Sanne Panne

Hi Etta, I think DVI bulged last year so there may be a bigger sibling intake next year :( Will send you a pm now. etta166 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hello all! > > I'm contemplating my options for next year and > read this thread with some trepidation... Sanne > Panne - how far away from DVI do you live? I am > trying to work out if it will be a realistic > prospect for a first child next year from where I > live... > > Bessemer Grange is my other option, I think. Any > thoughts?

It was good for me (I knew a lot from obsessive reading already) and great for my husband (who did want to learn but wasn't going to read a gazillion books). And I still have friends 4 years after the classes started. The baby clubs on the forum look great, weren't there 4 years ago but I still recommend NCT for a good group discussion of your own thoughts about birth and an invaluable preparation for your partner.

My NameTags is good. It's iron-on and ours have survived lots and lots of laundries already. www.mynametags.com

Hm, maybe that was me, we were 13 and were offered a place on Tuesday. Not sure if I'm nice though! Are you O's mum then? I'm M's mum :) --> Edited post to change our original waiting list spot for those who thought they should have got in by now.. we weren't originally 18 but 13 I now remember. Sorry for any confusion

I read the article, it's very subjective and cliche in my opinion... if you have any common sense it will obviously never get to extremes like those summarised at the end of the core chapter (copied below). It's just an additional toy, a small component of education and play. Especially the argument of children not being allowed to be children anymore (due to the "IT revolution") is so weird... as little as one generation ago children had a lot LESS time to be children. Now they can play for 12 years, climb in trees, read books, go to playgroups, learn football and karate and ballet, be given teddy bear shaped pizza with hidden vegetables and oh, play computer games. It mentions that childhood is the core of human evolution, well we survived for thousands of years and we've never had as much room to be children as now. We are highly adaptable animals. Anyway. It's ok to let your child play Monkey Lunchbox. As long as she also jumps in puddles and plays with other kids. Of course! This is the summary of the "computers are hazardous" chapter in the article: WARNING: Computers May Be Hazardous to A Child?s Health Emphasizing computers in childhood may expose children to the risk of a broad range of developmental setbacks. Potential hazards include the following: Physical Hazards ? Musculoskeletal injuries ? Visual strain and myopia ? Obesity and other complications of a sedentary lifestyle ? Possible side effects from toxic emissions and electromagnetic radiation Emotional and Social Hazards ? Social isolation ? Weakened bonds with teachers ? Lack of self-discipline and self-motivation ? Emotional detachment from community ? Commercial exploitation Intellectual Hazards ? Lack of creativity ? Stunted imaginations ? Impoverished language and literacy skills ? Poor concentration, attention deficits ? Too little patience for the hard work of learning ? Plagiarism ? Distraction from meaning Moral Hazards ? Exposure to online violence, pornography, bigotry, and other inappropriate material ? Emphasis on information devoid of ethical and moral context ? Lack of purpose and irresponsibility in seeking and applying knowledge Yes, all true if you spend 3 hours a day playing games. Letting a toddler play with an iPad now is not going to make him more or less of an addict when he's 8, really. If anything, less, but that's my highly subjective and academically unqualified opinion... :)

Jags to them, jagssportsclub.co.uk.

Oimissus I agree about reassessing all the time (and yes now that you say it, my formatting buttons have gone too). We had fairly mild tantrums (or maybe just frustration fits) that often ended quite quickly if I would hold our girls very tightly, like a strong hug, saying sweet reassuring words and trying to distract them after a while. But maybe they weren't real tantrums so I'm not sure if this would work.

Bit controversial in modern UK/American parenting maybe but if there's something my kids tell me they don't like that I know they happily eat elsewhere I will cook it at home, give them a small portion of it (together with something I know they love) and if they don't eat it I just tell them to stay at the table until they finish it. This is for things I know for sure they like but just refuse to eat at home. So far I've never had to do this more than twice with any single food and after that they have always gone on to happily eat that food any time and still feel completely free to tell me when they truly don't like something (e.g. when I serve a completely new food I will ask them to try one bite and if they don't like it they don't need to eat it and I won't be remotely grumpy about it). So it's not like I scare them into eating whatever I serve them. I know, it's controversial but it seems to work for us. They love dinnertime and eat a big variety of foods. I think you can't start this before age 3 though. And if you have a very stubborn child it may be a bit of a time consuming exercise ;)

We have Usborne's "Look Inside Your Body" book which is the only "Look Inside" that I know of that a 3.5 year old can understand. We're looking for one or two more "science" books for our daughter's 4th birthday. She's obsessed with the Natural History museum book and the body book I just mentioned. Anything ranging from day-to-day mechanics to zoology, geography, anthropology, geology, simple physics/chemistry and so on can be nice. Also wondering about good quality wall posters - we have the Dino Children's Map of the World and the Open University Tree of Life poster. Any recommendations are welcome! (and no we're not academically obsessed, we just want to add a couple of books to our small collection :))

Thanks, I signed up!

