vanthorne

We should report it to the council- I wonder if anyone has made a complaint yet? It's such a shame that a lovely idea to cool off in the heat can be so left in a bad state without the necessary monitoring and upkeep in such a short time. The whole thing - toilets, water play area sounds like a total health hazard. I'm going to keep well clear until they clean it up. Oh well rain forecast next week - Ho hum...

minitoots: is it lanzarote? Or somewhere nearby on those islands...intrigued....

Apparently wells park has no water jets today - and its hot ! :(

Great thanks - tough one to keep track of though with those alternative opening times - there are bound to be some disappointed mums and toddlers turning up on the wrong days ... Cheers

Yes my little one attended Brockwell park with carer today and no water unfortunately..was a hot day and only hot sand so a bit of a disappointment. Will have to try sydneham wells park next time !

Hi - just wondering if the Peckham Rye one o'clock club is still open every day? I vaguelly remember a sign with reduced hours when I wandered past the other weekend but can't recall the details. Does anyone know opening times and days as hoping to visit tomorrow (fri) afternoon. Many thanks

My partner has just started looking after our daughter, 3.5 year old girl full time...and will be doing that until she starts school in September. I know he would be keen to hook up with some other dads. He's not currently hooked up to EDF...but I will tell him to get himself an id and get in touch. In the mean time pass any messages thru me. It's a pretty new thing for him so he is still getting his 'schedule' of pre school activities sorted..swimming, music class etc...so having other dads around would be a great addition to the week for him I reckon...so he doesn't go too insane with childcare and lack of male company :). Thanks!

Thanks for the tip belle - I will check it out and see if he has vacancy. Cheers

Hi there, I thought I would put out an enquiry to my forumites to help with this one... My parents in their early 70's are visiting from Australia for a while (well a month actually - the whole of June). For various reasons they can't stay with us for the majority of the time - 2 many children, not enough room, kids too noisy, 'inlaw reasons', etc etc. I would love to find them some nice self catering accomodation in the area...honor oak, nunhead, forest hill and of course dulwich (would consider west, east and of course dulwich village), also herne hill area. They fly in 1st June and ideally they could housemind a place - if you were going away and had a cat or dog or plants that needed watering...and we would pay of course something reasonable to cover your utilities and extra as a special thankyou. So that might cover the Jubilee period...if anyone was taking the opportunity to go away during that long weekend. Eg they could look after your place from 1st June to the 5th June when you may be away?? Beyond that I'm not sure if anyone has ideas on self catering places around this area or nice bed and breakfasts that are clean and not too noisy? They currently have themselves booked into a dire hotel in crystal palace as they did not want to trouble me for an enquiry, but I have just read the reviews and can't have them stay in that place- it sounds like a health hazzard. If you have ideas on accomodation or would like to offer your house as a 'house mind' opportunity then I would love to hear from you. Incidently we did the house sit thing once before (for a week in Easter a couple of yrs ago) with a well known ed forum user who I'm sure would not mind giving a private reference of support for my parents as they are extremly trust worthy and would leave your place spotless. We would only consider houses or ground floor flats though (as I wouldn't want them climbing upstairs to flats and would be nice to give them outside space). Many thanks for reading and look forward to hearing from some of you. You can PM me, leave a public message or call me on 07799582892. Thanks Vanessa.

More great advice - thanks guys. A minor success this morning...with half a poo in the loo (first half on the floor...apologies for the visuals...)...she seemed to stop herself and seemed quite shocked that she was doing it...luckily I noticed and wizzed her up to the loo. Lots of praise for the 2nd half going in the loo so maybe a corner turned. Still odd that she doesn't know its coming (and she did back in July when we trained) ...almost as if the sensation has been partially lost...she needs to be retrained in some way. She was quite happy reading on the loo, on her fifi toilet seat for the 2nd half which was great. Don't think we are 'out of the woods' yet on this one (what with the mess on the floor this am)...so everyone's words are very encouraging. Many thanks.

Thanks fuschia, all good advice and heartening to hear it's not been an easy road for others. There does seem to bs a timing of after breakfast and tea when it happens so will try and get her settled on the potty then with some good books. Thanks also to the other forumite re potty chair borrowing - might be worth a try - will pm you. It was all so much easier in summer to run around with dress and no knickers and sooo much wet washing hanging around at the minute... Will see how today goes and will check the website you mentioned as well for advice. She doesn't seem to be feeling much remorse for doing the mess either - as she loves her baths and perhaps sees it as another chance for a splash... Thanks again.

