Bouncy

http://www.atl.org.uk/publications-and-resources/report/2012/2012-september-cover-story-ofsted.asp

Congratulations - exciting time! Do you want to go to the classes for information or to meet people? If the former, in my experience the NCT classes basically duplicated the hospital ones, but with rather a biased push towards anti-intervention and home birth. So not worth the time and money from that point of view. If you want to meet people, however, may be worth going even without your partner, if you'll be the one off on maternity leave and looking for things to do / people to meet up with in the local area...?

fapl - was about to say exactly the same thing. Haven't given birth at Kings but at St Thomas'; similar experience to many on here - excellent midwife / doctor person-centred medical care when things went contrary to plans and finally got assigned a slot and admitted, but highly stressful and unpleasant pre-admittance and on post-natal ward. Again, due to them just being way past capacity. Given that South London maternity services are already clearly utterly overstretched, I'm very tempted to have another baby in good time before Lewisham closes!

http://www.edinborocastlepub.co.uk/ - great garden, good drinks (but grumpy staff to be tolerated!)

I re-read and enjoyed Whit recently; would also recommend (as someone already has) Walking on Glass, and of course The Wasp Factory...

I'm a bit confused about the roles...Mummy Pig works on her computer sometimes - but it always looks like she is writing a letter, rather than studying or working freelance (though how you would convey that...?!). As a mother who often works at home, perhaps I am analysing this aspect of things too much, though!!!

Congratulations! Lovely news... How did he propose, if that's not too personal??

I remembered this thread when I saw this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/mar/25/education-harris-academies-curriculum

Slightly off on a tangent, and very British...but I'm never quite sure if I'm 'meant' to tip takeaway delivery people / hairdressers. Hairdressers tend to look happy and un-flumoxed when I do, but a friend said the other day she never does, and it's not expected...and some takeaway people look positively offended when I tip! What's the unspoken rule / consensus on all of this?!

Oh Midivydale - I remember your other posts related to your return to work - how's it all going??? I hope not too horrendous??

On whether women ruling the world would make things better: I agree that what is deisrable is equality and parity rather than feminine take-over. However, I do feel that we need some more females / people who have 'feminine' values in power, so that this can be achieved.

In order that we can have true equality of choice in career and childcare, we need a structure where both are valued and real choice made possible. I think it's a massive obstacle to this that, for example, it's impossible to be both a politician in central government and an involved parent (because being a central government policitian is all-consuming - much more than full-time, plus evenings going through 'boxes,' etc).

This means that even the female politicians have to relegate the importance of family involvement, and move away from this part of their life, and reconstrue any pre-existing beliefs around it (otherwise, they'd be left with massive cognitive dissonance) - in turn relegating the importance and time devoted to family-friendly policies (for both men and women)...

Hi Peter - yes, I'm aware of CFBT as I've worked with them in the past, so am interested more than generically in what specifically they will contribute in this case. I can't find detail on the parent group on the school website (though maybe I'm missing it?), but you have a very comprehensive Linkedin profile, so that answers my initial question!

Thanks for your reply, Peter. What do you work freelance as? I'd also be interested to hear more about your motivation for setting up a free school, about why you've chosen CfBT, about what their role would be, and what the role of the parent group would be. Thanks!

Hello Peter - I was wondering what your background is? Thanks.

You should! - especially if he's still in that position / a similar position!

Midivydale - NO!!! Seriously??? It's impossible that could have been all that long ago, right, as you're a recent mum? Did anyone react??

Very interested to read all this having been to the Forest Hill pools last week for the first time - the reception staff there were of the 'I-can't-belive-someone-is-being-this-rude-and-unhelpful-I-just-wanted-a-swim' ilk...if the centres are run by the same company, seems the problems may be widespread...

Probably not, according the available research, and on average:

http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/approaches/ability-grouping

To sound like I'm writing for The Mail: it is a real postcode lottery. A friend of mine was eligible for treatment, while her otherwise equivalent colleague in the neighbouring borough wasn't, purely because of the areas they lived in. (The sad thing in their situation is that the first person is a lot richer than the second, who couldn't afford to go private...) People do get into debt here too - I know people who have, either because they couldn't get any chances on the NHS or because their allocated chances had been used up...

Mine wasn't up for it but really likes to be told stories...so what works okay-ish now is distracting him by telling one as we cut. Then it's almost a treat. Maybe try this or something similar that she likes, to distract (songs, books, TV...?)

Ah, I see, Saffron - sorry, somewhat misunderstood your original point! Yes, agree with you that it would be really unpleasant to go along and actively buy in to the whole premise of the thing to the couple's face then rubish it behind their back. Sounds like you have some interesting stories to tell there; I actually haven't really come across people doing that - just situations where there's a mutual understanding that we all have different beliefs / neutralities, but are putting them aside for the event and concentrating on the people at its centre...

"People who don't believe in church/christening/etc, but still attend others' ceremonies and fawn over the bride/children/etc while secretly thinking the whole thing is stupid. Why go at all?" - Because they are your friend, and that's how they chose to celebrate an important event that they've invited you to be part of, and you respect their choice and celebrate with them! Or that's my take on it, anyway. (Funny, while writing that, occurs to me that it could equally be applied to the no-kids weddings - which I also attend now mine is old enough to be left - on a similar basis really, I guess!)

"at the end of the day it's up to the wedding couple so, in the spirit of non-crticisng parental skills, who is anyone to criticise who they want at their wedding??" - totally agree, not out to criticise, just interested in why people think in different way about this.

Zedd - there are some idiots out there, but it is their problem, not yours! As WorkingMummy says, you do get used to the odd person who seems to think they have the right to comment on your parenting / your child / your existence. I remember at first, in the midst of sleep-deprivation and new-mum-vulnerability, I'd be quite affected by it. But you do realise that the key issue is around the fact that they are so self-absorbed and egocentric that they feel entitled to make comments like this - and you can then shift the meaning of the encounter over to them rather than internalising it (if that makes any sense at all!)

I know this was several posts ago, but to pick up on the no-kids-at-weddings theme - what is the deal with that? I genuinely don't get it. If I was gettng married I would want the people who are important in my life, and that includes my friends' children - if the parents are people I'd want at my wedding, I'd want their children too, as they too are important to me, if that makes sense? (Possibly not at this time, should really go to bed!) Would really be interested to hear from people with different views...

Yes, not quite understanding what 'liberal single mindedness' is in this context! Also at a loss as to how calling someone 'a fool' is not contemptuous... Perhaps, to extrapolate from LondonMix's suggestion, it's all just internet-enabled nastiness purely for the sake of nastiness...