Sanne Panne

Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Remember though that once upon a time distances > were shortest safe walking distance, then switched > to ad the crow flies. What year was that? 2010? How very true... I think this was only last year :(

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Leo!

What is your current bedtime routine? I would probably put all the tricks out: feed her, rock her to sleep, give her a dummy, no 4 dummies, bring her to bed later, lie down with her till she's fast asleep. I always had "plans" but ended up going with the flow and never got stuck in unsustainable patterns and have two great sleepers in spite of it all.

To help prevent reinfestation, tea tree oil is supposed to work. We heard about a case of headlice in our 3yo's nursery and we're using the oil (few drops rubbed between my hands, then rubbed onto her hair and the "neck" of her coat) to hopefully prevent getting it. I know one day we'll get them, there's no guaranteed avoiding but so far, so good. Good to know about Full Marks and the electric comb. May even get those so we can act quickly if she does bring them home!

SW, you are one of the very few professionals mature enough to publicly consider, respect and discuss all perspectives on a topic. How many people aren't out there that get all scientific and statistical about a research publication but only when the outcome matches their views. I'm not talking about pregnancy and childbirth/childhood related professions in particular. It applies to everyone, ranging from professions with a relatively low controversy factor like computer programming, tailoring and architecture to more blatantly subjective professions like homeopathy, pharmaceutics, Fox news reading and Greenpeace activism. Hey, look how apes love to carry their young around, it's natural, humans should do it too, let's publish it. Oh but look, the same apes also push their young away and even hit and bite them during the weaning stage, let's not use that in our discussion. I've seen the first half of the observation used over and over in parenting articles and on forums but the second half is almost always ignored. Yes we should take the best of all worlds but we shouldn't ignore the inconvenient facts when trying to convince others to do something. I have incredible respect for people who will say "oh no, this doesn't match my views, but it appears to be true in some way or another, let me not shove it under the carpet but discuss it". Or "this is fantastic research that fits my views but if I had to take a step back I'd have to admit that I'm not sure it gives the complete picture". We need more of these people in professions that have a broad audience such as teaching and publishing. Sorry bit off topic but had to say it.

Dorothy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Personally I think its a pointless waste of time > going to get a "feel" for a school your child > hasn't a chance of getting in to, even though you > have to find 6 to put on your list! Well we almost certainly need to move and we're not sure yet where exactly we'll go so in our case it really does help to get a feel! But yes in all other cases it's better to focus on your local area only.

With obsessive climbers like our little one it may be worth going without the babyset even at this tender age, just teach them to get down safely. But each child is obviously different. It does save a lot of lifting... And yes the bottom "legs" do stick out quite far back and caused all of us a bruised toe at some stage - we ordered a large roll of prince lionheart cushiony table edge guard and covered the top and sides of the tripp trapp legs in it. Helps!

> for me there is far too much emphasis > put on the "woman's birth" it should be remembered > that it is actually our babies births, and that we > have the duty to give them the best possible start > and chances Littlemoo, how well said. Your story is heartbreaking :( The reason I agree with you though is not sympathy but the fact that there is a lot of truth in what you say. I had an unplanned homebirth with #1 - would have had her in hospital if she hadn't come so ridiculously quickly - it was great of course but only because it turned out so well. We had #2 at home because #1 had no complications and I knew the birth would probably be so quick that travelling would be more of a risk - but if the first had not gone well I would have opted for a more "managed" hospital experience with #2 even if that had meant early induction to avoid another crazy fast labour. It's so difficult to give a general guideline to everyone. But yes, it's about the baby first and then about the mother. Very true.

Wow, so many positive opinions about Goose Green. Any negative ones? Are you positive because there is some kind of historical prejudice against the school and you want to make it clear that this is unfounded or that the school has changed? (I have no idea at all). Or is it really just plain out great? Also heard good things about Stillness (bit far out so probably not relevant to most on this forum), all depending on whether and where we move, everything is so up in the air so I want to be as informed as possible when we get clarity about our new home... (and yes Gubodge you're right, this thread will mainly show positive opinions from parents who have their child at the school in question but it's still a LOT more informative than going by Ofsted reports alone. Opions, Ofsted and visits, it could be a full time job for a month to get fully informed... but yes must visit the schools too!).

That's a part of the future I fear (kids still very small): having to find a balance between freedom and supervision. Highly informed freedom = education without scaremongering is the answer I guess. Any advice from those with bigger kids? What approach to education about these things seems to work (read: what does the child seem to listen to and accept depending on age)?

Growlybear Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Fairlawn is one of the most > oversubscribed schools in Lewisham, and you would > need to live very close to have a chance of > getting a place. How close is close enough for schools like Fairlawn and Heber? 300 meters? Or is even that not good enough?

