Medusa

At four mine were fanatic about Playmobil, sticker books, play dough, painting and making elaborate things out of Lego. I might be inclined to go for an arts & crafts kit, if none of the above appeal. Or a pocket kite.

I am struggling to understand what is so complicated about all of this. Surely cyclists should cycle as safely as possible with proper safety equipment, including lights, esp with children in tow, and drivers should drive as safely as possible, which covers being aware of other road-users, such as cyclists. End of story, no?

^ Don't bank on it. I had three children on the waiting list and one was only 4th at the end of the summer term but ten months later, none of them had got in. Other kids, one of whim was 100th on the waiting list, did, however. Make of that what you will. I was told it was just a result of regular list shuffling.

I had one of my triplets come home on oxygen. It took a further 6 weeks to wean him off it, so 18 weeks altogether. Happy to talk/meet but got ill child atm.

I don't think I will ever forget those first months actually. I'll answer your PM tomorrow- herding teenagers to bed.

I have three once-29 weekers. They are thirteen now. I'm happy to chat about it all.

Q-bot: Legoland VIP queuing system. You pay extra for the privilege of a much shorter queue; Legoland gets richer. 1. Take food & drink. The stuff there is horrible and expensive and involves more queuing. 2. Be prepared for lots of standing around. 60-90 mins for the best rides at busy times. 3. Take waterproof jackets if you're going on wet rides. You really will get pretty wet. 4. Decide your policy on Legoland merchandise before you go so as to avoid a showdown with clamouring children when you're all tired. 5. Have fun!

The Bee is great for pavements and really easy to manoeuvre but I hate how rickety it feels on uneven surfaces. The Sexby Gardens in Peckham Rye Park, for example, are awful with a Bee. If money were no object, a Bee for street use and maybe a Micralite Superlite for bumpier terrain.

Yes, I have. Oh well.

So many views but no posts/PMs... :(

I was hoping to get some information about Charter and specifically, how well integrated children with ASDs and related difficulties are within the wider school community. I would greatly appreciate hearing from any parents of children with Asperger's in particular. Thanks.

How old is he?

Yes, my kids argue that it is 'creative and educational'. In fact one of my sons has found ways of doing his Year 8 homework on Minecraft: designing a place of worship. I can see the appeal of it. The Minecraft mania has forced me to impose screentime limits, though, so as to reduce the compulsive quality of the whole thing. I know my children are more obsessive than most, but this seems to affect most kids who play, especially the boys. (Feminist-Medusa dies a little inside.)

Take a deep breath. Minecraft is like a hurricane that will leave your life shaken to its foundations. My children were introduced to it when they were about eleven and its grip has, if anything, tightened. Oh, the arguments it has caused, but oh, the fun too, my kids would add. We started out with an old(ish)computer. Ideally you's want something with more RAM for it to work best and/or a separate graphics card. That said, my three manage with 4-6GB RAM. They are not impressed with the tablet version of it, but say it would probably be okay for younger children because it's a simplified version of the game. Beware the chat function that comes with it. My kids learned all kinds of swear words and picked up some badass habits. The chat bar can be disabled, though. If you don't know any older kids yourself, I am happy to lend you mine to show you/your son how it works.

When my children were younger and still woke to pee at night (with that frantic, urgent look), I took a camping loo. Not a chemical one, but one like a toilet-sized potty. You can have it in the tent or just outside and it means you don't have to tramp across a field in the dark with a squirming child to get to the toilets. I still have one, in fact, if you'd like to borrow it.

I have a Gelert Meridian 10 (but it also comes as an 8-berth). It is absolutely the bees' knees in every way. I have taken 3/4 children camping in it and can't fault it. We got caught in 60mph winds and while every other tent on the site blew down and got wrecked, mine just had one section of a pole break. The Meridian tents have bedroom areas that can have 'doors' put up or down depending on your requirements. It also has a large living area that you can stand up in throughout. After our first couple of trips I got a porch to go with it because that extra bit of dry space is great when you have classic camping weather. If you'd like to try one out before you buy, I am very happy to lend mine out.

Nothing surprises me. The first formal complaint I made mysteriously vanished so the Board of Governors never saw it and when I asked for a complaints from the second time, I was told they didn't have them any more. When I tried to discuss issues with Ofsted, they weren't even interested in listening. Corrupt, the lot of them.

If you opt for the recorder, I have one you can have, along with books 1-3.

I will also PM you later.

Sounds remarkably like the behaviour of the Head of my kids' former primary close to Dunstan's Road *cough*. The man's an ar5e, Pickle. To hell with it. I hope your trip goes as well as such things can.

Ah, the condescension of teenagers...

Allergy testing is problematic, though. Two of my triplets have had allergic reactions a few times and testing at King's didn't shown anything, which, from what I was told, is very often the case. Unless you have a common allergy or a clue as to what the allergen might be, you may not find out anything useful.

I have been thinking of how many times I have gone to pick stuff up from other forum members, forgotten their house numbers and rung the wrong doorbells, sometimes then walking away when I have realised. Oh dear.

My teenagers have been almost reasonable human beings today. Baffling, they are.

It's from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.