catgirl

We stayed here a couple of years ago and really loved it. http://www.clubpollentia.com/en/hotel-overview.html Stay in one of the village suites (the maris hotel rooms are much further from facilties and look a bit tired) Suites are l shaped with a large living room, bedroom and bathroom and both the living and bedroom open onto the terrace. They also had really long heavy curtains with a separate black out lining on both sets of French doors. Our 13 month old slept in the travel cot and we had the black out bit closed against the French doors and then draped the outer bit of the curtain over her cot so it was like a little tent with the cot inside so was easy to settle her in our room earlier on. Grounds are lovely but be aware there are some ponds around so you will need to keep an eye. We had a duck with a line of ducklings that walked past us several times a day - the children loved it! facilities are great with outdoor and indoor pool and good buffet meals in the restaurant.(meals very reasonable price if you haven't booked a meal package) There's also a lovely looking kids club although we didn't use it (very new and clean) and a great playground with a paddling pool bit. It's very popular with cyclists so when we were there it was really quiet during the day as most of the guests were out cycling! Also meant the buffet had lots of really lovely healthy stuff - great salad bars and fruit etc and lots of grilled meat and fish. It is about 3 miles outside puerta pollensa. We had a hire car and tended to go into Pollensa (or elsewhere) mid morning, play on the beach, have lunch and then head back to the hotel for the rest of the day / evening but we were only there for 5 days so didn't mind the lack of variety! As snowboarder says, Soller and Port de Soller are both lovely and there is a fab little train that you can get from Soller into Palma through beautiful scenery. Puerta Andratx is also lovely - not sure what the beaches are like but gorgeous for a wander and a drink / meal by the boats.

we've got a digital piano but it's one with weighted keys so it feels like a proper piano. The advantages over a standard piano are that it takes up less space and also that you can turn the volume down or use earphones! (disadvantage is that your 3 year old can keep turning it off while your 9 year old is trying to practice....) ours was from www.chasedirect.co.uk They have quite a handy guide to which digital piano is best for you which I liked because it said no point spending a lot on one with loads of features if you just basically want to use it as a normal piano.

hi all I dropped some toys and clothes at the refugee centre in barry road this morning. She asked me to put a post on here to say thanks for all the donations but they now have enough clothes and thanks for all the buggies but they don't need any more as they are getting a job lot from save the children. She said that they will always accept toy donations though - they can never get enough.

Oh and she loves all the toy food and tea sets, does loads of pretending to feed and water various dolls and teddies and us and pretending to be in a cafe etc.

My daughter is about to turn 3 and the toys she's played with the most over the last year have been: Dolls and the dolls pushchair Drawing and sticking stuff Doctors kit Jigsaw puzzles in the last 4-5 months. Scooter!

My daughter loves David walliams and his books are quite easy reads. Or how about some of the easier Enid Blyton. Eg secret seven?

I've got a few lovely bits from Hush (sale usually)http://www.hush-uk.com/ As others have already mentioned, other good ones for me are Gap, Zara, Great Plains and odd bits from Oliver Bonas sale.

Try a campsite? Eurocamp / Thomson / Keycamp all go to some lovely campsites all over Europe and it's a fab family holiday. There are loads of great sites with pools / playgrounds /restaurant and take away / bar / shop all on site. Most of the holiday companies run kids clubs in the mornings at least (although usually not for toddlers but school age and above so this may not work for you littlemissindulgence). We usually book direct with the campsites as they mostly have their own mobilehome / chalet accommodation and it's cheaper than going with Eurocamp etc. Most of the sites also run their own kids clubs although not with English staff like the Eurocamp ones. (my children don't go to the kids clubs anyway so is not a big factor for us) We tend to prefer the small / medium sized sites but the Eurocamp website is quite good for comparing sites and checking out the facilities as well as size etc of each one. My children always make friends and it's a really relaxing holiday and everything you need all on site. I know you say needs to be nicer than a mobile home village but a lot of the sites are really beautiful and certainly a world away from some of the holiday park resorts that I've seen in the UK. We've stayed in lovely 3 bed chalet / mobile homes on 4 & 5 star campsites in school summer holidays for between 800 and 1000 euros per week. (this is booking direct with site and also check different weeks as prices drop the last week in august and sometimes also the week before that)

Kinder hotels are great for that age group and some have little ski areas for child beginners in their grounds so easy to try it out. Also loads of other facilities for children as well as pools and spa facilities. Rooms are all suite type rooms with separate children's bedroom/s so you can put the children to bed and still use the room. They are all family owned and vary a bit in quality/ price/ facilities. Most are in Austria but some in neighboring countries too.

My 5 year old loves snakes and ladders

We've got a couple of ragdolls from JoJo Maman which my children really like http://www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/product+t+ragdoll They're quite long though so check they'll fit in the cot..

