Bard

Is this the pick on Baddad thread? Can we take him up and up and up to admire the view and then see how fast he can roly-poly to the bottom? Cheese rolling, egg rolling, they are part of our traditions. it could become a new form of social control for loons. Taking a birthday cake up a mini-mountain, What a fabulous and wonderful idea! :notworthy: DMB, you are amazing! Mumble, I'm so glad you both made it up and down and that you restrained any thoughts of base-jumping.

Not usually, and sometimes you have to sit on them to stop them playing football. Or using the new addition as a battering ram. I'm sure Ben won't be like that at all.

No, but I'll ask our Early Years specialists tomorrow at work. How do you feel about her parenting Tally? Sometimes it's the easy option, to blame a young parent, but I know a couple who had children at 15 and 16 and they have very good parenting skills. Have you been to the playpark with your friend and her child to see how he copes in an informal situation with other children, and how she communicates with him? Not being judgemental, just a question.

It's one little bright bunny called Mary Creagh who is in charge of the Labour party's health manifesto for the next general election. And when she's recovered from the number of boots stomping on her and her 'Stalinist approach' she may not be in charge of it much longer. A government that orders people to do invasive things to their children rarely goes down well. Both my children have had the MMR, but I'm from Sussex, and Sussex folk won't be druv!

That's my point. My B is happy to live his life on his own terms, and all he wants is that others allow him to without being picked on, bullied or laughed at by NT peers. So I let him. The fact that he doesn't want to be part of a happy mob roaming the streets is fine with me, he knows that it might begin well, but will end with him in major trouble and someone else hurt, so he accepts it with good humour and makes other choices. My brother is an athletic, sporty, crash-through-that-pain-barrier sort, and always has been. I once sat in the landrover in a force 6+, overlooking Gairloch near Glasgow watching him...windsurfing. Or low-level flying, because it was so rough that the gear was often not touching the surface of the loch. He was very happy, and I had no wish to join him. I would have been very very cross if he'd tried to make me. I was in charge of the thermos flask. No tears or sadness, we were both happy in our own way. I want B to operate in the world, but I also need him to know that he doesn't have to do everything that he sees others doing. He has choices, and he can say no if something is offered that he doesn't want to take part in. Some things he will have to do as a member of society, others are optional. Playing out with friends, or even having close friends is optional. <'> Parenting is so hard! There isn't another job on the planet that can break your heart so many times in so many different ways. <'>

Exactly. It is demoralising to know that whilst others are being given level 4a and 5c in their class work, you are getting a 2b. Or less. This is what assessment for learning is, in order for the children to self-assess, they have to know what the criteria are for the different levels. So able children in Y4 have a list in the front of their literacy books that gives them 10 points that level 3 writing should cover. And when they've finished their work, they check the list again to see if they've covered the points. In year 6, it's the level 4 or 5 points. Then I mark it and we work on whether we agree with their grade or not, and why. It's the same in maths, we set across the year group so that you are working with others that are similar ability, although each group has 20 in it so the spread is still wide. The children seem to enjoy achieving within the set. If you want to work through some past papers at home, then I'm sure you could ask the school to give you photocopies. You would need to ask yourself why you are doing it, and be happy with the answers. If he takes the tests in school, maybe they could support him in another room, with 1:1. But if he's not likely to take it seriously, he's perhaps not bothered or worried about the fact that he's not doing what the others are. he sounds a happy chap! I have 5 children in my class of 8 year olds who are still working on spelling their reception words and have reading ages of under 5. I have 10 that are reading and writing at level 3, which is average for a 9 year old. They will all be tested as a cohort.

mel, don't , that's exactly what B is like and he's not bothered either! He enjoys being with others in a loosely- supervised activity, or on his own, but random playing out never interested him, and nor did other children for years. he likes to be a lone explorer, with me within yelling distance if necessary. He used to say that adventure playgrounds would be fantastic if there were no other children there, and so we often went early or late. He is able to be in a group, go on trips and be with others, but the older he gets the easier it is. The more adult the behaviour of the company, the calmer and happier he is. He can play with younger children for a while, under 8, but it's more like Gorillas in the Mist. He finds them interesting up to a point but thinks of them as very different to him. I know that this is only one opinion, and that others will feel that they need to encourage their children to play out and be part of a free-range group, but it didn't work for us and we are happy with the solution we have. Less blood and bruises for one thing!

Oh, I know what you mean! Coming up for 22 years married, 25 in the relationship. I've often thought of murder but never divorce. <'> and good luck with CAMHS.

That sounds much better, will the attention involve icecream? My mum lives just up the road, is a fantastic support and gets enormous pleasure watching the runaround my children give me. Her favourite Shakespeare quote is: 'Thus the whirligig of time brings in its revenges!' said with a big grin!

<'>

Well, as a veggie, I'll say no to the prawns. So it will be vodka and coke and mayo. I'll call it a Gravesend cocktail. On my day it will be mead and baklava, so book that dental appointment now.

