busymum

the 1 o clock club in PR PK is open throughout the summer from 10.30 and has an area for babies, tomorrow there is a summer event with extra activities, bouncy castle etc (not so good for babies) ?3 per child. Telegraph hill playgroup (in the pk) also open during the summer hols with an area for babies, most of what is indoors is fine for a 10 m old I'd say

sorry for the delay sending an e-mail to the toddler Mums who have expressed an interest in meeting up, I'm doing this now. If anyone else wants to join in for playdates and other activities for the toddler age group please send me a pm with your e-mail address and we'll see what we can work out Cheers

hi 2loulou, i am stuck in with 2 girls and chicken pox scab stage but looks awful. slightly dreading another week of no contact with the human race. If you're feeling the same you're welcome to come round for a playdate! bit random but I'm sure you're both very nice. I had no idea i was supposed to be moisturising the spots so thanks for that. I put my daughter out in the garden in her knickers this morning in a desperate attempt to dry them up!

didn't look anywhere near finished on Thursday morning but maybe.....

littlemissindulgence, crystal7 do you want to send me your e-mail addresses via pm and we'll see what we can figure out. finding a time that we can all do might be tricky. another Mum with nearly 3 yr old girl also sent me a PM

hi bee 74, maybe we could organise something for the 2 1/2 yr old toddler age group or thereabouts. My eldest is starting school very soon and I will have to entertain my two and a bit year old girl on my own (yikes!) she will really miss her big sister and playdates with big sisters friends. She only has a few 'friends' of her own, would be nice for her to meet some other 2 year olds and for me to meet some other Mums. Anyone up for a cup of tea and toys and biscuit crumbs everywhere get intouch

My eldest daughter who was 4 in June, is starting school in September (state primary) but I would quite like to keep her at home with me and her younger sibling 1 day a week. She has never been in full time childcare and so 5 days could be too much for her and 4 years old still seems quite young, Is anyone else doing this? I briefly mentioned the idea to the teacher who advised me that full time education wasn't compulsory until 5, and we discussed the option of 2 half days. Having given it some more thought a 4 day week would be better all round, for my daughter but also for me and my youngest. Presumable if parents can choose to do some half days before child is 5 years old then a 4 day week would be acceptable to the school? Has anyone got any experience of this, or maybe you have decided to do something similar? were the school helpful or did the school put up any barriers.

there are lots of little ones at Ivydale children's centre, they also do a free music class on mondays, lots of nice Mum's to make friends with. Mondays and Wednesdays I think 9.30-11.30. Mine are a bit too big for it now .

do you know if they have spaces at the moment? this nursery is right at the bottom of our road and does look lovely. I am considering moving my youngest when my eldest starts at st John's and St clement's.

My eldest girl is starting reception at St Johns in September 2011 but her friends from nursery don't live in the area and will be going to other schools, so she won't actually know anyone when she starts. Is anyone else in a similar situation and would you like to meet up for a 'playdate'? My husband and I will both be at the parents evening next week and looking forward to meeting some of the other M&D's, but my little girl will miss the play date in July as we're on holiday. Please get in touch if you think this is a good idea? We live very close to the school about a minutes walk, it would be great to meet other families who live nearby or further afield.

I always think telegraph hill playgroup is a good one, it is easy to park outside on the road, there is a nice outside area with cars scooters etc, usually arts and crafts stuff inside, telegraph hill is lovely park with nice playground. all this for free! open all day 10-4 i think and they even sell tea, toast and fruit

i have sent you a pm

This seems wrong because you are entitled to 12 months maternity leave if you want, and would be entitled to staff benefits throughout, including childcare vouchers. Just because you'll be off work doesn't mean you want to give up your childs nursery place, in fact quite the opposite you'll need those days to go for interviews etc etc (if that's what you decide to do) Were you asked to fill in a form when you went on ML to inform your employer when you would be leaving sending in a copy of your MAT B1 certificate? We are asked to do that. If you said you were taking the full 12 months then presumably they would have to give you all your staff benefits for 12 months, but I don't know this for sure, but if not they would surely need to add this to your redundancy compensation package. I would definitely call your home contents insurance company and see if you've got employment lawyer cover of some kind, they could argue this for you as they did for Princess. I can only imagine how stressful this must be right now, as I've been through similarly stressful situations with my employer whilst on ML, although not redundancy - but I am being made redundant shortly (voluntary redundancy and I am extremely delighted to have been accepted) I have been asked to work 1 month of my notice period and will get the other 2 months as payment in lieu and was expecting to claim my childcare vouchers and some other childcare benefits provided by my employer during the worked bit of my notice period, but not the payment in lieu of working bit. If your notice period pay is being paid to you as payment in lieu of working then you might not get childcare vouchers during that time but I would argue that your notice period wouldn't actually kick in until you'd had 12 month ML?? I'm not sure if it will work but worth a try. If you have a union then they can advice of all these things and represent you at meetings etc Good luck

telegraph hill playgroup in the park in open all day til 3.30 or 4, I use it in the mornings so I'm not sure what they offer in the afternoons but it is free council run, cup of tea costs 40p, there is a nice outside area with cars, scotters etc and they always seem to have arts and crafts of soem description inside plus the usual home corner, toys etc. easy parking, worth a drive.

