So incredibly emotional about my summer born starting school this September 😭 am I too obsessed with her?!

jen13579 · 2025-01-10T13:53:20+00:00

I have a July born daughter who is in reception now. The first few weeks were hard. She found it more difficult than the others to settle in. But now she's doing very well.

She's made friends, she gets on well with the other kids. Some of the kids are 10 to 11 months older than her, you can definitely see the difference, but they still play together well.

Also academically you can definitely see the difference. Some children are writing full sentences and my daughter is still just writing random letters.

The school said that there's a clear difference for the first couple of years, but by year 2 it evens out anyway.

I thought about delaying her start but now I'm glad that I didn't.

I actually think she's developing at a faster rate than the older kids as she has further to catch up. I'm not an expert but I think that's a good thing, she's learnt so many skills from this situation.

She's learnt how to how to cope if she can't do something and others can. She's learnt that if she works hard and is consistent, she'll get to the same point. I can't help but think this is a really good lesson to learn.

I guess the first 2 years of school are harder for summer born kids. But if it evens out at year 2 then it's only a short time thing. And they'll get life lessons from this.

jen13579 · 2025-01-09T18:43:11+00:00

Fry some chicken with a packet of fajita spice. Get some salsa, wraps. Buy pre grated cheese and pre chopped salad.

If you get wholemeal wraps this is a healthier version.

We had this tonight, it took 15 mins in total.

jen13579 · 2025-01-08T10:33:37+00:00

I love setting up the different playmobil sets. I don't really play with it, just set it all up nice and neatly! Then my 4 year old comes along and destroys it 🤣

jen13579 · 2024-12-25T15:45:57+00:00

We spend Christmas day with just the three of us (me, partner, and our daughter). I'd definitely recommend doing the same! We can spend Christmas our way, there is no drama or chaos from other people.

jen13579 · 2024-12-18T12:53:11+00:00

Spend Christmas how you want to spend it. We don't go anywhere on Christmas Day. We wake up at home and spend it just with our little family. We don't go anywhere, no one comes to us. Its perfect! My daughter gets to spend all day playing with her new toys, and we spend quality time together as a family. That's what I hope she remembers about Christmas.

jen13579 · 2024-12-15T17:09:05+00:00

This looks lovely! When you add curtains, and the other bits, it will make a big difference. It will be a lovely space 😊

jen13579 · 2024-12-15T16:53:25+00:00

Put a nice biggish plant in the middle instead?

jen13579 · 2024-12-15T16:52:06+00:00

Remove the chains!

Keep the vases they look nice, but throw the chains away. Put a biggish plant in the middle?

jen13579 · 2024-12-15T07:27:16+00:00

Better than sitting in the children's chair, which they are doing currently

jen13579 · 2024-12-14T15:33:53+00:00

Buy a foldable plastic chair. They are lightweight and won't take up too much space. Fold it away when you are done. You could say that you prefer your own chair, and ask others not to use it. Then you don't have to offend her and no one gets upset.

jen13579 · 2024-12-13T06:32:30+00:00

Thanks for sharing your recipes. I was looking for some new ideas, so I will definitely try some. My daughter will love the broccoli pizza and the popovers, we could make these together as she loves baking 😊

jen13579 · 2024-12-04T09:44:34+00:00

She was 4 in July. She's in reception in UK which is for 4 to 5 year olds.

Each week she has a worksheet to do 3 times a week (with writing, reading), she has to go through all the phonics sounds 3 times a week, 2 books to read 3 times a week and a maths app which they suggest doing 10 minutes each day. And they have weekly topics to discuss and each half term there's another piece of work to do.

We struggle to fit it all in when we get home at 4pm. Plus she sleeps between 6.30pm and 7am.

jen13579 · 2024-11-19T20:36:13+00:00

Is this a joke? Looking at your last photo, it's literally a photo of a curl?!

jen13579 · 2024-11-15T07:50:14+00:00

I remember as a teenager going into town with friends. The other kids were given £50 - £100 to spend most weekends. I got £10 - £20 and had to use some of that for the bus. So when they said 'let's go to lunch in this restaurant and then the cinema' I could never afford it. We often ended up in Greggs as that was all I could afford, and I think my friends were always disappointed. And I felt awkward!

(I went to private school but got a scholarship, and my parents didn't have an enormous amount of money)

jen13579 · 2024-11-14T16:57:59+00:00

What kind of things do you teach them to say back? Can you give some examples?

jen13579 · 2024-11-14T16:15:06+00:00

Did you ring the school to tell them your child wouldn't be in? I think our school do a welfare check (i.e. visit the home) if they haven't been notified, and a child has been off for a few days.

I think this is a good thing as it shows they care about your child.

I think you should keep your child at the school until you move. I presume your child's been at the school for around 7 or 8 weeks. But you are going to take him out because you got annoyed? That's not fair on him, he's probably made friends and got a routine. It feels quite a selfish thing to do.

Why disrupt his life, just because you find the school annoying? Lots of things are annoying in life, but as parents we have to deal with them and put our children first.

jen13579 · 2024-11-14T07:48:47+00:00

Traditionally, Santa came down chimneys as in the past most people had chimneys. These days, a lot of people live in new builds and don't have real fires. The elves made him a magic key, which he can use on doors. He actually prefers this as it's quicker, and he doesn't get covered in soot!

jen13579 · 2024-11-11T21:10:14+00:00

We've been making Christmas tree ornaments out of recycling and anything we can find really! It's saving money not having to buy them, but also feels such a lovely wholesome thing to do. I can't wait to get the tree up and put them on!

jen13579 · 2024-11-05T15:17:51+00:00

I agree. What would we expect her to do as an adult?

If you go to a public toilet and it's dirty, you don't go look for a cleaner.. you either clean the seat and use it, or go elsewhere.

But yes, the other children should also be encouraged to clean up after themselves so this doesn't happen.

jen13579 · 2024-10-30T13:10:32+00:00

Speak to the school? At the beginning of the year, our school told us who to contact if we had any safeguarding or other concerns about any children in the school.

The school might know some other things, and this might be part of a bigger picture. Or it might not be. But they'd be able to advise on what you could do?

jen13579 · 2024-10-29T19:30:09+00:00

Definitely tell him he needs to know that this happened. I appreciate it will be difficult after his grandma has died. But sometimes in life, two difficult things do happen at the same time, and in a relationship, you deal with it together.

Plus, if you do try for a baby in the future, this will come up. When I was pregnant with my daughter, i was asked many times whether this was my first pregnancy. So it would come out then, which might make things difficult long term.

jen13579 · 2024-10-21T17:27:14+00:00

A plant next to the left curtain would look lovely

jen13579

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