scareyt

The upstairs room at the EDT?

Their website & email says they're closed till Wednesday at the earliest?? & I know Ruskin Park is definitely closed. Bad timing with stir crazy kids on half term!

All the Lambeth parks were closed today and will be for the next couple of days while they check trees for storm damage. The Horniman gardens were also closed today and their twitter says they "should partly reopen tomorrow". Does anyone know which Southwark parks are open? I guess they can't close Peckham Rye with no fences so that might be a good bet for an outing tomorrow? Anyone know if Sydenham Hill Woods is open? Thanks!

You could also look at the new Judith Kerr free school on Half Moon Lane.

Some stacking cups if you don't already have some - we had this set which is lovely and got loads of use for at least 2 years. http://www.marksandspencer.com/Marks-and-Spencer-Stacking-Cups/dp/B002Z3MSYG

We use a star chart sometimes for new things that require an extra effort, like being brave in a new nursery class & a trip to the dentist. I think it really helps for that, to recognise the efforts he's making. With a new toy for every 5 stickers. Then once it becomes natural behaviour we gradually forget about it. I tried doing one for teeth brushing, getting dressed, eating food etc but we all got fed up with it really quickly, it became yet another thing to nag about and didn't work for us at all. Mainly i think because my heart wasn't in it. I agree with bluesuperted that for things that have to happen all the time its probably not the best way. We also used a blank white sheet with random stickers all over for potty training, but the stickers were the reward themselves. It worked for us, and gave him something to get excited about once the wees got boring. Teeth brushing etc is all much less of a battle for us since I read "Peaceful Parents, Happy Kids" and started using the tips from that. The gist of it is that all children naturally want to be cooperative and all bad behaviour is a result of the child feeling unconnected from you. And that if you set clear and firm limits on behaviour but also allow and encourage the emotions behind it to be fully expressed, harmony will be restored. Ie you absolutely cannot kick me, but you can lie in the middle of the room and hammer and kick the carpet and shout as much as you want. And when you've finished we will have a big cuddle and a chat about why you were so angry. Which sounds far too hippyish and optimistic to be true, but it really has transformed behaviour for us. I was finding the grudging apology after a time out was getting more and more meaningless before trying this approach, and now we've completely given up on time outs and we're all much happier.

This is another again spa thing http://www.spafinder.co.uk/Spa/48802-The-Porchester-Spa- It's in an amazing building but is run by the local authority so it's all plastic garden-style chairs rather than Sanctuary-style luxury. A lot of the big hotels also do day access to their spa for about ?25. We went to the Meridian in the old county Hall building once and it was lovely although the massages weren't up to much. But I think I agree with NorfolkVillas - a day alone at home in pjs sounds most relaxing of all!

Although you might then have pressure problems, not sure. Some plumbers said we could avoid the pressure issue by just installing a pump in the first floor but others said all pumps are a bit noisy I didn't want an extra weird noise in the house. We must have spoken to 6 plumbers at various times and they all recommended something different!

I'm not sure if there's any point having a megaflo with a combi boiler because that boiler heats the water instantly as you use it so shouldnt need storage for the hot water. Maybe thats why plumbers have suggested changing the boiler. You could always stick with the boiler you have and just get the builders to make an airing cupboard big enough to fit a megaflo with the right pipes running through it so you could change the boiler and add a megaflo later if you want to? Our existing first floor airing cupboard with the old cylinder was too small and we didnt want to rip that bathroom up so we had a big cupboard put into the loft bathroom to fit the megaflo. But I think if you plan a space to put it in later you might be able to avoid the cost of it now.

Signed. I'm so so sorry for your loss Gwod.

This is great. It's the packaging too - craft sets always pink - really bugs me.

