sillywoman

You're so right Maki, & sometimes it's down to how each woman feels about her experience. I was with some women recently discussing birth experiences. One woman described her 'horrendous' birth to me, another woman then described her 'surprisingly alright' birth experience - they were almost identical in terms of length of labour, strength of contraction, speed of dilation (very slow!), what point they'd gone to hospital, what had happened once there and how baby was born. What was different was their view of it all. The first woman looked at the second & said 'but you had an awful time too', second Mum looked quite surprised and said 'did I?' - she just didn't see it that way.

Oh prdarling I'm so glad for you. I didn't post but was watching with interest. You must be over the moon - I hope you're having a big bottle of bubbly to celebrate? What a relief.

littleEDfamily Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > By 'better', I mean 'safer'. And there are > definitely safer places for teenagers. An Island in the outer hebrides maybe? It just depends where you draw the line I guess? I/ we may just have been lucky to date, though we've had our share of bikes stolen, but if we have then almost all my local friends & their kids have too. Will check out the SNT thread though, & thanks for the tips WoD, I'll pass them o to my kids.

kacenka76 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think we should really wake up > and aknowledge the fact that we carry the > responsibility of what is my child going to grow > into, happy, self loving, confident human being or > is he going to struggle, go through psychotherapy > and will be trying to find that love, which was > denied to him for the rest of life I rather think that I, along with most other mothers I know, carry the seriousness of that responsibility with us daily. Most of us do our best within the circumstances we have to create option 1 for our child. However sometimes, & for a myriad of reasons, our well loved children will find themselves in option 2 at some point in their adulthood. It is a cliche, but really - all we can do as parents is our best. Our kids , once grown, will be what they'll be, as long as they know we're along for the ride with them, and did our best for them at any given time - that's surely the most important information? Not did Mum work or didn't she?

I guess it depends on your definition of 'better'. We like it here, warts and all & I feel privileged to raise my family in this great community.

I dunno about scary LEDF, maybe we've been lucky but for my 2 teens and the majority of their friends they seem to be having the kind of teenage I could only have dreamed of in small town middle England. They are surrounded by kids & families they've grown up with, they treat London 'town' as their playground with easy, free access via bus & train. They're careful & aware of not putting themselves in risky situations - much the same as teens anywhere would be I imagine - I'm so thankful that we didn't do the 'move out' thing when they were younger. We did consider it (I think lots do?). My family out in the countryside seem to report just as many incidences of schoolyard bullying & teen on teen muggings. But as I said, maybe we've been lucky.

Odd thread this. OP - what sort of help do you want? Is it that you want to know whether any particular secondary has a reputation for high levels of knife crime, or do you want to hear of specific incidents? I can't quite get a purchase on yur reason for posting. saila - an interesting article, is it current? The only date I could see on it was from over 2 years ago. Maybe I'm misreading or not looking in the right place? WoD. I absolutely agree, friends whose kids have been victims of muggings or knife crime report that it tends to be in parks, bus stops or on the way home from school. I'm very interested in what you say about "knowing how to deal with this situation" being very important. It really set me thinking - I haven't really discussed this particular situation with my 13 & 14 year old, but I should. Are there any guidelines, or even awareness courses they could go on to learn what to do when confronted with the threat of violence/ danger from another person?

Maybe it depends a little on numbers new mother? I began as a 'let's debate the choices available' Mum. Now with 4 I'm most definitely a 'right - do this now 'cos I say so' Mum. Wouldn't touch OJ with a bargepole. I am what I am as a Mum & I'm too busy to 1) change significantly 2) Give myself any additional guilt over how crap a parent I am.

Yes, my husband has the same roots here minder - he's Herne Hill born & breed. We didn't move into a catchment area either, just stuck with the area he knew through bad times & now good ones (I cried when we first drove down LL to house hunt cos it was so grotty!). And yes LEDF, our house prices are the same as those in the ED schools 'black hole', slightly less actually. We have small gardens and a mix of privately owned, council & housing association - I guess that combination puts people off? Now 2 of our kids are at the Charter, the others in the Village. We don't have any issues at all with the local 'non-private options after primary' nor - seemingly - do any of our neighbours. I don't think being content with what we've got makes us self satisfied? Maybe it comes down to what we expect from a school? I just wanted my children to have the opportunity to learn in the best way they could, in an environment where they were surrounded by friends and people they've known all their lives. I wanted them to have roots and feel a part of a community, to walk past houses of people they knew on their daily journey to school. The schools they're at tick all those boxes for me, but I can see that those particular boxes aren't as important for everyone. Each to their own according to their circumstances, diversity makes the world go round and for interesting forum debate.

