hedben
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Post by hedben on Mar 22, 2024 9:39:47 GMT
Yeah plenty of year 4’s at this school are by themselves for at least some of the walk there. My kid’s still year 3 and tbf it’s not that typical for them to be alone- but this morning she wasn’t, as soon as I left her she joined some year 4’s that she knows from the breakfast club.
Anyway my wife’s texted saying she went to her favourite garden centre “to calm down”, so I think we’re good.
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Post by Dougs on Mar 22, 2024 9:45:24 GMT
It's great that she's got the confidence imo.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Mar 22, 2024 14:32:28 GMT
Drama in my household this morning… My 8yo daughter came downstairs just before we had to leave for school and said her mum had suggested walking the dog on the school run. We haven’t done this before because our dog isn’t great in crowds (in an over-friendly, jumpy way), but apparently Mrs hedben had suggested I walk as far as the last road to cross, and let the 8yo walk the last crowded bit by herself/with her mates. It’s a paved walk between houses, not even next to a road, so I figured fair enough. Cut to 10 minutes later when Mrs hedben rings me and goes “you did watch her go through the school gates, didn’t you?” Apparently she’d intended for me to leave the 8yo at a different, slightly closer place, and then stay there and watch her go in. Now she’s having a bit of a freakout and saying the other mums and dads will think we’re terrible, neglectful parents. I’m sure she’ll get over it, it seems a bit OTT but maybe I’ve grown less risk averse with each of our 3 kids and she hasn’t. It’s true that I wouldn’t have dared do this with Kid#1 when she was 8, but 3rd children are usually left to their own devices and trusted a bit more I think… My kids have been walking to school and back on their own since age 6. (in a country which is relatively safe, but also entirely populated by perverts. But you don't have to mention those bits).
Yeah, the second one gets a lot more freedom than the first one.
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Post by Zuluhero on Mar 24, 2024 8:57:39 GMT
Ooh, where do you live?
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Post by Dougs on Mar 24, 2024 9:18:31 GMT
Japan, of course!
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drakesmoke
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The simple things in life are all complicated
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Post by drakesmoke on Mar 24, 2024 9:28:21 GMT
I’d have probably been your wife in that story hedben. I’ve found it very difficult stuff like that. Not helped by the fact ours has always had this precocious desire to be ‘grown up’ (for the rights of course not the responsibilities) and can be a right arse if you try to teach her stuff - and road sense was the actual worry for me rather than people on local stuff.
To this day I’ve witnessed her be crap at observations before/during crossings. Just the usual cliches of them thinking they are immortal and then when you think back so did you innit.
We used to drive her to primary part way on a totally walkable route because it was just far enough that you’d be away from work too long to walk it, if not be worth the morning battle to get her moving earlier, and just close enough that you felt terrible environmentally. Couldn’t park outside school as you’d expect so there was still a couple of minutes walk. Starting in year 5 she’d do the embarrassed to be seen with you thing and run ahead with mates. You were supposed to observe them going in the gates and I am not one to pal on with other parents so would just feel a dick. Realise in year 6 that the school had no way to check if I was taking her to the gates and finally let myself cut the apron strings and would just let her walk from the parking spot.
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Post by Zuluhero on Mar 24, 2024 11:02:07 GMT
AHH that's cool, I watch a lot of a guy on YouTube called TokyoLens, which is very informative of the culture and the country.
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Post by simple on Mar 24, 2024 14:10:07 GMT
So it really is like that show where they send preschoolers out to do the grocery shopping then?
I’m at a 5th birthday that started at 2pm and my boy and three others have already been told off by the soft play staff for trying to ride down the big slide on one of those red pedal cars with the yellow roof twice.
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drakesmoke
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The simple things in life are all complicated
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Post by drakesmoke on Apr 7, 2024 7:54:45 GMT
Ours got back from the school France trip last night.
She’s only gone and bought me a giant stormtrooper mug and a Star Wars Dobble from Disneyland, leaving the prices on - about 40 Euros. She went out with a hair over 200.
On the one hand I absolutely do not want her spending that much money on me at all but it was genuinely really lovely of her. Despite her coming home absolutely bollocksed and desperately wanting her bed, she wouldn’t go before unpacking and giving our gifts too.
We got her f*ck all from our trip to York over the same period 🤣
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Post by Dougs on Apr 7, 2024 8:33:57 GMT
Ah, that's very sweet. We sent ours with about £40 in total as they said they didn't need much! Not that we'd have been bought anything anyway!
