BellendenBear

If you have a history of depression you can self-refer for mindfulness via SLAM https://slam-iapt.nhs.uk/southwark/sw-therapy-options/groups-and-courses/mindfulness-based-cognitive-therapy/

Yes! They are like termites, it's amazing.

There isn't a right answer to this one. You have to do what works best for you financially and logistically and what feels right for your baby. I have 4 kids and have used different childcare for each of them and can not say which was the best. There were advantages and disadvantages to each, and each was chosen because that was what worked for us at the time. 1st child - nursery full time from 7 months. Changed to 3 days nursery / 1 day nanny after 2nd child arrived. 2nd child - 3 days nursery / 1 day nanny from 7 months and continues with this now aged 4. 3rd/4th children - nanny 4 days per week from 9 months. The advantages to a nanny are that they have a very close bond with your baby, they will continue the routine that your baby is used to and you don't have to factor pick up and drop off into your day. For us another big advantage is that we don't have to worry about school holidays, inset days etc etc for the older ones. Also, I definitely found it easier to go back to work the 3rd time because I knew that for the babies their day would remain the same in an environment that they were used to. Many of the other plus points that Bensam lists are true but not exclusive to a nanny and the same can be said of nursery and the bond they will have with their key worker, their development of social skills, potty training and exposure to different activities. For us kids getting sent home from nursery has never been an issue, maybe we have been lucky with our choice of nurseries or perhaps my kids don't get sick as often as others. In fact our nanny has had more sick days causing us to have to take time off work than my elder 2 ever have! As for combining nursery with nanny, I think that can work fine. Many babies will be looked after by different grandparents on different days or a combination of grandparents and nursery for example. We used a combination of nursery and nanny after my 2nd child because the nursery only offered 2,3 or 5 days and we needed 4. This gave them the best of both. For one child I would expect that nursery will be cheaper especially when you factor in food and fist of activities. Nanny becomes more cost effective when you have more kids. Good luck with whatever you choose.

The problem with a cheap double is that it might be difficult to push due to the weight imbalance if the 2 kids. We have a twin triumph but we use it for twins just for holidays. It's really annoying to push but at least they are roughly the same weight. Others may have a different experience of this. The good thing is it is really light (I can carry with one hand when folded) and it folds quite small. You're welcome to try it out before you buy one.

I can't help but just want to share your rant. How strict is the school uniform policy? Most boys at our school seem to wear trainers. I just got some Froddo sandals for D but he is 2 not 6. I disagree that girls Clarks and Startrite are in any way pretty. They are rank and have definitely got worse over the last few years with all the sparkly appliqu? nastiness. But at least it is easier to find alternatives for girls.

I'm with Pickle. Routine, routine, routine. My 3rd (and 4th) were twins who were born a few weeks before my eldest started reception. I would never have got to school on time if the twins hadn't been in a routine. Maybe bottle feeding will make that easier? The worst part was definitely the period between school/nursery pick ups and bed time. Sometimes it felt like everyone was having constantly crying. Tired, hungry, all needing my attention at the same time. But it doesn't last forever and for a while you just have to accept that they will cry more than you would ever have let your first one cry, that the older ones will watch more tv than you would like, you won't be hosting many play dates for a while and your house will look like you've just been burgled. But it will be fine and it will get much easier before you know it. Good luck x

My daughter attends a 3 from entry school too. Obviously we don't have anything else to compare it to, but the size has never been an issue for her or us either. I think it probably depends on the space available and how the staff manage the transition into school for the younger ones. In our experience, nursery and reception had their own playground and reception ate lunch first so she certainly didn't feel daunted by the big kids. After school clubs, holiday clubs and wrap around care are excellent which I assume is easier to provide in larger schools. This term my daughter was offered 3 after school activities (sport, ukulele and ballet) which is brilliant as she does these with her school friends and much easier for us as it tags onto the end of the day with a later pickup rather than having to pick her up and rush to somewhere else with younger siblings in tow. I think when you are looking at primary schools the idea of sending your 3-4 year old to a big school can be worrying but they grow very quickly and soon seem very at home in that environment.

Hooray! 2nd daughter will be joining her sister at the utterly wonderful Bessemer Grange. Look forward to meeting some of you at the picnic. When my first daughter started we also had weekly play dates in Sunray Gardens over the summer, hopefully we can do something similar this year.

Buggie is correct, but to be seen at the new Lister clinic your GP surgery has to make the appointment for you which requires them to have triaged you by phone to ensure that this is appropriate. There lies the problem if your own surgery had a chaotic access system where they ask everyone to turn up or ring at 8am and then have no availability to even triage anyone who gets through after 8.15am. The idea is that local surgeries can divert some of their same day demand for acute problems(such as kids with pus coming out of their ears) so that they can reduce their waiting time for pre-booked appointments for more complex problems, those with chronic diseases etc.

Chadwick Road used to be good and much better than DMC crystal Palace Road from what I read on here. Recently CR has gone down hill with a ridiculous appointment system which requires you to phone repeatedly at 8am only to be told by 8.15 that all the appointments have gone and to try again tomorrow. Their reception staff can be extremely rude and obstructive with a real 'computer says no' attitude. On a positive note, the GPs there have always been excellent when. You do manage to see them.