It's very hard when the person who should be the one you lean on most and share things with turns out to be one of the problems. Don't despair, and don't give up. They need educating and it's more difficult if they think they know what's right and don't want to listen. Being pig-headed is quite common in many partners. It's going to take time, and you might have to be selective to begin with as to whether you share every minute detail of what's going on with them. Yes, I know that they should be willing and able to listen, but if they aren't because they are worried, disappointed, think that AS is a load of c*bbl*rs or not, don't think that there's a problem because they were like that as children, then you nee to turn them around slowly. Like oil tankers. They can change direction, but it takes longer than a ferry!

Hev's son Steve developed epilepsy fairly recently, in his teens. She posted about it quite a bit at the time. Like aro said, not speaking for a while afterwards is fairly common. I do understand how you feel though, it's every parents worry when we let them go, 'What if something happens and I'm not there?' I'm so sorry that you were not with her when it happened, but it sounds as if your parents and your sister, like mine, are right on the ball and got her the right help as fast as they could, and she's safe where she is and being monitored.. Horrible for you. <'>

I don't know Ben at all, so I can't offer an opinion as to why, but a couple of years ago, despite my best efforts, I had two lads in tears over their written English papers. Stuff the statistics, I'd have paid cash for them to be disapplied and spared the distress and the in-their-face realisation that they were failing in a public arena. The rules on who can be disapplied are followed carefully in my school, so although they were very weak, they weren't weak enough to fit the government's criteria. I'm hoping for a parental uprising to ban formal, timed tests with unseen content in primary schools.

Trust me Enid, she doesn't need any coaxing to live life to the full! The minute I saw that Gravesend had made it to Wembley, I knew you'd be there! The wig is a nice touch though, better than dyeing your own hair. Although if they win, you might try stripey as a new look. Have fun.

Have a wonderful day Mumble!

Ditto, ditto ditto.

I don't want you to disappear off the radar and into the night. Would you not maybe consider a little vacation for a bit? I will really miss Lya and you if you don't come to Greenwich, sparklies a dazzling.

I'd be happy to lend you my daughter, who is stunningly fantastic at all sorts of complicated furniture. She's so organised that she never ends up with screws left over, or having to use brute force and glue to make stuff stick together... Her wages are usually one roast dinner per item of furniture, I make tickets that she redeems at her leisure.

That's probably because he ate it.

Hate KS1 and KS2 SATS, hate them! And the stupid, boring QCA tests that we do yearly in the non-Sats Year groups. The tedious, contrived subject matter. The fact that they are timed. I'm not anti-assessment, but for God's sake, how can you say that SATS week gives you anything like a fair or reasonable test of what a child is capable of? And the pressure! And the teaching to the test, so they arrive at KS3 with level 4s but not in a rounded, educational sense, so it means they struggle in Secondary, and they are bewildered as to why. Hate them. Have to do them next week.

Thank you so much for all the cheerful greetings and kind wishes! I think that we all ought to have our own personal holiday when it's a birthday. No one should have to work on their special day. Or run an after-school club of excited squeaky people! Home to a magnificent card drawn by B, a composite warrior, Riders of Rohan meets Minas Tiryth with a few extra Dragon Rider touches. It's like all of his cards, a beautifully-detailed one to keep. G gave me a copper windchime, very lovely, and some beautiful earrings. OH got me an Indonesian clay pig with a disgruntled expression. Also spent time wearing my bad mummy hat, because I thought B was being selectively deaf and he wasn't. We spent an hour at the doctor's, waiting to have his ears syringed. Happy Birthday me! Never mind, chocolate cake before bed time. BD, vegeburgers are revolting, and I only ever eat them when offered by a nice, non-veggie person who thinks that's what we eat! I prefer North Indian, Lebanese or Turkish. Remember, I've been veggie since 1976, and Indian was the only stuff that gave you a reasonable choice back in the days of Gene Hunt. As for your laddish comments as to the effect of my diet on my digestive system, a Mark 3 Teacher's Glare is on its way North East. I expect you'll recognise it when it arrives...you must have received many like it through the years.

Well, that's cheered me up at the end of a night's planning! Thank you people, sadly at this end, there is no sign of a cake or prezzies. OH is still up and reading, but hasn't said anything to give the game away...like 'Happy Birthday' I'll wait and see if either of my bratlings have thought of me. My mum gave me a card yesterday, which is on top of the TV, so they've all had a hint!

Don't panic poppet, all lipstick Aspies and others of that ilk need an audience. Some love to look sparkley and shiny and draped with drapery. Others don't. I don't wear make up, or nail varnish. I had jeans and a T shirt with a dancing Mexican Day of the Dead skeleton on it last time. I may wear a different T shirt this time...or not as the fancy takes me. Bring something yummy to share at the picnic and they won't care!

We could meet up and start our own forest. B planted acorns in my front garden three years ago, now we have 9 Sussex oaks growing well. We're planning on smuggling them into the Ashdown forest and sneakily digging holes. If yours are in pots, or a sheltered spot they won't need staking. It's better for them, they grow stronger and with a better root system if they are freeeee!