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dmukgr
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Post by dmukgr on Apr 7, 2024 8:40:58 GMT
Probably shoplifted
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Post by Bill in the rain on Apr 7, 2024 12:56:42 GMT
Ours got back from the school France trip last night. She’s only gone and bought me a giant stormtrooper mug and a Star Wars Dobble from Disneyland, leaving the prices on - about 40 Euros. She went out with a hair over 200. On the one hand I absolutely do not want her spending that much money on me at all but it was genuinely really lovely of her. Despite her coming home absolutely bollocksed and desperately wanting her bed, she wouldn’t go before unpacking and giving our gifts too. We got her f*ck all from our trip to York over the same period 🤣 That's nice.
When we went on our school trip to France we spent all the money on alcohol, cigarettes, very powerful firecrackers that would be illegal in the UK, and weapons from the armory shop at Mont Saint Michel (that would also be illegal in the UK).
Most of it got confiscated on the way back to the UK.
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Post by Zuluhero on Apr 7, 2024 17:09:54 GMT
I guess it's quite hard to buy those things in Disneyland 😅
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Post by Dougs on Apr 7, 2024 18:22:24 GMT
Haha, I'd managed to miss that Drake's daughter went to Disneyland! My son went on a French language trip to Normandy! I'm not that much of a cheapskate... honest!
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drakesmoke
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The simple things in life are all complicated
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Post by drakesmoke on Apr 7, 2024 19:46:10 GMT
Haha, I'd managed to miss that Drake's daughter went to Disneyland! My son went on a French language trip to Normandy! I'm not that much of a cheapskate... honest! There was educational stuff involved too including Normandy and Paris. TBH I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing, exclusive of cost there aren’t enough places on the trip for the whole year anyway and then despite instalment plans it’s a significant cost to families isn’t it. It’s quite exclusionary. One of her mates was also barred from going because she basically stood up to a bully who came looking for a fight and got the better of her. We specifically aren’t going on a summer break this year and if we were we would have had to think twice about being able to send her; of course there will be many in the school worse off than that who can’t have either. I’m glad we were able to accommodate it of course, and neither of us had anything like this - other half was one of five and whilst we were never poor my side was hit by redundancy loads when I was this age.
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Post by Dougs on Apr 7, 2024 20:20:18 GMT
Aye, even 4 days in Normandy was a chunk of cash. School trips are tricky - the eldest missed out on so much because of COVID, we said he could do the first trip in secondary school available. Some in the GCSE years are eye watering... including a drama trip to NY to see shows on Broadway! It's only an Academy ffs!
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Post by technoish on Apr 7, 2024 20:27:01 GMT
My secondary had one major foreign trip - either to Rome or to Athens, depending on whether you picked Latin or Greek.
It was in fifth year, and they got parents to start an installment plan when you joined in year 1.
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Post by freddiemercurystwin on Apr 7, 2024 20:29:46 GMT
Year 10 skiing trip for my eldest was £1140 - bonkers, that's what we would spend as a family for a couple of days or so away in the summer.
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dmukgr
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Post by dmukgr on Apr 7, 2024 21:10:31 GMT
I went to Rhyl Sun Centre when I was a kid - it was a magical place of dreams, really exotic.
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jeepers
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Post by jeepers on Apr 8, 2024 6:48:23 GMT
I went to Rhyl Sun Centre when I was a kid - it was a magical place of dreams, really exotic. Yeah, our school trip was to some place in Wales where we all learned basket weaving. Stuff of dreams for an 11 year old.
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Post by Dougs on Apr 8, 2024 7:12:25 GMT
My secondary had one major foreign trip - either to Rome or to Athens, depending on whether you picked Latin or Greek. It was in fifth year, and they got parents to start an installment plan when you joined in year 1. Don't think they offered those at my comp! Although tbf, I did do a skiing trip at my first high school, then at the next one, a cycling trip to France and a week boozing in Italy in 6th form. That last one feels very much from a different time. No educational value whatsoever or pretence.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Apr 8, 2024 7:17:23 GMT
My one in France with the booze and weapons was a French Exchange, so I spent 2 weeks staying with some kid that they'd carefully selected to share none of my hobbies, interests or personality traits.
In hindsight there was *some* educational value, but it was mainly spent watching french TV or hanging out in my room, and then meeting up with mates on weekends for historical trips where we all just tried to get drunk when the teachers weren't watching.
