Mens

Oh. And both my girls say that they would rather spend everyday at dance school and just weekends at real school. I do think that any negative comments about slds are about the parent's feelings and not about how much fun the children are having and how well they are doing.

Two of my three are at slds, they love it there and my two year old really wants to start. I spend a lot of time there as one of my daughters really wants a career in dance so does quite a few classes and I find the teachers really nice. The corridor outside one of the studios gets annoyingly congested during some class changes but the children don't notice. My youngest is often in and out of the office and sometimes cheekily steps into the studios and is always treated really sweetly. The children get to take part in festivals if they are talented and every child is allowed to take part in the shows that the school put on. As the children get older more commitment is asked of them but they actually find that exciting and can't wait to move from pink clothes to purple to then wearing the flowing national skirts. There are many older girls at the school during the weekday evenings and it seems safe and sociable. There are about 800 children at slds I think so that is probably why they can be quite orderly such as getting payments in ontime etc

Thank you Hazel. For the child who received your gifts you were a HUGE part of this. You were the whole reason they got to forget their diagnosis for an afternoon and you gave them the exciting opportunity to cheekily open an armful of Xmas presents Before Christmas Day! Thank you! Thank you all!

Just wanted to say "Thank you" on behalf of the children on the wards of University College Hospital London. Heal The World for Children were able to take hundreds of presents to the wards on floors 11 and 12 and delight the lovely children who are unfortunate enough to have to spend Christmas in hospital. The children on the day ward, baby unit, general ward and two cancer wards were treated to a fantastic sing-a-long lead by year 7 and 8 students from Sylvia Young Theatre School, got to meet Santa and every child and their siblings each received bundles of gifts. Thanks to the incredible generosity of the members of the East Dulwich Forum, Community Links Bromley, Giving Tree World Ltd and the fund-raising efforts of the SYTS students we were also able to leave a cage full of toys to be given to children who are admitted between Christmas day and New Year. You were all credited during the visit. Without you all the event would not have been the success it was. Thank you very much. I wish you could have all seen their smiles and the tears from the nurses. We were due to leave at 3.15pm but the children pleaded with us to stay far longer. THANK YOU ALL!! (Photos to follow in the coming days) It was a wonderful event and mainly thank you goes to all you lovely people!

I can't imagine anything working, my seven year old will probably think it's a fashion accessory and just suck other fingers! Well, I'm ordering one so will update on the (hopefully miraculous cure)!

Oh, I have seen those online but was worried that they were just a crazy invention. Might invest in one and if it works buy one for the other

Wrong section... Pls can admin move to family discussions! Sorry

My seven and five year olds CONSTANTLY suck their thumb esp my seven year old, she has basically learnt to do everything with one hand now so that she can keep the other in her mouth. Their teeth are being affected and I find it annoying to see. Are there any foolproof ways to stop it?

Yes, Tony and Guy are great , my daughter was there for quite a long time last year. In fact out first ever charity event in 2009 was to this ward, you can see photos of the visit on the wall of their playroom. No child should be in hospital. I chose UCLH this year as the students in my form group will be attending and it was safer for them to attend a hospital local to the school. Everyone is being very generous so we will indeed have plenty of toys. I was thinking of using any excess to visit Demelza but I will contact Sue on T&G and see if we can also go there before or just after Christmas. Will be nice to thank them all again for helping my daughter at a time when we thought she wouldn't make it.

Hi Thank you!! The age range is 0 to 12 (although the other ward has teenagers on it). We will be visiting on 19th December so ideally I would like to collect things by the 15th so that I can wrap them up and label them. I would be happy to collect any items. My number is : 07963636692 Thank you!

Hi everyone I run a UK registered charity, Heal The World For Children. Each August we host a Children's Festival in Dulwich Park for local sick and disadvantaged children and visit hospitals and hospices each Christmas to take gifts and entertainment to children who have to be in hospital during the festive season. This month we will be visiting UCLH and I am urgently looking for donations of unwanted new toys, CDs and games to take with us. We are a small charity (three people) and we all work at other jobs. This year we have not had much time to raise the necessary funds to buy as many gifts as we need. Please do get in touch if you have anything to donate or if you would like further indormation. Thank you.

