Yak

Help 1. I was banned from taking GCSE textiles for breaking the one and only electronic sewing machine our school had 2. I am not particularly creative or dexterous (see 1 above) but I like making crafty things which are 80% good 20% crap such as aprons, drawstring rucksacks, purses etc 3. So far I have got by thanks to wonder webbing and some pretty dodgy hand sewing but I now want to do things with stretch fabric and thicker fabrics So am I mad to even consider getting a sewing machine? I could probably stretch budget wise to about ?100 or a little bit more. If I were to get one, what make / model do the wise people of the family room suggest? And aside from the machine itself, what other accessories do you need to make the thing work?

I quite like the idea of making the kids sit stock still. But then I am bad mummy..

Totally agree about valet parking. Brilliant and pretty cheap. Meteor meet and greet or diamond are good. If you follow them on twitter you can normally get 15 - 20% off their rack rates

Not read through the thread, but I found diprobase ointment (as opposed to the cream) worked much better for us.

We did this a few years ago and had a great time. Highly recommended!

Agree piano / keyboard and recorder are both good entry level instruments. You can concentrate on making not too awful a noise/ hyperventilating while learning how to read music and to count. I think I started both aged about 4, then added guitar at 8 and then oboe aged 11. Guitar much younger than 7/8 means that you'll have to hire / buy lots of sizes as they grow, though perhaps there are hire schemes which cater for this now. I also bought a cheapy ukele for my 3 yr old son to play around with though I play it more than him:-) Hope she enjoys whatever she choses to do.

I'm bookmarking this thread! Google calendar didn't really work for us but a written calendar which is The Holy Grail did. The only thing I can contribute really is about cards and presents. I do a job lot whenever there is a sale on an online and have a permanent present box of things that are non gender and not too age specific (kaliedescope, wooden whistles, build a glider plane etc). I guess that gets tougher as kids get older though. Postage stamps are always added to the Ocado order once a month. For cards, I buy blank 50 cards and then have a stamping kit with letters, numbers, pictures etc. Sounds a bit airy fairy but it means that a thank you / get well soon / birthday / wedding / new baby card is never far away. They can look as amateur as you like and then just blame the kids. Quite cheap to do too Oh and we have a "hot weather box" and a "cold weather box" for each person with all their bits and pieces like shoes / gloves / hats by the door and it is up to each person to keep their box in order. Store away boxes as seasons change. Washing machine - use the delay start. Put washing on last thing at night but delay start for 7 hrs without it sitting in the machine getting creased. Feels less like a chore to hang it out first thing and means you can get to bed at a decent time. Cleaner - definitely worth investing in this, if you can afford it. Chalkboard for admin tasks that are not paper / email related and easy to lose track of. Decide what it is you care about and don't sweat the small stuff

We went here last year and are going again this year. But Sardinia might be v hot in July! http://www.lantanaresort.co.uk/

Also a plug for the Olympic park (via the overground to Canada Water, then Jubilee to Stratford). There's a brilliant playground in the northern part of the park with an excellent caf?. The Olympic swimming pool is brilliant. It's cheap and has fantastic learner pools.

Holland and Barrett have dairy free chocolate Easter eggs.

Jennyh we used side sleep positioners, from reflux.co.uk I think. Kept lo on his side and happily asleep without worrying about him going on to his tummy. Good luck getting something sorted.

I am a lawyer too and work for the Government Legal Service. The pay is rubbish but I can honestly say I can't rate the work highly enough for its intellectual stimulation and challenging nature. It is also pretty good in terms of family friendliness. I work FT but one day a week from home and start and finish early to work round pick up times. To give an example, I've had 6 line managers over the last 10 years. Not one of them has worked 5 days a week full time in the office and 4 of them have been men! DM me if you'd like to chat.

Another happy customer here. Thanks Laura and team. Quick, efficient and well priced. A good service.