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Post by technoish on Apr 8, 2024 8:22:25 GMT
My secondary had one major foreign trip - either to Rome or to Athens, depending on whether you picked Latin or Greek. It was in fifth year, and they got parents to start an installment plan when you joined in year 1. Don't think they offered those at my comp! Although tbf, I did do a skiing trip at my first high school, then at the next one, a cycling trip to France and a week boozing in Italy in 6th form. That last one feels very much from a different time. No educational value whatsoever or pretence. Yeah, we did basically 9 to 5 sight seeing, with the classics teachers as tour guides, and had done pre reading and work on places we were visiting, with one day where for to choose to visit the old port Ostia, or emperor Hadrian's villa. We probably had to do a report after too :/ We were allowed to head out after dinner for a bit iirc, I recall hanging out in the square at the Pantheon.
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hedben
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Post by hedben on Apr 11, 2024 14:26:29 GMT
I tried a gaming thing with my 13yo son last night- we’d each play a game the other one enjoys, and thinks they should like. I did the Dubai level of Hitman (I’ve played loads of Freelancer mode but never hit into the original game), and he started Elden Ring.
My hitman run went fine- I did the opportunity kill where you lock both targets in a room. Felt a bit cheap compared to the improvisation of Freelancer but whatever.
The boy got as far as the Gatefront in the first area of Elden Ring and absolutely HATED it. Like yelling and throwing the controller, getting angry with a game in a way I haven’t seen in a few years. I actually felt pretty terrible because I think he was only persevering because he felt like he owed me, because I’d kept my end of the bargain and played Hitman his way. I ended up getting him to stop and being clear that I didn’t need him to prove anything or keep playing something he obviously wasn’t enjoying.
It’s a bit mystifying, as I’ve seen him take on Lynels in BOTW without getting hit once, and I really thought the perseverance and learning enemy moves to predict them would translate to Elden Ring. But he really disagreed, and said it was just too hard and “unfair” (which I didn’t argue although I could have).
Anyway I hope we’ve both learned that it’s ok to like different things. Maybe I’d better start introducing the 8 year old to The Lands Between instead, if I can get her off whatever mobile dross she’s into this week.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Apr 11, 2024 14:46:50 GMT
My son was going on and on about Lionels for ages, and I had no idea what he was talking about. Every time he said it my mind just went "Lionel Ritchie??".
He's a bit younger, but I guess it just depends what captures their imagination. He put hours and hours into TotK and beating all the Lionels, and then bounced off a bunch of other games that I thought he'd like because they seemed similar. *shrug*
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Post by simple on Apr 22, 2024 9:45:51 GMT
Well, this morning’s drop off featured some real grovelling.
Son has realised that being able fart on command is absolutely hilarious but pushed and strained a little too hard on Friday and shat himself. He’s also got zero shame so announced at full volume to the whole class “I thought I was doing a pump but I’ve got a poo in my pants”.
Apologies and freshly cleaned school back-up pants handed over as I sent him in this morning. 28 years old, he is.
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Post by Nitrous on Apr 22, 2024 22:24:17 GMT
Not fun, the little monster will be two years old in May and we are currently dealing with a high temperature and one unhappy little girl who's back tooth is coming through.
She's got most of them already with another 2 or three to go. Aston and parsons teething powder and Calpol seems to be taking the edge of but it's not nice.
Sleeping again now though so hopefully that's some of the worst of it done.
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Vortex
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Post by Vortex on Apr 23, 2024 8:38:01 GMT
Back into exam season, the first round of Highers this time.
Bleh.
Wish us all luck. I think yesterday was the time he realised he probably hadn't done enough studying despite us nagging him from before the easter holidays. I know you can't do it for them, but FFS lad, learn from the time before dammit!!
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alastair
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Post by alastair on Apr 23, 2024 10:21:08 GMT
GCSEs incoming here. Mrs Alastair is constantly stressing that he isn't doing enough revision, but can't describe how he can prove what he's done.. I think he'll be ok. He's not very academic - wants to do a science BTEC at college. Only needs 4 passes to get on to the course which I am sure he will manage. And even if he doesn't he switches to a foundation year.
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Post by Dougs on Apr 23, 2024 10:39:33 GMT
Year 6 SATS for the youngest this year. She did really well with the mocks - she has additional needs but just scrapes onto the scoring etc so is giving them a go. Just want her to be part of the crowd tbh.
Got the GCSE fun starting in September with the eldest. He's a smart fucker but also very lazy and we have to be on him all the time. Hoping he'll realise he needs to up his game. The school are also taking forward a ADHD assessment too, which is great. He could definitely do with some help re emotional regulation in particular.
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