new mother

120k??!!

Anna, he will cope as, like all mothers, he will simply have to. You have to be well and painfree. This is not the third world where mothers need to suffer like this. Please out yourself first, insist on someone who provides the right a/bs and rest. You have to be well.

Hungary is not a country that generally provides the UK with role modelling examples. Perhaps their systems are set up for it, if it is commonplace. It is unusual in the UK and our systems are certainly not set up to provide babies with hygienic and infection free ear piercing.

Do these studies control for the main indicators of problems in later life? Eg social factors such as poverty,lack of father figure, drug use in the home and lack of home interest in scholastic/any achievement? By comparison, going to school a year early or late sort of pales a bit, I feel. Meanwhile, having written that,I feel a bit ashamed to be constantly agonising over whether single sex (jags) is better than mixed (Alleyns).

Thanks for the info JB. it is particularly interesting to see the top ten for 1904. It did strike me, though, what on earth is this "cloud" business? It is the trendy way of providing errr a list?! Relieved to see my children don't appear on the relevant "clouds" or lists.

Meant to say "should" not "would", in the penultimate sentence sorry!

Because the parents need to get back to work?! Because cms and nannies are very expensive? Because the jury is still out on whether children would do better to socialise with their peer group? These were all thoughts that occurred to us but I suppose it depends on how young for her year your daughter would be? A child who is following a normal development path would be absolutely fine even if born eg June onwards. When is your lo's birthday?

Would the proposed new Boris island airport be bad or good for us, aircraft noise wise? (Obviously a reasonably close hub would be great convenience wise.)

Forward facing prams are certainly blamed by my mother for the fact that we spoke in sentences at, you know, six months whereas our children have "delayed development" at 18 months(!)....I think parents forget. There is certainly a huge amount I've already forgotten about my children's early days....

Oh tremendous! Very pleased for you both/all!

Many congratulations Ruth and Mr Ruth! (I was thinking about it this afternoon actually which is rather weird considering we have not met!)hope it all went and continues smoothly.

Weekend only? Afternoons and drop in would be betterfor us, as per Fuschia's note.

Has anyone done one recently? We are tempted to go for a last minute reduced price one but I noticed they are no longer full board and no longer include waterskiing as they did, presumably owing to the oil price. Shame. Are they still fun though? Thanks

Many thanks, ladies.

I know there have been recent threads on this but the offers do change so does anyone know of a good one for adult tx? I have friends coming who don't have a pass and, having recommended it, was totally shocked when I realised the prices. How a family of 4 does these things I have no idea. Anyway, ideas much appreciated. Nm xx

We always flushed away anything that could be flushed- much more sanitary, surely? (Actually, I think that is what Hoya re supposed to do.)

Otta, yes I agree but I was trying to state only the indisputable aspects of it, rather than introducing my judgments on whether it is good parenting or not!

CT most people don't do that as it is a fire hazard....

Otta, no - you are quite right. I meant room was ok but garden somehow not. Weird perhaps. I also need to change my name as it is misleading. Shall I become " old and constantly shattered mother"?

Agree with Pickle re parking sensors to the extent that I wish cars had forward ones. Errrrr.... Ruth, 60mpg on the motorway is amazing. Are you sure?! We get about 30 in a similar car.

Have really enjoyedthis thread.many thanks everyone. But boy oh boy am I behind in my reading! My recommendations would be anything by Ishiguro or MacEwan, for what the ideas of someone totally behind contemporary literature are worth!

Agree with Otta. Something about it doesn't sit well with me. I have a gut reaction that few parents could resist, "mummy let me in". Totally illogical. There is just something about it that gets to me, in a way that "let me come downstairs from my room" doesn't.

I think it was the Sartre that misled me.

SW, have only sprained my wrist as a result of being forewarned.

Otta, I thought about your post. I see where you are coming from but I guess my starting point is that there is a victim and a perpetrator here and I don't entirely see why the "victim" should be further inconvenienced by you preferred way of dealing with the "perpetrator". Can you see what I mean? It is equally possible that, in some cases, the mother of a child who is hit will have a preferred way of telling off the "hitter" to reinforce what she has been teaching her children about the unacceptability of violence. So, on balance, if your child transgreses, it is starting to look very precious, at the very least,to complain about how other parents reprimand your child.