plimsoul

tate modern: londons biggest covered run way for kids to run up and down. my boys have loved the turbine hall since they could walk, it's something about the space, they know that they're somewhere special. the escalators, oh how i've travelled up and down those with them both over excited. that's before you've even run through a few galleries, had a cake and checked out the kids books...

just a thought is the start to many good things.

according to southwark life sid grew up around walworth road, but sadly has left the area...

sean i would argue the the labour party is not a public service. it's a choice of party, not the state itself.

i guessed clock change was due as a week ago the kids who always sleep past 7 started waking before. each year it's the same. come october they'll be giving us great lie ins (since when has 8:30 been a lie in??? since children) and then i realise the clocks are going back.... in my 4 years of experience nothing you do will change what time they get up!

guilt is born with your child! after an extremely easy pregnancy i did not take to motherhood easily. i was exhausted, felt out of the loop (whatever that loop was) and guilt. guilt at not breast feeding, guilt at not taking them to every class for toddlers, not going to baby groups, not getting a buggy where you baby can see you, using diposable nappies blah blah blah.... it goes on and on. guilt everywhere. now i'm back at work and loving it but the guilt just spreads itself both ways, am i working enough? do the kids get to see enough of me? here we go again. i've not read the article but judging by comments it's right up my street. however, having lots of family on ze continent i would say that the francophone version is just as harsh about what you should be ignoring as compared with our what you should be doing. it cuts both ways and all of it feeds into .... our perma GUILT!

sid sid sid, that's my fave in se5! i think justin deserves an MBE for services to kids...

i'm going for the big guns, went to glastonbury last year and it was fantastic. both kids were close to 4 and the kids area is amazing. i mean incredible plus there are shows for them all day. the best part is there is a massive campsite set aside for families right next to the kids field. some may recoil in horror but we and the kids loved it. where else do you get a circus thrown in?

does anybody have the basic ikea ones? i've had ikea kids beds so far and they've been great, stood all manner of jumping on etc... but it would be good to hear from other people, thanks.

bumpy i'd ask a health professional, although i don't think that it makes a difference. i think, again only opinion not expert advice, that the idea is that they are fully immune in time for school. the dates are not important to the actual effectiveness, sequence of some yes, but not date of having jab. but i may be totally wrong...

these are all great, classic comments! thanks...

my kids (4 and a half) were given money boxes for xmas. i'd be interested to know what people give their children as i have no idea what to give a week.... thanks!

yes to immunisation every time. there is a long thread where this is debated with both sides arguing in the usual happy edf way. i'm sure if you do a search it will appear. where to get them done privately is also discussed (i seem to remember).

i tend to agree with fuschia when it comes to skin/rashes. to be fair most doctors don't specialise in dermatology but i presented mine to the doctors with early chicken pox and he sent me home with a prescription for yet more oilatum... 3 days later we had the pox and on a level that i never thought possible. i pray for you that it's not the pox after all that you have already suffered but apparently it's doing the rounds. good luck x

anybody who thinks that getting arts funding is easy is clearly not applying! a great part of london life is the talent that our creative industries produce, many of these people would not get anywhere without help at the start. if the funding goes it does impact but like a public service you cannot expect it to payback in straight economic turns. however, clearly, if one does not feel that art plays an important part in our society then there's not much that can be argued to change said mind.

maclaren are great, fold away, cheap and british!

the council can also come and clear pests, they charge less than the high street guys and worked fine for us and for the wasps nest that we had this summer. finger foods that the kids leave everywhere just tempts them in. i found keeping the house super clean once the kids were in bed really helped, plus we had our kitchen redone during which we blocked up loads of holes. but we have a cellar so we will never be totally rid, however, i've not seen one in over 2 years when before they would just run through the kitchen without a care! the way i understand things this area is well known for mice and one can simply hope to contain them rather than ever really going. they pass from one house to the next and therefore all your best efforts can be wasted due to neighbours down the street.

i think what is most interesting and makes by far a more interesting doc is the fact that mothers don't feel competent enough to deal with their own babies. that their wider family structure and support is gone. i didn't read anything and followed instinct, which hey actually instinctively i felt routine was important for the baby and discovered that in part i was actually picking up from all sorts of books. i'd know this as other friends spent their spare time with baby asleep reading more about how they should be looking after baby. why is routine good for baby: as a parent your role is to explain this crazy world that you have pushed them into. at 7 weeks i felt now was the time to introduce milestones in the day to be repeated...a routine, like adults, nature, the sun going round the planet. gina doesn't have the TM on routine, it's an age old thing. we are obsessed with our children and how we're bringing them up, this industry makes lots of money. aren't we lucky to have the time and cash to dwell on such things?

my kids were generally not great sleepers. at 2 1/2 put them in ikea kids beds and their sleep improved immediately. they have never actually got out of the beds, but when they call out we always go to them therefore they have never felt the need to get out of their beds. also, we dropped their afternoon kip at the same time, without this i think it would have been a different story. but as many people say, each child is different. the pros of buying the ikea bed is you can tuck a full size single duvet at the bottom and it never falls off. this also means you have bought a duvet that you will not have to change (unless falling apart). therefore no more replacing and spending as the bedding stays the same...

no, it's not sad

radio 2

i know that this will not be helpful, but we were advised by the nursery that our children attend to not submit online. apparently there was an almighty f**k up last year and online forms were declared lost etc... in all the confusion. their advice was hand deliver to the council or signed for. i don't mean to post this to scare you but just to pass on info that we were given.

i dropped their afternoon kip, as much as i loved my break in the afternoon, at 2. it made all the difference and they went to sleep without fuss. it was the payoff for losing my lunch break but was well worth it. some days they'd sleep half an hour in the buggy but that was it. however, i did move dinner to a slightly earlier slot as the first weeks they found it very hard to make it through the day. i'd often give them some down time just watching cbeebies at the end of the afternoon to help them out. but after this initial period their bodies got used to it and i could move their dinner back to its usual slot. they now sleep straight 7:30/8 through to 7/8. good luck!

buddha jazz is great for vietnamese and dumplings and they deliver...

so with rage winning does it leave a spirit of hope that people can still make a difference? yes we can draw our money out of banks that refuse to understand why excessive bonuses can be taxed... chose how and where we spend our money. surely this will remind people that if you want you can make a difference however much we feel we can't.