Oh thank you. Will definitely PM you when I plan to pass by that way.

Hi Does anyone know of any Dutch language schools for kids? Such as Saturday or evening classes Thank you

Take Flight are good

another vote for the Manducca

I grew up in a village in Surrey and my brother and I were the only non-white kids. This was in the 70s and we actually had a lovely childhood. We didn't experience any typical racism, just usual but infrequent comments that can be annoying such as "oh I bet you're used to the sun and aren't even hot". This is all just MY experience, my best friend had a dreadful time as a child growing up in similar circumstances but in Kent. I think there are both positives and negatives to being non-white in a mainly white or truly mixed area: Positives such as learning to mix in any group regardless of colour or culture and being colour blind. My nephew grew up in an area where there are no white people and he finds it very difficult to mix with people now he is out in the big wide world. It wouldn't matter but when you live somewhere like Europe or US you are better off being able to "mix". That goes for everybody in my opinion. Negatives are the fact that you may always feel abit like the odd one out (this was rare but there were two of us) and when we moved to up north aged six a teacher was shocked that "the coloured children can write, oh and it's tiny neat writing aswell". We did hear a few times that we were more intelligent than we looked! (not sure what people with high IQs are supposed to look like!). Bear in mind that there is racism/mild segregation everywhere and even in Dulwich you could find at secondary school certain people would or would not wish to be-friend your child simple because of his background. I went to secondary school in the heart of London and on the whole people stuck with "their own kind" (apart from my "Benneton ad" group of friends which is what one teacher called us). Personally, I would always stay in a "mixed" area. I'm already fed up with my girls asking me to blowdry their hair straight every so often so it "blows in the wind like that girl's hair"...the requests would get even more frequent if we moved! I think being mixed race is complex enough and a good thing to do if you moved would be to ensure you watched tv programmes and read books that reflect every ethnicity so that your child can grow up colour blind and not actually mind who he is around and can see racism for what it truly is...stupidity.

Another vote for Val d'Europe. They have a shuttle to the park so easy to get to in just a few minutes. Only negative was no room service. Worth it though as we saved a small fortune. We booked via Trivago.com and drove over.

er...no school doesn't solve it Snowboarder.. Although they tend to be able to sit still whilst at school...(sometimes)! I am finally able to sit down this evening after yelling for 20min at my 5 year old to "go to bed"....she had to do "just one more cartwheel before bed"...ended up being about 30 cartwheels! I felt dizzy just watching her!! Lol

Her allerygy specialist knows how stressed she was so I will speak to her at her next appointment about any additional support they can offer her/us. There was a psychologist at my other daughter's medical appointment because they were worried that we were stressed about her (we actually weren't) I should probably try to get hold of her. Thank you Saffron.

Thank you for your replies and PMs. I have edited this post as it was abit dramatic but the original had more info. I'm pretty sure it was triggered by her recent allergic reaction which scared her. She just doesn't trust anyone except for me (and I'm not particularly brave). We had a nice chat late last night which meant she went to bed without any tears. She insists that the only thing making her sad is her allergies so I only have that to work with. Her dad dotes on her and thinks she's super smart, super talented etc (she's actually just a regular kid) so he doesn't want to believe she needs any type of therapy....but that's a whole other story...

... How can I deal with my seven year old who has suddenly become terrified of practically everything? She won't let me put petrol in the car, take a shower, won't go to birthday parties or anything! Prior to this she was extremely confident and carefree. Is this a phase seven year olds go through? Her dad won't let me contact a therapist. HOW can I deal with it? I want her back to herself.

mmmmm.....There are some people who give up on things that they are not instantly good at but I think that's a personality type and alot more complex than being related just to parental praise...

ohhh...hadn't thought of martial arts. I'm not a runner nor sporty (although I used to be)....

I don't know... Probably not volunteering as I already co-run a charity in my spare time.... Have no idea really...

...okay...after 3 children and spending almost all my time with them over the past 7 years (when I'm not working) I now want to do something for me. Anyone have any hobby ideas? What's on on Thursday and Fridays locally?