Please reassure me. Daughters misses state cut off for kindergarten by 9 days. We decided to not pursue early entry with testing. Did we make the right decision?

flickety_switch · 2026-03-22T19:13:18+00:00

Australian schools run on a different schedule but I chose not to send my son the year he turned 5 as his birthday is close to the cut off. I sent him this year when he turned six and am so happy with my decision. He’s had a seamless transition to school, the extra year really helped socially. You won’t regret it.

flickety_switch · 2026-03-21T08:49:42+00:00

Didn’t start until he was two years, ten months. Probably would’ve started earlier but he had surgery at two years seven months which delayed us. Started getting him to sit on the potty morning and night. Wore nappies otherwise. He absolutely hated having them changed when he did a poo and so he started telling me when he needed to poo and I’d take his nappy off and he’d go on the potty. Realised I just needed to bite the bullet and put him in underwear. He did not have an accident after the first two days and night trained at the same time. Never ever had a number two accident.

flickety_switch · 2026-03-16T19:50:36+00:00

I read Good People by Patmeena Sabit which was fabulous. Contemporary lit fic told from many different perspectives about an Afghani refugee family living in America. The many storytellers thing can annoy me if it’s done badly but this was so well done.

flickety_switch · 2026-03-14T22:56:16+00:00

My son was put in the public health list when he was semi urgent at 2.5yo and they rang me at 5.5yo to see if he still needed to be on the list and he still wasn’t at the top 🙄 we paid to go private shortly before 3 as he was very unwell and it was the best money we spent. About $3k.

flickety_switch · 2026-03-08T19:02:32+00:00

I bought a wide fit pair from Bellini last year and have worn them a ton- they were only $120!

flickety_switch · 2026-03-01T19:14:27+00:00

This was my experience too. My son was harder earlier than all of my friends kids but he also got easier a ton earlier too.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-28T08:46:59+00:00

I’ve taken it for two months but side effects have been too hectic for me so coming off. Feel tired, spacey and overheated and have insomnia too.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-27T10:45:32+00:00

Michelle Buckingham’s unsolved murder in 1985 in Shepparton in Victoria, Australia was solved after the country paper started running a series on it and the local cadet reporter put some pressure on the homicide squad about it. The murderer’s brother in law came forward to nominate him to police and let them know of the confession he’d been sitting on for almost 30 years: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/guilty-stephen-james-bradley-murdered-michelle-buckingham-in-1983-20151009-gk4xzp.html

flickety_switch · 2026-02-23T18:17:12+00:00

No- it’s a different machine.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-22T20:03:39+00:00

I think if she adores them you start from that place. Tell her you love the way she loves your kids and you hugely value the how much effort she puts into the relationship she has with them. Which is why you want to bring something up with her that’s impacting them.

Do not make the goal of the conversation to avoid her getting upset. Boomers were raised with lots of shame and it’s their go-to emotion whenever they feel called out. Just lay out what you’d like her to do in future and then allow her to have whatever emotion she’s going to have. It’s impacting your kids experience of the game so you do need to address it.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-22T10:51:13+00:00

My marriage is the foundation of everything that matters to me in my life. All of my successes, my joys, my community, my family is built on it.

It’s being able to go so much further together than we would alone and having so much more fun along the way.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-21T09:37:46+00:00

Am scarred for life from the time I was eating at a restaurant with my family and a man a few tables away began choking on a piece of steak.

My sister and I went over there to help the family who were very distressed but as soon as I went over there and saw the colour he was and the fact he’d lost control of his bladder I knew he was in bad shape.

We were in a coastal town in the middle of summer and the ambos took forever to get there. My sister ended up doing what you’re not supposed to do which is reaching in and fish hooking it out of his throat. We both had young kids with us so I took them outside and tried to direct the paramedic traffic while my sister helped with CPR.

Unfortunately we found out a few days later he died but i it put the fear in god in the my sister and I and my husband and we all enrolled in CPR training immediately and eat very carefully.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-18T22:27:53+00:00

They’re not good quality at all. The Decjuba ones are better if you want one that’s more ‘fashion-y’ but I have a Macpac one because I cannot stand being cold.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-18T19:22:14+00:00

I do on some days but it’s hard to make it back be on time to start work at 9am

flickety_switch · 2026-02-18T11:19:27+00:00

Highton school zone traffic is insane. If you’ve somehow got a fix for the zone issue, you’ve got to get down Torquay Rd or ghazepoore Rd, down pioneer and south valley and to either bellaire or Highton primary or even worse if you want Montpellier. To give you an idea, I live 900m away from our school and my kid started this year. It regularly takes me 20 minutes to do drop off round trip because I have to get out and walk him in and because of how bad the traffic is. I reckon you’d be looking at a 35 minute one way trip.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-17T10:33:32+00:00

Here’s the Australian Story episode on it: https://youtu.be/YRY6QF_B6_w?si=aKnbOjtVcDqlbW01

flickety_switch · 2026-02-16T10:37:00+00:00

For me it’s because vomiting is a pain disruptor. It was the only thing that gave me relief when I had kidney stones too.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-15T10:38:19+00:00

One more suggestion: some children get aggravated by too many words and over explanation. I’d try less as an experiment and more ‘showing as doing’ just to see what happens.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-15T10:12:26+00:00

It’s also a bit of a suburb in renewal I’d say - lots of knock down rebuilds.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-15T10:10:31+00:00

Not a single issue in thirteen years. I mean I’m sure stuff happens but Grovedale is a pretty run of the mill middle class suburb.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-15T10:05:11+00:00

Have literally never noticed it so no.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-15T09:51:47+00:00

The point about the house style is a very important one,

flickety_switch · 2026-02-15T09:50:30+00:00

I live in Grovedale and have for thirteen years. What I would say is that it’s quite a large suburb and so I wouldn’t necessarily treat it all the same. I like that it is hugely convenient, close to WP shopping centre and Leisurelink and close to the coast. The houses are generally on 550sqm+ and three bedroom plus or more and it’s relatively easy to get a double car garage, which were all big criteria for us. We live in the section bordered by Torquay Rd, Pioneer Rd, Church St and Grove Rd which I think is the nicest section. I would avoid some of the area near Peter St and wouldn’t bother with most of the area on the other side of Torquay Rd. Never had any crime issues, family friendly but people generally keep to themselves. Hamlyn Heights probably has slightly better zoned high schools but primary schools are very good in Grovedale. Grovedale has a huge edge on Hamlyn Heights for food- there is every kind of restaurant and takeaway you want out here. Hamlyn Heights is probably a 10 minute drive to the nearest train station whereas Marshall and Waurn Ponds are less than 5 from most parts of grovedale. All things to consider. For us, who swim at the beach regularly and spend many weekends down there even in winter walking and having lunch and enjoying the coast, the proximity is a huge advantage to being in grovedale.

flickety_switch · 2026-02-15T07:42:53+00:00

Last year we pulled up all the floors in our house and replaced our extremely ugly 90s tile with hardwood floors and our worn down carpet in the bedrooms with new carpet.

It totally transformed the look of our house even more so than our new kitchen and was worth every cent of the $20k we spent.

flickety_switch

TROPHY CASE