Lizzylonglegs

I think at this age it's all about keeping their love of books & reading alive. Personally, I think the school reading books cover the learning objectives in terms of phonics, tricky words etc etc but are not very gripping in terms of plot or even very enjoyable. We have found that "stepping up" the books we read together at bedtime has kept us all interested & my daughter has gone back to re-read a lot of these books independently now she has gained more confidence in reading. I heartily recommend: Madame Pamplemousse series of books - absorbing for both adults &a small children! Oliver & the Seawigs Claude series of books Non scary Roald Dahl stories Worst witch series The Bolds & the new book The Magnficient Moon Hare (&sequel) Also , the Ella Bella Ballerina series We read these as my daughter was growing more confident in reading. She also loved the Ant & Bee books to practice on her own & dare I say politically unPC Wishing chair collection by Enid Blyton. Hope this helps, as has been mentioned, choosing at a library or bookshop may help. Probably most important is a love of books, which by definition is why you originally posted.

Try Push studios in East Dulwich. I recently saw some classes advertised.

actuarygi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think the crux of the matter is what exactly > does the OP mean by "bounded over", "jumped all > around" and "vigorously investigating", and > whether the fear that these actions aroused to the > child means something on the dog, on the child or > on the parents should be done, or any combination > of them. > > If a dog had actually knocked over the child, or > have showed to be aggressively growling at the > child, then this dog should be leashed and kept > close to the dog owner, full stop. But it is not > clear if any physical contact was actually made or > aggressive behaviour shown. Coming for a sniff is > what dog does. Rarely would the dog carry > aggressive intention. Of course nothing is > certain, but we don't leash a curious but unknown > human being for approaching a child who then > become frightened, even if he or she may be seen > as a nuisance and the very real possibility that > this human being has evil intention. In the park > situation here, the parent has the full liberty to > tell the dog to go away, and most of the time the > dog will comply. The actual danger that an unknown > dog poses to a child can only be known and put > into a proper context if statistics on the > probability of unprovoked dog attack is compared > to the incidence of violence one may encounter on > the street. This will inform us on what is the > appropriate level of fear that a parent should > teach the child towards an unknown dog coming up > to him or her. I'm really struggling with a solution to this. As a parent of 2 small children who absolutely love & trust a dog owned by a close relative, I hope we would all behave in a calm manner to a curious dog who bounded up, sniffing around. BUT my son has recently been out on a nursery trip, where the class 'encountered' six dogs all off the lead. The dogs jumped up at the nursery class. I'm sure they were all very excited, as I'm sure was my son & his classmates, probably a toxic mixture. However, it would appear that no-one (nursery staff & dog walker) was in complete control. As a result, my son is now anxious when we come across an unleashed dog, to the point where I think he invites more curiosity from the dog. We have pets at home, & he is totally relaxed. When I am out with him, I hope to anticipate & talk to him about dogs approaching, how we keep calm & relaxed, but never assume a dog is friendly. However, as with all statistical analysis, the problem that you pose applies to the population as a whole & not to the individual. For them, it is an an all or none; it happens or it doesn't. Unfortunately that is chance. Further analysis bears meaning for the population at large but not for a random encounter in a park. I would agree with previous poster's ; there is a responsibility on both parents & dog-owners to take responsibility for their charge's whilst out in a public space. By which I mean be vigilant & try to anticipate even the most random behaviour.

My children love swimming with Superkids, we tried another swimming school & my daughter wouldn't even get in the pool, now she swims safely & confidently. It would be an absolute loss to the local community to evict Superkids. If you would like to support Superkids staying at St Thomas' PLEASE follow the link & fill in a few answers. https://superkids.typeform.com/to/TVCJ3l Personally, I think it's a crazy idea to replace such a great team, with a proven track record with something untested, unless of course there is another agenda?