I wasn't sure from your post if you already have Lego but if not I would definitely get some. We have quite a lot and my 5 year old son spends a lot of time on his own and with friends playing with it. The little kits are good and he likes following the picture instructions to put it together but mostly he uses the general bricks and bits to make crazy buildings and random stuff. My 2 year old really likes sticklebricks at the moment and the 5 year old wouldn't get them out on his own but enjoys playing with it when she's got them out. They also both like the wooden food/ cooking stuff and pretending to be in a cafe etc.

Boppin tots is great and is drop in so you just pay when you go and don't need to sign up for a whole term.

I would try losing the TV or at least not letting it go on until she's totally ready which may be an incentive for her to get ready quickly. We never have the TV on before school - I know that if it went on then I would stand zero chance of getting my children to do anything! What time does she get up? Do you have a regular routine / order in which you do things in the morning? Even if we're up early I get mine to get dressed and washed straight after breakfast and then any left over time they can play / finish homework etc. Otherwise I know that if the other stuff came first we'd end up rushing and stressing to get dressed and washed. And when my daughter had packed lunch we always made it the night before - for some reason I found that made a really big difference to how rushed and stressful things seemed in the morning! Another suggestion is some sort of reward chart where she gets a tick for getting ready quickly / without a fuss? Or I know someone who successfully used a timer with her son - I bet you can't get dressed and brush your teeth in X time etc.

Battersea park zoo is fab for little ones (and big ones). Has lots of animals and great play areas including a brilliant sandpit. Easy on the train. Or London zoo? Kew gardens also a lovely family day out with a fab play area Boat trip on the Thames?

We pay half pay for holidays and nothing for sick (not that she's ever taken any time off sick). Had exactly the same with our previous childminder and thought that was pretty standard. Obviously we pay in full if we're away and she's working. I'd say she's definitely trying it on with the bank holidays if you're only using her on Mondays. As Fuscia says if she's only working one day for you then she's only entitled to 1/5 of the bank holidays.

Singing/music group? Lots around to choose from and she's at a good age for enjoying that kind of thing from my experience.

A voucher for a massage or facial or similar? Or arrange a day with her partner or someone to look after her 18 mo and your child and take her shopping for a new top or for an afternoon tea or on the London eye or something depending on her preferences (assuming she lives near you!) Otherwise I always love receiving books, nice stationary eg. Notebooks, jewellery?

Thanks - will check out the suggestions. We have been to butlins before (not Pontins) which the children loved but I was thinking of something a bit more classy this time... The camber beach house and Eastbourne guest house both look fab - thanks

we're thinking of going away just for one night (either sat / sun or Sun / Mon over a bank holiday) with our 3 children in the next month or so. Does anyone have any suggestions of anywhere within reasonable driving distance? We generally prefer self catering but there is usually a minimum of 2 - 3 nights to pay for anything s-c so we may need a hotel instead. Wuold like to be either in countryside or near the sea (rather than a town / city) and would need to be child friendly. Somewhere with a pool would be ideal. We're not after childcare but somwhere with or near some child centred activities / playgrounds etc and we generally prefer a laid back vibe rather than anything too formal or fancy! Much appreciated.

Definitely ED forum or Gumtree - UPAD is also a good one, much cheaper than an agency. Also bear in mind that if an agency are finding tenants but won't be managing the property, they have no incentive to find good tenants - know a couple of people who did this and ended up with total nightmare tenants who they say they would never have agreed to had they met them first. Finding tenants yourself means at least you get to meet them and get a feel for them as well as they you.

What age is babybooters for? Do you have any drop in football suitable for 5 year olds?

yes our garden is about 80ft so is very big although have a large shed / garden room taking up quite a bit of space at the end. A friend has a garden that is about 45 foot and she has a patio which is bigger on the rh side than the lh side. then on the lh side of the garden she has a slide and then behind that a trampoline and the right hand side is just grass for running on after the patio. It works really well having it divided up like that.

We've got 2 girls and a boy and really really value our big garden. We ended up moving here from a more expensive part of London in order to get a decent sized house with a big garden (this was before prices went silly here!)and have always been so glad that we did so. I love the fact that the children can just go out and play and be outside having fun while i'm cooking tea or whatever and watching them from the kitchen. However close you live to the park, you still need to pack up and go out but with a garden you can just run in and out as suits. We use it all year round as even in the winter they go out to play on the trampoline / slide. It's also great when we have friends round as the children can all just race around outside having fun and burning off energy. I've also noticed (and may just be my strange children) but my 3 seem to play together much better outside than in - far fewer arguments and strops! For what it's worth, we also have a small ensuite and I'd give that up any day rather than chop a bit off my garden. Personally my compromise would be size of bedrooms / other rooms to have a big kitchen (we live in ours) and garden.

Rocca in dulwich village is lovely but informal and they are fab with children, very welcoming.