These are the schools we're likely to put on our list, well some of these, do you have any feedback on them? In the thread would be ideal so others benefit too but I'm completely happy with PMs too. The list covers multiple catchment areas, this is because we live near some of these schools now but may move in January and will then be near others. Just to start the thread with some rather vague online based assumptions: Heber: got a 2 from Ofsted but seems to be the most popular school in ED from how keen the parents are to get in, must be a lovely place therefore? Very small catchment expected this year, what would that be - 300m? Goodrich: always looks so cosy from the outside but I heard and read that the parents aren't always too happy and that it's actually quite a big school. No idea about the expected catchment. Fairlawn: has outstanding Ofsted rating, is popular among parents but looks a bit all concrete to me - purely based on a single visit when I had to drop a child's coat off on a grey rainy day. Would the catchment be a bit bigger due to it not being in ED? Or will last year's bulge class offset this? Horniman: haven't seen any feedback on it. Bessemer: limited mixed feedback. Goose Green: no idea. Also very curious about expected maximum distances for non-siblings (or rather, expected minimum distances that will pretty much guarantee placement).

2 years gap working well so far here (1.5 and 3.5 years old so can't speak for when they're bigger). VERY hard work when the youngest was 6-12 months old: eldest's jealousy was kicking in and little one was still very vulnerable. But it's good in that you're done with the broken nights and nappies sooner. It's just more concentrated rather than spread out. Same for childcare costs. but yes my mum who would have wanted the same age gap for us ended up with a 4.5 year age gap between my elder sister and me and that worked out very well as well.

See amy, we ARE neurotic lol

I hope somebody else has a positive experience to share, not meaning to be negative amydown! Come on people :)

I'm sure it's possible but I'd worry a bit about safety. Two on scooters, one in a buggy, what if one falls and the other isn't a great listener and you're just near a big junction. Or at a playground, how is not at least one of them going to end up with a swing against his teeth. I'm sure childminders do it all the time and there are plenty of mums with twins and toddlers combined so I guess I'm just a "bit" of a control freak! My only experience is that I considered a similar childcare solution and decided against it for this reason but again, I know I'm quite obsessive :-$

Yes you either move within about 200 meters of your chosen state primary (if it's a popular one and if your idea of good is similar to that of the rest of us on here it will be a popular school) or you go private. Seems to be like this across East Dulwich, Dulwich and Herne Hill...

There's a taekwon-do school that does "mini masters" from age 3 to 6. They're in Streatham. Let me know if you can't find them by googling them. I decided against it in the end because I'm looking for a more aikido or judo type philosophy although I'm sure any martial art for kids is going to be focused on wisdom and defence rather than kicking and punching :) Probably a good idea to first observe a class which I never did :-$

Anyone been there yet?

Talk to them directly. They made an exception for me too (was in catchment with baby 1 but not with baby 2). Maybe it helped that #1 was a homebirth and they knew that in my new catchment area there was no dedicated homebirth support - but still, it's worth calling them.

Roughly count on ?10 net per hour for sole care (i.e. not nanny-sharing, which you probably won't with two kids). Number of days doesn't really matter, if it's 3 days of 10 hours each count on spending ?300 net per week.

A backpack that hangs nicely from the buggy. Or just a plain black skip hop which you don't even see hanging from a buggy. Now with #2 (and 3yo in tow) we just stuff nappies, spare clothes, snacks etc in the net under the buggy. Sometimes in a used plastic bag, sometimes just loose. But during the first months a bag is handy as you need a lot more outdoor nappy changes etc. Mind you I did go crazy for a while, had a Pacapod (for being mathematically organised), and had something really pretty but totally useless (blind grabbing and hoping you'd find stuff). But in hindsight they were nothing special, I didn't even pull them out of the loft for baby 2.

Time! We just let our daughter wear loose leggings without underwear for a few weeks after she seemed to "get" the idea of peeing on the potty/toilet. It's that sense of pressure against the bottom that makes them forget I think.

I don't even mind the laundry THAT much and she sorts herself out with dry pyjamas and a spare blanket on top of the wet stain if she does have an accident. So I'm willing to go for it if it's a matter of a month till we have one accident a month. But if we're going to have two accidents a week for the next six months (and you don't know of course) I'm less keen. Don't know what to do, mentally she seems ready and keen but if you can't speed up physical readiness by letting her feel the bed get wet there's no point. And I'm just as happy with the nappy option so I would go pebbles' way if it wasn't for the fact that I have to convince my daughter that nappies are ok every single night! Guess I just have to make a decision and stick with it.