I found going back to work (8 months) full time fine, but then I was lucky in that my OH took 3 months off to do full time child care and settling in to nursery. So I was in the very fortunate position of settling back in without having to do all the other things that normally come with that. BUT I really found that I hit a brick wall after about 6 months, when the sheer relentlessness of working FT in the office 5 days a week doing an incredibly stressful and demanding job hit home. And no one in my team had kids so I felt v isolated and unable to winge about the inevitable sleepness nights. So my top tips would be to build in some planned holidays, outsource as much as you can, just accept sometimes you won't get everything right, find someone to vent to either online or in person, and build in some you time. My mantra now is "when has trying my best not been good enough" which stops me trying and failing to do everything perfectly, all of the time. Would a trip to your workplace with your kids work at all? I found I got a bit more slack once my colleagues were able to put a face to a name. And it might help your daughter to see what it is like where Mummy works. Kittysailing, I love the idea about not being apologetic for work - something that I am all too good at doing. Excellent food for thought.

I had down on my birth plan that I would not be discharged until my LO was checked for tongue tie - talk about being paranoid!

What Mellors said. And if you can work one day a week from home that can help. I find the hardest time is when you are knackered and don't feel like making the effort because you've had one of those days at work. But I find even with my little one explaining that I did a lot of talking / working / writing and had a really busy day he then opens up much more with what he's been up to than if I just bombarded him with questions about what he has been up to. Also one night a week a special evening treat- either a short film night with you all cuddled up on the sofa, or a trip out maybe for a hot choc? Time for you too - I run for headspace, but whatever gives you time to regroup and reenergise is worth booking in as an important thing. And pick your battles, don't sweat the small stuff!

We had to explain death to our nearly 3 year old when my FIL died very suddenly before Christmas. We went with the approach of keeping it very factual and basic - i.e. Grandad has died, we can't see him any more, it is very sad but it is ok to be sad. He saw us very upset and there was no point hiding that we were fine when we weren't. It is confusing, as his best friend also moved to Sweden at the same time, so he was double hit by 2 big losses in his life. We had to do lots of explaining that his BF was not dead, and that Grandad was not in Sweden, and that we could chat by computer to best friend but we could not talk to Grandad any more and that that was sad. But that we could still look at pictures of them together and talk about how much fun we had with him. I think the point I took overall was not to expect too much understanding, and be prepared for toddler minds to be literal and take you at your words and to draw intereferences where there are none. And that being honest with your own emotions is fine.

I have a rare pass for a couple of nights away with a girlfriend in Dublin. We're not wild and I plan to do a LOT of sleeping and lounging about in the pool, but can anyone recommend good places to eat or visit? I have about a half hour tolerance of most museums and a very large appetite. Thanks in advance

Interesting. If you read the adjudication report, though, you'll see the argumentation is quite narrowly focussed on those children whose due date was after 1 Sept of the relevant school year. The premise seems to be that parents of, for example, pre-term children should not be placed at a disadvantage in such a case because they would otherwise have expected them not to be in that year group. So the revised admissions code for the LA in that case was found to be lawful because it explained the "expcetional circumstances" in which a child would be put in Reception year more clearly. So it would apply to nsn's case but not necessarily to others. I think at best what you can aim for is a similar degree of flexibility in the LA admission codes for the schools you're interested in. But that does not guarantee you a legal "right" for a child to be put in Reception year if that's what the parents want.

Maclaren every time. My 2.5 year old (who wears ages 4 - 5 clothes!) happily slumbers in it. We have a techo XLR (I think?) but he also fits in the basic model too.

Pickle, that's brilliant! My favourite so far has been a complete meltdown on a packed long distance train (idiot trainline.com booked us in the quiet carriage allegedly by accident) with a toddler screaming "stop! stop! stop! It's going the wrong way! It's not dat way!) for 2 hours. I almost died

Sounds exactly like my one - a fantastic eater, 2 feeds at 9 months when I went back to work. It worked out fine. Good luck with the return to work

We booked in advance, but there were no queues if you wanted to just turn up and buy. It might get busier towards Christmas but it is tucked out of the way.

I've been to Somerset House and Natural History Museum in previous years but have to say that the Tower of London one is by far the best. I don't know if it's just not as well known, but it was beautifully quiet last Friday lunchtime - only about 10 of us on the ice. Excellent hot choc afterwards too. Might be an option if she's likely to want to avoid crowds when learning.

I hear your pain but you can customise them. Our son has a blue one with red handles and a pink bell! His is third hand and is still going strong.