We bought bunks when my eldest was almost 4.5 and youngest 2 and a bit and we haven't had any problems. I think the recommended age is 6 for the top bunk. We waited for a John Lewis sale and have been really happy with them.

No, I don't think so. When you are offered a place the school contact you and they are supposed to check these details.

I think it really does matter what they have for school dinners. By the time they reach year 6, Southwark kids have the highest rates of obesity in the country which is a huge public health issue. Perhaps East Dulwich bucks this trend and maybe people posting here won't be the ones with fat kids, but that isn't the point. The 'we all ate puddings and custard in the 70s' argument is a bit like saying 'I know someone who smoked 40 a day and lived till they were 90'. Developing type 2 diabetes in childhood was unheard of for our generation but it definitely isn't now. Of course kids need fat and calories but what they definitely don't need is loads of calories from sugar. And I'm not saying my kids never eat sweets, chocolate or cakes, of course they do. The problem is that while for some of us 5 unhealthy meals per week isn't a big deal because we give them a healthy breakfast and tea, lots of Southwark kids eat crap at home for breakfast and tea so having 5 healthy meals per week is really important.

Bessemer lunches are super healthy and delicious. All parents are invited to go for lunch at the start of reception and the food was fantastic with a huge range of salads. They used to have chips on Fridays but even this was stopped last year. And definitely no puddings! mima08 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > peggoula Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > My daughter is in reception at bessemer, they > get > > fruit every day and vanilla ice cream on > Fridays > > as a treat. They have a brilliant salad bar > that > > reception kids go nowhere near to but the meals > > are perfectly balanced. > > Wonder what is that school you are referring to > > is? I want to go there (as currently in a > > pre-Christmas 5:2 hell ;-) ) > > Hiya, yes, Bessemer was one of them, but I thought > a few of the others (another 4 altogether) said > the same thing. I >>don't having a pudding is always a bad thing, I am more > worried that my son would skip eating a healthy > meal and gorge on pudding instead... > > edited to insert missed >>word what i meant to say :)

Not really what you're asking for, but there's a book called 'Big Sister Now' which is all about a big sister having to be patient while her mum feeds, rocks etc the new baby. I bought it for my 2nd daughter who had just turned 2 when my twins were born. I changed the little girl's name in the book to my daughter's name, and she still loves reading it 16 months later. I never tried feeding using a sling, but a really good feeding cushion can also work really well. I never used one for my elder 2 but used one to feed my twins simultaneously (a very slow process). This allowed me to be hands-free to interact more with the older ones. I really wish I had used one earlier. And don't forget that the slow lazy feeding doesn't last forever. In a few weeks time things will be much more speedy.

Russell based at DMC on Crystal Palace Road is brilliant for SPD. About ?40 for a session. I only needed to see him once in each of my last 2 pregnancies and felt and walked so much better afterwards.

DKH adventure playground has a large hut with a kitchen that would easily fit 25 kids. We had my daughter's 5th birthday party there last January. It was a surprisingly bright sunny day and they played outside for most of the time but we had planned for an indoor event.

I was just wondering if someone could give me an idea of how much you would expect to pay for a children's entertainer? It would be around 8 kids of different ages 6 and under and probably for about an hour (or more depending on price) Thanks

You can self-refer for IAPT (improving access to psychological therapies) which includes CBT. This is on NHS and is run by SLAM.

It's a Tefal, from John Lewis.

Have you thought about fast cooking instead? We have just gone retro and bought a pressure cooker. It's amazing! All the types of recipes mentioned above but cooked in super-quick, energy efficient and flavour-saving time. Stews, risottos, tagines, curries all cooked in a fraction of the time. And great for just steaming vegetables and fish too. Pressure cookers are the future!

DKH adventure playground. Nowhere for a bouncy castle but there's so much other stuff to do there that you wouldn't need one.

I don't understand why they have chosen an arbitrary distance of 800m when primary schools don't have fixed catchment areas. If you want to design a fair system to try to tackle the issue of people renting close to a school and then moving away, then it needs to be in the way that James suggests (I think I understand what he means)which is to only apply the sibling rule if you live at the same address or one closer than when the first child applied. You are wrong about no ED schools having catchments of >800m though James. Only a couple of years ago all applicants to Bessemer would have got a place and this was a school offered to many parents who didn't get any of their choices. Same for Langbourne. These aren't strictly ED schools but they are used by lots of ED kids. We are in exactly the position that LondonMix describes. My eldest child goes to a school >800m away which didn't used to be very popular. Like many parents we have got behind the school and tried to throw ourselves into the school community. The school is now much more popular so we wouldn't get in on distance anymore. We haven't moved house. It would seem very unfair if my younger kids didn't get a place.

Definitely agree a gross rate not net for the reasons already given and also because if you agree a net rate and they have unpaid tax from a previous year you might end up having to pay it. I discussed this with one of the nanny tax companies and there are other scenarios that you could end up in whee what you end up with isn't quite what you expected.

I have sent you a PM.