I liked Playful Parenting but LOVE "peaceful parents, happy kids" Really easy to put in practice and it's transformed our everyday life with 3 year old from shouting and stress to wonderful. Can't recommend it enough. Even my sceptical husband is completely converted to this approach having seen what a huge difference it makes. :-)

I obsessed about this very question for months before we did our loft! In the end we kept our recently upgraded boiler and replaced our old hot water cylinder with a megaflo. Basically, the boiler heats the water and then the megaflo stores it and feeds it to your hot water taps at high pressure. If you can upgrade your incoming mains pipe to 22mm the megaflo works well. (Old Victorian mains pipes are 15mm). We didn't upgrade our pipes because we have a solid tiled hallway floor that we didn't want to rip up and ours works ok but not perfect. I only notice it when running a bath, but at first the hot water comes out super fast and then it gradually slows down because the incoming mains isn't filling it up as fast as it's going out. We thought we would upgrade the mains if we ever do any work on the downstairs of the house but I'm used to the hot water now and it doesn't bother me. Some plumbers recommended an accumulator to feed the megaflo but I'm glad we didn't bother with that now. That's basically another tank you can put in the eaves with a rubber diaphragm inside it that maintains the pressure to the megaflo if your incoming mains is slow. It replaces the effect of the old cold water tank in the loft that created pressure through gravity.

Hi everyone, three of us plus kids made it in the end and they all seemed to have a great time playing together despite the terrible weather! We now have a Facebook group to make it easier to arrange more meet ups - please PM me or Mima08 if you would like to join it. We will probably do more Friday afternoons over the next few months.

Hi do you need full time child care or just preschool? A friend has her little boy at the Nest preschool next to Myatts Fields park and they love it.

Hi Lee, that sounds great. Look forward to meeting you and everyone else on the 13th. So far there are 6 of us planning to come along, all with a 2 or 3 year old. Let's meet by the picnic benches / wooden animals outside the cafe.

I've been dithering about a new chest of drawers for ages and have just ordered this one based on your recommendations! I looked at some in John Lewis that were 5 x the price but no nicer. Thank you EDF for ending my dithering! :-)

Me too, thanks. We went to Anna's Sparkle Music classes on Wednesdays last term and loved them but she's now moved to Catford and will be running them from her new home there. Really recommend her.

Yes! There are places like the National Gallery / Tate Britain that I've never taken my 3yo to because I wouldn't be sure where to start or how to help him get something out of it. The idea of handing over responsibility for that to someone who knows what they're doing is very appealing! I took him to the V&A a while ago with a friend as an experiment and found it very frustrating - we couldn't easily find our way around, it was a nightmare with a buggy, the kids got fed up quickly and I'm sure we missed bits they would have enjoyed. On the other hand, places like the Science Museum and Museum of London are so well geared up for kids already that I wouldn't see as much value in it there. So for the museuems that aren't obviously child friendly, then yes I think it would be a winner. The British Museum would be a good one too as it's so huge. Not sure on cost. Probably max ?10 per family if the museum itself was free? But ideally less. If it was on top of entrance fees I think any cost would be offputting.

I'm convinced Veronica! Also I'm pretty lacksadaisical (sp?) when it comes to laundry but used ours a lot for soaking at the beginning of potty training. Would have been a bit grim without it. But yes, a nice big freezer for stocking up on stuff on special offer, freezing big batches of cooking and fresh things / garden veg that you can't eat straight away would be lovely.

Hi Saffron, a Saturday meet up some time this autumn sounds like a great plan. Looking forward to meeting whoever can make the 13th. :-)

Brilliant, thanks. Shall we maybe say the afternoon of Friday 13th Sept from 3.00, for anyone who would like to come? (I would say the 6th but that will be William's first morning back at nursery in a new classroom with new people so I think he probably wouldn't be up for more socialising afterwards!)

Thanks for that link espelli. I tried the " low and slow" tip today and it worked! Just the once but still nice.

Eureka in Halifax would be worth the train trip if you're there for a week - it's right next to Halifax train station and is brilliant for toddlers - loads of interactive stuff including a toddler sized M&S, kitchen, post office, garage & bank to play in. We went over six months ago and my son still talks about it.

We have a sink in ours and I mostly use it for washing painty stuff and for pouring out the dryer water. It's useful but I sometimes wish we had put a freezer there instead as ours is pretty small. I think pouring dryer water into a floor drain would be really annoying though.