it is turquoise and pink, age 5 with name sewn into collar. could possibly have been left in the Crown and Greyhound afterwards, or does anyone know telephone number for warden's office in dulwich car park? I'm told they have a lost property box.

Can anyone help? I'm looking for swimming lessons for a 3.5 year old ideally Weds or Thurs afternoon, where adult wouldn't need to go into water. We would like our nanny to take our eldest daughter to the swimming lessons but she will need to look after youngest daughter at the same time Peckham Pulse and East Dulwich are our closest swimming pools but our nanny does have a car. Do swimming lessons tend to have massive waiting lists like most things in this area? Any suggestions much appreciated

hi they can't do that! otherwise my employer would have for sure! they cannot legally take deductions from SMP and they can't screw you for the entire amount when you get back to work. have you got a union? they can provide free legal advice on this sort of thing, hope you get it sorted.

does anyone know if telegraph hill or similar would be open today? our childcarer is poorly and Weds is not one of my usual days off work, plus not sure what is open this close to xmas thanks

I like Ivydale childrens centre 9.30-11.30 ivydale school and Telegraph hill playgroup is quite nice, better in the summer as Telegraph hill Pk is v nice. I think Nunhead library has a session from 10 in the morning, better for babies and small toddlers but nice for a chat. Not sure about Tues as I work

don't think so, I looked into this when my little one was 2, most classes start from 3 yrs. so not long to go...

our nursery closed Thurs and Fri last week, the Manager called in the morning and offered us alternative childcare at one of their other nurseries, somewhere in streatham. I guess if you had no other choice you would use emergency childcare but I'm not sure my 2 would have been very keen to be left with strangers for the day. anyway haven't checked the small print of our contract but I'm sure they have it covered and we won't be getting a refund..... such is the hideous cost of childcare!

do you know which film?

Hi I love this thread, definitely a laugh out loud. I'm a working Mum but have felt less confident since having children, but more happy (and knackered) than at any other time in my life. I find my job gives me confidence but also makes me question myself/ my ability, I often feel like a fraudster at work eg someone might actually find out I don't know what I'm taking about half the time! Comparing myself unfavorably against my male counterparts. As I'm only at home with my kids 1 day a week I have managed to avoid those feelings of loneliness at toddler groups and down the park, most of the time, as in my 1 day I have to cram in seeing everyone I know plus whiz round Sainsbury's, but I can recall feeling lonely whilst on maternity leave and investing a lot of time in attending tea groups etc and building up Mum friend contacts, only to find that so many of my lovely mum friends are moving out to the country (don't go) I am always up for chatting and making new friends, you all sound so great and very funny, I'd love a Mums nite out (we could call it our office Christmas do!)

actually i've just checked our company intranet and it states Requests for special leave for urgent family reasons..... e.g. where a child or other dependent falls ill, will also be given sympathetic consideration, including granting special leave with pay up to a maximum of 2 days. Usually in such circumstances 2 days should allow the member of staff to make alternative arrangements. I've got 2 kids so 2 days in 10 months off is not at all bad, I'm now worried about them being ill again, there is so much going round at the moment and nursery is a breading ground for germs. i'm sorry to hear that so many of you have to use your A.L for this, especially 5 working weeks of it!! ps I work for public sector org and I have heard that H.R can claim staff sick days back from the government! so there is no way they would let me take it as a staff sick day, that would be breaking the law I actually find it impossible doing any work from home with the children about, I find it hard enough checking messages on EDF I'm quite concerned about this threat to "manage it" I'm not sure what this could mean?

what do you do if your child is ill and you need to take a day off work to look after them? do you take AL or parental leave or do your employers give you special leave for that? I'm just curious as my boss has made a dig, probably just in bad mood, but she claims if workload does not fit with leave requirements then we would need to figure out how to manage it...... How on earth would anyone know how often their children are likely to be sick? Have heard about new legislatuion to protect from this kind of thing - discrimination by proxy, anyone know about it? or had similar experience at work? I have only had 2 days off for a childs sickness in 10 months sorry just a bit cross on recieving this on a Sunday......