ClaireClaire

Hello! This looks like a fun project http://royalsociety.org/news/Inspire-young-people-to-read-about-the-exciting-world-of-science/ The Royal Society annually awards a "Young People's Book Prize", and they are looking for groups of young people aged up to 14 to form their own judging panels and submit their recommendations to the RS for the winner. The idea is to get a group of young people together (aged up to 14) who will have to read 6 books on the shortlist, supervised/co-ordinated by an adult, and then submit their recommendation by the deadline. Anyone interested? I'd be happy to be the co-ordinating adult. (My kids are only 4 and 2, so too young to be involved in this one, unfortunately!) Claire

Hello I stumbled on this v useful thread and thought I would add a few more suggestions... For kids who like fantasy, don't forget: Ursula le Guin - Wizard of Earthsea Alan Garner - The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The Owl Service, Elidor, etc Jonathan Stroud - Bartimaeus trilogy Diana Wynne Jones - already mentioned, and she has lots of others which are much better than Howl's moving castle, e.g. The Ogre Downstairs, the Magicians of Caprona etc And for animal lovers you just have to have: Gerald Durrell - My Family and Other Animals, A Zoo in my Luggage, etc James Herriot - lots And for the lovely sentimental stories that you secretly go back and re-read as a grown up: Paul Gallico - The Snow Goose, Jennie, The Small Miracle, Flowers for Mrs Harris, etc Meindert de Jong - The Wheel on the School, The House of 60 Fathers E Nesbitt - The Phoenix and the Carpet, Five Children and It, etc And for older children ready for more mature books don't forget Ian Serraillier - The Silver Sword Robert Westall - The Machine Gunners Makes me so nostalgic thinking about all these! I envy my kids, having all of this ahead of them. Looking forward to the reading years!

Hello all, just wondering if anyone has any updates on primary school admissions? We are very lucky to have an offer from Goodrich, which we are of course very pleased about. However it was our 2nd choice school, and I am wondering how long to hold out for our 1st choice, which is Heber. We were initially at number 1 on the waiting list for Heber. However when I checked about 2 weeks ago, I was told we had moved down a space and are currently number 2 on waiting list. Are there any key dates I should be watching out for, when waiting list positions might change? Goodrich has just sent us our enrollment and settling-in information, and I am wondering how long it is sensible to keep holding out for Heber. (I know we are in a fortunate position and I hope this doesn't seem insensitive to parents who are unhappy with their school allocation. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome for everyone before September.) Thanks Claire

Well done Sciencetastic! We will definitely try to fit this in. It'll be on a Saturday, I'm assuming? When will you be starting? Claire

We have flown to NZ and Asia a couple of times with kids, though not as young as that. From one point of view, 6-8 weeks is actually a great time to travel, especially if you are breastfeeding, as the baby will just nurse and sleep. However, if you have had a c-section and are having a difficult recovery, you might find the long flight hard on you, never mind the baby! I think it depends in part what your own fitness is like before the birth. If you are generally fit beforehand, you should be pretty much back to normal physically by 6 weeks. I wouldn't worry too much about baby's routine at 6-8 weeks, their routines are constantly changing throughout the first year due to teething, illnesses and growth spurts etc, so you kind of just have to take it as it comes. We prefer to fly straight through without stopping over. It just adds so much time on, getting out of the airport, getting taxis/trains or whatever to your hotel, then finding something that your children will eat for the day you are there, then getting back to the airport again for another 3 hour check in, etc etc. About a 3 hour layover en route is best, IMO, if you can find it! Good luck! Claire

I should also have said that if anyone might be interested in an Italian au pair for the summer, please PM me and I can send you the link to my friend's profile page on the Au Pair world website. She is only looking to work for the summer, though, as she is back at university in September. Thanks again for the helpful responses. Claire

Oh dear! Well thank you very much people for these responses, everyone. I shall pass them along to my friend. Much appreciated Claire

Maybe it is a cultural thing. I never got "The office", I am ashamed to say.

Hello Came across this thread which is a few months old, but thought I would add a little note here to say that I had CP during my 2nd pregnancy at 26w. It was something I was concerned about all the way through, as I was sure I hadn't had it myself as a child, and of course all the kids at nurseries and playgroups around me were coming down with it. I spoke to GPs, midwives and nurses and of course no-one took me seriously. Everyone tried to tell me that "I must have had it", because 96% of the adult population has had it or whatever. The most I could do was vaccinate my older child, in the hope that if she didn't get CP, then I wouldn't get it either. But no such luck, I still came down with it at 26w. Luckily baby turned out unscathed (and possibly with some CP immunity???). But I will say that it is much more unpleasant as an adult, and unfortunately two years later I still have scars :-( My message is: don't let it happen to you! Check your immunity and if necessary get the vaccine (go to MediCentre at Victoria or Waterloo) BEFORE you get pregnant. Claire

Hello forumites I have a friend-of-a-friend in Italy who is coming over to London for the summer to work as an au pair. She has had an offer from a family who seem nice, and is wondering about the pay that they have offered her. They have 2 children, aged 8 and 9 years old. She is told she will have to work 5 hours max per day. They are offering ?100 cash each week, as well as ?1000 salary per month. They live in London just outside the north circular. Am I right in thinking this is above average? Any advice appreciated! Many thanks Claire

I'm also fundamentally anti-royal but I'm also encouraging my kids to watch it. I think it is just one of those events that there will be a globally shared memory of - the others have mostly been sad events such as twin towers, Diana's funeral, etc. You have to make the most of a happy event, I think, whenever it happens! I grew up very far away from here, but even I remember, as a small child, seeing Diana going to her wedding 30 years ago... I think will be nice for my children to be able to look back on this wedding and say, "I was in England when that happened!"