Hmmm, suspicious of your costings there LEDF - smacks a bit of self justification to me, & I know for a fact you're wrong - but we're well off topic now, the 'move or stump up' is a whole other debate, so I'm bowing out of this one with apologies to OP for taking the thread in a different direction.

Nope, nope and err, nope. BTW it's a common misconception that you have to live in the Village to go to the Village schools. Most kids, my kids know don't live there. As witnessed by the village school kids trailing up the hill of Calton Avenue at 3.30pm whilst the kids who live in the village come down it from the private schools at the top.

Haven't read the whole thread so I could be repeating already posted views - apologies if that's the case. It seems to me a simple case of good manners. If you see someone who looks as though they could do with a seat more than you (elderly, looking rough or ill, heavily pregnant, coping with babe in arms or toddler etc.etc.) then you offer them your seat. It's juts the way a civilised society works. You don't have to. If you need it more yourself, or you're an arse then don't offer it. It's your choice. OP - I suggest you take your whingeing "but It's not fair" attitude back to Mummy (who luckily for you was pregnant herself once) so she can make it all better. On the other hand she might tell you to man-up & show some respect for your fellow members of the human race.

Eerrgh! Jack Wills sells outrageously overpriced preppy stuff to suckers with too much money & not enough brain cells. Typical prices; ?70 for a sweatshirt, nearly ?50 for a bra & knickers, a dress anywhere from ?70 - ?300. Definitely more Cla'am than ED. 14 year old daughters group went through a JW phase last year. They soon got over it when they realised what a rip off it was. When the latest catalogue came recently it went straight in the bin accompanied by silent cheering from me. WoD - I have a feeling you're trolling & I agree with Ann. A Waitrose . . . now you're talking.

Err, you're wrong little EDfamily our 4/5 bedroom house & others in our street, firmly in the Hamlets catchment, has a current valuation of the same or less than many equivalent size/age houses in ED and Bellenden area. In some cases (Upland rd & round there) much less.

:))

Some midwives I know of think that if a woman has bad indigestion it's a sign that the baby will be born with lots of hair. We disproved that belief completely with number 2 child though.

woofmarkthedog Wrote: - they tried Cubs but like my 9 > year old said > > "I don't need to sit there for 20 minutes being > told how to behave, I get enough of that at school > thanks." > :( for your boys Woof'. My boys experience of cubs & scouts (St Faiths & Bellenden Rd) hasn't been at all like that. Much more raucus, lots of running around games at the beginning & the end, with a bit of badge work in the middle.

There's one in Bellenden Rd, Peckham (SE15), one at St Stephens church up College Rd (SE21) & one in St Faith church hall, Redpost Hill (SE24). Those are only the one's I know of - there may be more.

poor you observermum - i take it you're not an ED-er then?. Here at the southern tip of Southwark we're lucky enough to have some great state secondaries now. In fact a lot of people move here for the secondary provision.

just make sure you get one that's for labour & birth as the ones for chronic back pain don't work on labour pain - even if it's in your back. Also, if you are using one, get it put on with the first contraction or as early in the labour as possible. If you leave it until the labour is really going it won't work well. If you use it right from early on then it stands a better chance of being a helpful form of pain relief. For what it's worth I do think it's worth getting hiring or borrowing one (or buying if it's cheap enough). It may or may not help you manage labour pain, but for ?15 it's worth the gamble to have the option to try it.

Bumpy, sorry - nothing helpful to add. Just wanted to say you'd probably get a better response to this post if you put it in the 'General ED', or 'Wanted' sections. hope you find somewhere. SW.

Really well done GG. We're very proud of you all. Fantastic news.

I know a baby born to Johnny Cash's "ring of fire" quite recently. Highly appropriate really . . . .

I've heard a condom partially filled with water then frozen can provide some relief!

Poor you F, what a horrible thing to happen. So glad to hear baby is OK. Please keep on with The Lanes Midwives, despite the crappy start. Don't let them off the hook though, they should've contacted you to arrange an appointment by now. I know they're busy, but make sure you don't slip through the net.