Wonder what a potty chair is? Maybe I can get them from mothercare? I do have a toilet training seat that she was sitting happily on, reading books etc and doing all her poohs quite happily... (it sits under the normal toilet seat to support them). This is the bizarre thing...it was all going so well...poo and wee in all the right places...the odd thing is that it timed with my husband going away on business...I wonder if that had anything to do with it...hasn't been the same since...and he was only away a week...just a thought. If you have any more info on that 'potty chair' that would be great...she might quite like the novelty and specialness of it...ie something that her sister doesn't have ..that she can call her own to use...even if it is just a potty chair.. Many thanks

I thought long and hard about starting a thread in here...not wanting to 'go public' with our current troubles...but I thought it was time to 'ask the edf' for some helpful advice and reassurance.... So my little girl (3 at end Nov) potty trained really well and easily back at the beginning of summer (early July)..barely an accident... Now as of 3 weeks ago..every single pooh has been in her knickers!! She does her wee's in the toilet and can even take herself but I just can't understand why she is standing there and poohing in her pants?? We've tried sticker charts etc...saying she will get a sticker if she does them correctly...but that doesn't seem to have worked as she hasn't earnt one sticker yet.. There is a bit of sibling rivaly between her older sister (4.5years) and her...so we think this might be an attention grabbing gesture...we do try and give her as much 1-1 as possible. We've sat her down and had chats with her and she agrees each day that she will ask an adult for help with the toilet and come get us (or nursery staff...3 days per week- only half days and not one pooh in nursery yet..she saves them for us)... Has this happended to anyone before? When will it stop...its been at least 3 weeks now. What do you think we should perhaps do differently? Happy if you want to discuss on pm...as realise we might not all want to go public about this kind of topic... Thanks in advance fellow forumites for any helpful (and kind) advice you might like to offer.

Hi - 2children...would be keen to hear more about your thoughts on entrance exams...when you say they are a 'con' what do you mean? My daughter has just started HH in reception and I have another daughter who will start next year in Kindergarten. We plan on doing the 7+ exams, with the hope of getting into Jags, Alleyns which I belive HH prepare the children for quite well. So, just curious to know more about your thoughts on the exams. Are the children pre-selected from other criteria other than exams (behind the scenes)..is this what you mean? Don't want to read between the lines... Look forward to hearing more. Thanks!

Unfortunately our current mini micro scooter just came to the end of its life span after a heavy six year old jumped on it for a joy ride.... Looking for a replacement scooter...ideally pink for a girl. Looking for one with a bit of life left in it ...where the wheels have not yet started to bend outwards (which can get a bit dangerous for steering). Look forward to hearing from you if you have one to sell on. Many thanks - Sorry just realised I posted in the wrong section...so will post again in classifieds...apologies. Moderator...you can move this one when you have the chance..cheers

Thanks for the advice. I think you are right - phone number is probably overkill. Plus if I end up using the woven sew on variety then presumably I can re-use these name tags over again ...(perhaps overly ambitious thought?) and then its possible that the phone number will be out of date at some stage. Quite excited about the new school, as is she...perhaps being a bit over zealous with preparations :)

Putting my two cents worth in about the metal poles...I think they are quite dangerous...my 4 year old managed to get up on one of the mid size ones and was doing a pricarious balancing act while I was looking the other way at my younger child .. I managed to catch her before she fell to the ground luckily. I can only guess by the distance apart they are, and the usual leg span of a child that they are actual meant for full grown youths/young adults...possibly to practise 'free running'...where they jump from pole to pole and do tricks etc... Not really appropriate at all for the space...and totally agree that the money spent on these hazardous poles could have been better spent elsewhere...and in the mean time they just seem to be a bit of a waste of space.

Just thought I'd ask advice... My daughter is about to start school and I'm getting some of those school label/name tag things made up online... Is it the done thing to have the phone number on the school uniform as well as the child's name? Someone once mentioned on another thread about possibilities of 'stranger danger' if the phone number was on there...but I didn't quite grasp the meaning... I thought phone number (the mum's) might be a good idea if the items get lost...but not sure if there is any risk with exposing phone number like this. Daft question I know..but thought I'd see what those with school age kids think? Many thanks.

Yes - I agree those traffic wardens are ruthless- I was back late by 6min once due to a disaster nappy when at the lido recently and got stung for 40quid- ouch. They had not even printed the ticket when i arrived ( but apparently had submitted the details) so they said they could not reverse it! Anyway that's another topic for a thread on this discussion board .... Cheers for warning though- can't let our guard down.

