be really useful so this doesn't become a precendent... hence the thread any ideas anyone?

hello i have a 14 month old who's just beginning to show some stubborness and tantrum-like behaviour, especially if he's a bit tired. I thought i'd start a thread to ask for people's tips as to how they deal with these situations in various environments. so, e.g. in the house, if he's screaming for something he can't have or just being difficult, i'll pick him up and put him in his play area and walk away. This always works for me but he's young and the tantrums haven't really set in yet... In public, I basically give him what he wants to avoid upsetting those around me (cafe) this can be a chocolate button or something i.e. a bribe. I try to bring a few chocolate buttons with me to cafes etc. What do you do? As all kids are different, it's useful to have some tricks/methods or 'dont dos' from those who have more experience thanks in advance

i'm living in the hope that, yes our generation has to work hard as we are in a transition from the past to the future. But it's our generation that's bringing up the next generation of Dads. Let's hope we succeed in passing on the right messages. We reap what we sow?

i'm in 'yuck' and the 'clever marketing trick' camp >"I think it's very telling that even women who bf often go "yuck" at the idea of drinking it, while we don't think twice about drinking the milk of cows." ... is that a fair comparison? I love steak... but not sure i'd fancy eating a chunk of muscle off someone's back? edit to say: plus - most people feel a huge instinct to bf, it's been done for thousands of years and it's completely 'natural' I have NO instinct to feed off fellow human beings. I can't for the life of me ever remember reading that cave men/woman felt a bit parched and thought... "hmmm... so and so's just had a baby - i'll nip over next door and ask if she'd mind..." edit 2nd time to say: As it's basic biology to bf - it's basic biology to feed DOWN the food chain - not across. As with pretty much every other species out there. i mean... really?

>"If I was the cynical sort, I'd say Labour are cutting back hard to make the Tory's national cuts look worse than they need be. It's not really in their interest (nationally) to do this in the least pain-free way possible." or ... you could interpret this as Labour being damned if they do & damned if they don't?

oh dear and in broad daylight! how did they get in - do you know? definitely takes two... those tvs are heavy!

There's something about the y-chromosome that disengages male brains when it comes to hanging clothes out to dry My 13 mnth old son (very sweetly) copied me the other day by putting a pile of laundry on the horse I can honestly say it was no worse than when his dad does it (nearly 40yrs old)

.. yes - age must be a lot to do with any differences we are having kids a lot older, perhaps we've had more opportunity to climb the ladder and taste freedom... whereas our mums were torn away from (work) life much earlier on?

Belle Absolutely - and there are probably more examples of the opposite (i.e woman wanting to work despite having SAHMs for mothers) just out of interest - did your mum think that at the time, or in retrospect? Say after a few years? It might be that one day you'll think more like your mum perhaps? or perhaps not. Just thinking out loud.

>Does anyone think there are degrees of maternal instinct or it is a binary thing you just have or don't have? could a major influence be the way our mums brought us up? i've found one common theme is poss that mums feel "pulled" to be SAHMs IF they had SAHMs themselves? it's pretty normal 'instinct' to do what we had as children. I have that feeling. My mum went back to work as soon as she coould and i kinda feel that's normal and that's what i did. That's probably why i dont get the guilt that some mums get? It's just normal to me. Plus my mother didn't go back for financial reasons. She just loved her job. So she was a strong influence on me and a big role model for me and i like that. If i have a girl, I want her to see that i'm happy working and be a role model for her too. When i leave her with the nanny or at school, i'm not going to say 'mum needs to earn money so you can eat/go to a good school etc'. I want to say 'I'm going to work cos i love what my job' just a thought

>"So, I will do an external job to earn money to pay someone to enjoy the best years of my children's lives. " that's a bit gloomy no? my mum would say it just gets better and better? i still see my M&D 2-3x a week i'm not even sure my mother was that happy when we were all toddlers. She found it a struggle (my father didn't help out) and she missed her job. anyway - just to say that these years aren't necessarily a ring fenced part of ones life that you have to grab on to before you lose everything? family life can live on past 7yrs, or even 18yrs for that matter and be as rewarding, if not more so :)

i would do what feels right for you and ignore contradictions and pressure from those books/websites youre talking about. Remember that survey on mumsnet that said mums felt more under pressure these days ... cos of websites like mumsnet :) sounds a bit like they're trying to warn you off it cos you may have to 'break' a cycle later on but from these stories it sounds like that's not really a problem anyway i was a gina (lite) / co-sleeping, mum and will absolutely do it again cos it worked really well for *us* but my god i've felt awful pressure that what i did was somehow 'wrong' ... or even 'cruel' it's amazing what ppl say about *your* choices good luck xx

"Saila, that's up to each couple to decide surely, rather than a broader social pressure?" absolutely - didn't mean to make a sweeping statement - it's fair to say, i had to negotiate my way out of the classic assumption that i do all the household stuff... MOH is great but let's just say that it didn't come from him... i had to instigate job sharing / childcare when sick etc i organise everything - my secretary has my nanny's phone number, i'm not sure his secretary knows he has a baby.... and i can see it elsewhere but obviously there are exceptions, like yourself and us now that we've worked things out

I think you're right I also think many woman *want* to take a step back - but how much of that is giving up knowing they've got a fight ahead in terms Of 'doing it all' Has it something to do with being on maternity leave for so long, it gets entrenched. In that the woman does *everything* in terms of organising the house Cos she's 'off' and to break out of this is that much harder so they sort of give up This wasn't the case for us, but I hear you with 'exceptions to the rule' I thinnk the above is the more common situatiopn Plus... How much money earmed doesn't really impact things. The male just gets prorirty it seems. I earm nearly 3x my partner, makes no difference

"How wonderful it would be if it was equally acceptable for the father to work parttime/leave early for pickups etc. How wonderful if say, your male boss (if you have one) or your partner's boss did this. It's all about getting role models in place, so it becomes the new norm. " this isn't a far off reality at all... i really believe we're nearly there my boss is a woman (she actually runs the company, which is a globally recognised firm) she brought her baby into a mtg with her once and breastfed him my direct boss is a man and shares pick up / drop off equally with his wife (at PWC) so there is hope and there is change happening now :)

i'm fulltime working mum with just one toddler and can't imagine how tough it must be pregnant too *and* doing drop off and pick up?! my partner is away for 7 weeks so i'm about to have a similar set up but not pregnant (hopefully) what i've found is that since i only need to cook for me now, life is *much* easier. i would suggest dropping this as your responsibiility - either get him to do dinner (which means thinking about what you're going to eat too, not just being directed by you) even if it means eating late and taht will make life a lot easier good luck x

i think they tried to relax the laws a bit so that people who needed more space, but couldn't afford to move, could gain space by moving up.