Thanks for these replies. We have family coming from NZ who want to be here for 1st day of school, don't want them to be disappointed! thanks

Hello all, I'm trying to work out what day my lo will be starting school in September this year. Southwark council's published date for the first day of term is 5th September 2011. But I was wondering, will all reception children start on this day, or do schools sort of stagger the intake over a few weeks or something like that? (I may be imagining it but I feel like I've heard of this happening somewhere.) We have a place at Goodrich and are on the waiting list for Heber. Many thanks Claire

I haven't read all the posts in this thread so this may already have been mentioned. IMO the parents who are most likely to hit their children in public tend to be people with low levels of education, and they may not have the resources to (a) learn better parenting techniques and (b) obtain support for themselves when in difficult situations. Some of these people may be in inadequate housing, have insufficient funds to live on, have adult abusive relationships in the home environment already etc. Learning appropriate parenting techniques is simply not a priority for them. Of course I do not condone their behaviour, I have also witnessed similar situations and also find it very distressing and have not known what to do. Having reflected on it (because of this thread, thank you OP-er), now I think I would try to treat both the parent and the child with some empathy and compassion, and recognise that the reason this is happening is due to poor education and lack of resources on the parent's part. Having said that, calling the police I think IS the right thing to do, mainly as a route to the family being linked up with social services, who can put some support systems in place as well as monitor the child's welfare. (Telling the parent off isn't going to change their behaviour - much more sustained support and guidance is needed, which you as a passer-by simply cannot provide.) It is of course a judgement call that you have to make on the spur of the moment. IMO it is better to err on the side of caution and call the police, even if you feel slightly uncomfortable about it. The police and social services are very busy, and if the case is deemed to be low-risk, then it will probably be closed quickly and end of story. On the other hand, it could turn out to have been an important intervention in the life of some unfortunate little kid. Claire

Hello, anyone know if this is open today? My daughter lost a shoe yesterday so we have to hotfoot it to the shoe shop! Have tried phoning but no answer. Claire

http://www.artasticartclub.co.uk/index.html Annabelle runs sessions on a Saturday and also during the school holidays. Lots of arts and craft equipment, and a large open room, perfect for messy activities with paint, glitter, etc etc.

Hello I've actually got the answer to this now from the school admissions email address, in case anyone is interested: 317 metres is the last offered on distance on 4 April at Heber School Claire

Hello My hairdresser warned me about this - it is horrifying, isn't it? What it really is, is that while you are pregnant, your hair falls out LESS than usual. (Normally you would always be growing new ones and shedding old ones). Then, after baby is born, your hair has to sort of catch up to regain its normal balance of hair in / hair out, and so all the hair that didn't fall out while you were pregnant, now suddenly starts falling out 4m after baby is born. http://www.babycenter.com/0_postpartum-hair-loss_11721.bc It's horrible but your hair does return to normal eventually. Claire

Renata, Do you know what the catchment for Heber turned out to be this year? Thank you Claire

Who administers the waiting lists? Should I go directly to the school to find out what number I am on the list, or do I have to talk to Southwark?

Thanks for you reply Fuschia. Our daughter will be 5 this coming October so waiting till January not an option. Jenny I, sorry to hear about your situation. I hope you get something suitable soon. I think the radius for Heber must have been something like 300m this year.... incredible! No doubt we will find out soon enough what the official distance was.

We got Goodrich, our 2nd choice Heber was our first choice I feel a little odd... Heber is our closest school and I'd bargained on going there.... been to various open days etc and felt like it was a sure thing as we are less than 300m away. My friend who is about 50m closer got a place at Heber... it must have been really tight this year. I know Goodrich is meant to be excellent as well, but I know very little about it... never visited it, for example. Hmm. Now, next decision is, should I go on waiting list for Heber and enter a period of limbo, or should I just go with Goodrich...?

This will probably sound totally crazy, but apparently adding a very small amount of bleach to the bath can also help. Apparently it kills the bacteria which are causing damage to the skin. (Obviously, talk to your GP about this first and make sure to get the concentration right!!) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8015995.stm I was just talking to my sister about this yesterday, she used this on her 18m old and found it was really a miracle treatment and the eczema just went away. I noticed this news when it first came out in 2009 but didn't dare try it myself, and I suppose that's why it's not being pushed here as a treatment because of a fear of people getting the concentration wrong, which would obviously be very dangerous!

Hello, congrats on getting a place all of you I did it last year when I was living in Sydenham On my long runs I used to come down to Dulwich, then along S circular to Clapham, Battersea, and then run along the Embankment before making my way back along the same route It was a good route, lots of greenery, open space, straight roads, no need to take a map with you! I would usually just take an Oyster card in case I got into trouble and had to get the bus back. I never carried any electronics - not even a watch, actually. Just gatorade. Taper: I've seen a lot of runners around who are clearly training for the marathon. They're the ones who are out at 11pm on freezing cold nights when everyone else is watching TV indoors, and the ones on the weekend running at a slow steady pace, with expressions of grim determination! Enjoy the training, everyone. Claire

Wow, so much info - thank you Do they have a creche for babies, do you know? And what is it like for snowboarders? I'll check their website thanks C