Hi - thought I'd add to this very relevant thread...we seem to be loosing hats all the time. The most recent was a lovely blue and white flowery one, it has a pull string that goes under the chin which was invaluable to keep the hat on...but obviously didn't work quite well enough..and this one still managed to get thrown out of the pram! Wide brimmed and quite soft cotton. Unknown brand (was sent from oz). if you see it would be great to hear. Thanks.

Thanks very much for this info. This will really help for tomorrow. Good tip on the parking indiana...as wasnt sure if it was all resident only parking (like the other side near the lido...sounds like they are less strict that side of the park). Also good to know which end of the park it is if we do the bus. Cheers guys.

Hi all, Going to be a warm next few days and thought I would explore the new water play area at brockwell lido. Just wondering if it is located next to the kids playground at the opposite side of the park to the lido? Is the 37 still the best way to get there from east Dulwich? How are you finding it? Ok in the am before it gets too crowded? Any views appreciated as keen to try it. Thanks

Hi all, A bit of a report on how things went. Unfortunately things didn't get off to great start as ended up leaving smack in the middle of the day at 12.30 (don't ask!- partner lost favourite driving cap and had to find it ..then decided oil, water, petrol needed attention...hmm) so hit lunch time traffic going thru to vauxhall bridge. Our entire trip took 7.5 hours with about 1 hour all up in stops...so 6.5 hours driving time I suppose not bad considering the time we left. The splits were about: East Dulwich to M4 start: 1.5 hours (I'm sure this is normally faster earlier in the am). M4 to M5 Start: 2 hours M5 to start A38: 1.5 hours A38 to destination (near Liskeard/Looe) : 1.5 hours. We decided to take the alternative A303 route on the way back and left Monday mid morning- we found the A303 surprisingly good (no blockage at Stonehenge- yeah!)...we also took the south circular back (A205) which wasn't too bad either at rush hour 5pmish. We made it in 6 hours driving time. The splits were: A38 (near Liskeard) to M5 start: 1.5 hours (as per forward journey) M5 to A303 start : 30min A303 to M3 start: 2.5 hours (30min rest stop not included). M3 to East Dulwich (via A205) 1.5 hour We liked the A303 route the best really for the scenery, but agree that the M4/M5 route is probably slightly faster if you area heading to vauxhall and M4 out of rush hour. Impressed that some people can do the trip in 5 hours or less. It was good to try both routes so thanks to everyone for their help...now all we need to do is move to west london so we can get out of London quicker- either that or head to Kent beaches next time :)

Hi all, A bit of a report on how things went. Unfortunately things didn't get off to great start as ended up leaving smack in the middle of the day at 12.30 so hit lunch time traffic going thru to vauxhall bridge. Our entire trip took 7.5 hours with about 1 hour all up in stops...so 6.5 hours driving time I suppose not bad considering the time we left. The splits were about: East Dulwich to M4 start: 1.5 hours M4 to M5 Start: 2 hours M5 to start A38: 1.5 hours A38 to destination (near Liskeard/Looe) : 1.5 hours. We decided to take the alternative A303 route on the way back and left Monday mid morning- we found the A303 surprisingly good...we also took the south circular back (A205) which wasn't too bad either at rush hour 5pmish. We made it in 6 hours driving time. The splits were: A38 (near Liskeard) to M5 start: 1.5 hours (as per forward journey) M5 to A303 start : 30min A303 to M3 start: 2.5 hours (30min rest stop not included). M3 to East Dulwich (via A205) 1.5 hour We liked the A303 route the best really for the scenery, but agree that the M4/M5 route is probably slightly faster if you area heading to vauxhall and M4 out of rush hour. Impressed that some people can do the trip in 5 hours or less. It was good to try both routes so thanks to everyone for their help...now all we need to do is move to west london so we can get out of London quicker- either that or head to Kent beaches next time :)

This is really great advice...thanks everyone. I think I would have started in completely the wrong direction and still be driving 10 hours later if I hadn't listened to voice of reason and experience...(what was I thinking re taking the M25 around). I have had bad experiences getting thru london on south circular so its good to have that alternative vauxhall bridge and the A4 straight into M4 option - that sounds relatively straight forward (traffic permitting). Leaving mega early not an option due to working late the night prior but great idea for another time- especially like the idea of sleeping children in the back seat making the journey far more pleasant! Many thanks again all. Will let you know how it goes...