Wasn't there a thread about this topic in the family room? Can't find it with any search query I can think of. And if I just dreamt that there was ever a link, does anyone know if there are traffic classes for 4 year olds? We're doing our part as parents and I'm sure nursery/school address it too but after a recent incident that got me scared I'd love to do something extra.

Scandinavia? An Ikea showroom with a view? Just kidding it looks GORGEOUS. Minitoots Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This is where we ended up last year - our own > deserted beach, 1 mile walk to nearest village/ > pub with fantastic seafood, mountains 30 miles or > so away, historic sites within 3 mile walk etc etc > - any guesses as to where??!

Noto is amazing. Small town in Southeastern Sicily. I've been to a completely deserted golden-white beach near there. Bit of a trek through the dry grass but we picked buckets of fresh almonds, lemons and mirtillo on the way. If that's not off the beaten track... Here are some descriptions, if you don't speak Italian throw them in Google translate or pm me. http://www.qspiagge.it/recensioni/noto/

The Dutch North Sea islands ("Waddeneilanden") are lovely too, some are car free and you can rent all shapes and sizes of bicycles. Vlieland for example is all gorgeous dunes with amazing cycling routes, beaches and just one little town with a bunch of shops and cafes. You can rent an apartment or go camping and there may be a small hotel too. Of course there's always the weather variable in this part of Europe but when it's sunny it's one of the best places I know. Extremely laid back and very much off the beaten track, most tourists are from mainland Holland.

Our nanny will combine working for us (North Dulwich / Herne Hill) with studying in Kingston and is looking for a room share (asap) that allows her to travel to both. Clapham seems the obvious choice but where else could she look? And does anyone have tips on how to find a nice room share? She's from Amsterdam and relatively new to London. We've known her for a while though and can support her with references. Is there a forum she can post on other than Gumtree etc? Does anyone have a nanny who lives in Clapham (or other nice in between location) who has contacts or even needs a flatmate?

I saw a leaflet for Theatrebugs which looks like a nice drop-off class for my 4 year old... but it's not appropriate for a 2 year old. Would ideally like to find something fun they can participate in together, doesn't need to be drop-off. Can be sports, dance, theatre, painting, anything. Does anyone know what's on over summer?

That's FANTASTIC!

Yeah that "go to the next blue bin and stop" game will probably not last (and requires constant instructions from the parent). What I did that only needs reminding once a week now is "you may ride ahead but if you don't stop at the corners or stop when I shout stop you will lose the privilege and have to stay right next to me". (and then for the next two outings you keep her next to you).

The playful yes/no questioning thing works great for all kinds of things you want to teach kids by the way, great you brought it up EmilyE. We do things like "can you..... read a book while the (toddler) clock is still blue?" -yes. "can you... sing loudly when it's still blue?" -no. "Go to the toilet?" -yes. "get some paint from downstairs and paint your walls orange?" -noooo hahahaha. Combining the serious stuff with a laugh is a great way to make sure your long boring rule-explaining session was understood :)

We had most success with naked bottoms and chocolate buttons. I can imagine forcing frequent potty visits can make some kids hate it but every child is different. As for nighttime training... I thought it was more dependent on the presence of a hormone that wakes them when they need to pee. And that no training will really work unless that hormone is present. But not sure where I read it and how true it is.

My daughter will turn 4 soon and I often think about this too. We haven't had an official sit-down chat yet because I'm not sure how to approach it. I have mentioned things as they came up, e.g. when she found a friendly old lady scary and didn't want to talk to her I told her (on our way home) that it's ok to not talk to people that you don't feel comfortable with although it's generally polite to say hello. And I told her some grown ups don't really like children yet may pretend to be very nice but really aren't and that if anyone ever asked her to come along she should always say that she needs to ask mum/dad (or x, y, z names of her nursery school teachers that I trust) first. Of course this doesn't cover the "known people" issue but one step at a time... and I agree that a focus on kids daring to say no and trust their instincts combined with knowing they shouldn't accept any invitations without asking a trusted adult is a decent start. Would be interested to know if there are books that deal with it in a positive way.

They seem perfectly comfortable, she ran half a mile in them today and isn't two years old yet. They're mostly open toe - small strap over the middle bit to protect middle toes while climbing.

My daughters are two years apart and both born in the same month so passing clothes on is a no-brainer. I do the same with wellies as they don't get worn that often. Any "proper" shoes like all-season walking shoes I buy new for the little one. We found this fantastic pair of Umi Sport (Gecko) sandals in the loft today. The soles still look perfect but our eldest did walk on them an entire summer. I'm so tempted to let the little one wear them rather than buy a new pair... is this a very bad idea? They both have the same width size. Could a summer on these sandals be bad for her back/feet?

I thought all fountains and water play areas were part of the ban! Weird. Great something is open though.

I generally skip birth stories of people I don't know (and of many I do know) as I find them long and boring! (and yes I did go through childbirth twice). But they don't put me off at all. Nothing wrong with having it as a blog entry.