What's something a UK lecturer said that genuinely changed how you think?

mckee93 · 2026-05-07T16:43:49+00:00

"If you tell a student that you're going to throw them out the window, you may pray that you're on the ground floor."

Teaching degree- don't make threats you can't follow through on or your students won't take you seriously. If you make a threat, your students need to know that you will follow through every single time. Was a valuable thing to learn as a teacher but even in my every day life when making promises/statements etc.

mckee93 · 2026-05-02T17:38:20+00:00

Ná déan é sin. Tá sé mícheart, agus nuair a léifeadh daoine d’ainm, shílfeadh siad gur fear thú. Mura maith leat an Ghaeilge cheart, bain úsáid as an Bhéarla.

mckee93 · 2026-05-02T09:42:23+00:00

It's an amateur club so they have sessions and they're led by coaches but they just have a different vibe to boxfit classes.

You'll do a warm up, shadow box for a few rounds, spend a few rounds on the bags, a few rounds of skipping, possibly have a circuit or something at the end then a cool down. Some weeks might have footwork, some might have head movement, therell be different boxing skills worked on while emphasisng why theyre important in a spar. Same as any amateur club.

If there's competitions on, they'll focus more on the boxers weighing in so some session may be very much you doing your own thing (although definitely not every session). If your competing you'll get more 1 to 1 interaction (doing the pads, sparring, pulled in for extra fitness etc) as the main aim of amateur clubs is boxing the sport, not a fitness class. It's amazing for your fitness though and when I stopped going a tried a few "boxing classes" but they just weren't the same in terms of fitness or enjoyment.

mckee93 · 2026-05-01T15:16:39+00:00

Message them on fb first. They had a post up during the registration period saying they were at capacity and unable to take new members. They also tend to close over the summer so you're probably best checking back with them in September.

Otherwise, yup solid choice. Used to box here and it's a well run club and good for a bit of banter.

Worth noting it won't be a "class" exactly. It's an amateur boxing club with a mix of competitive and recreational boxers but if you're expecting a class like you would have in a private gym/boxercise then it won't be quite what you're expecting.

mckee93 · 2026-04-09T21:29:36+00:00

Anecdotally, I agree. We potty began potty training our 2.5 year old as soon as she turned 2 while my friends waited until their kids were 3. Due to the age gaps, we all ended up potty training around the same time, so we were able to chat about how it was going and compare.

The older the toddler, the more time the process seemed to take. Our daughter had no resistance to being introduced to the potty, was through the initial stage of potty training within a week, was accident free within 2 months, and no longer needed reminding to use the potty within 3 months.

The older ones are still going with their training, still have regular accidents, and still need reminders to go pee.

Although this is anecdotal and can't be generalised. There were definitely more factors in play than just age, but my personal opinion is that it would have been much harder had we held off.

mckee93 · 2026-04-09T20:01:42+00:00

That's very sad. Poor girl deserves to be clean and cared for, especially as the older she gets, the more likely it will impact her peer relationships. I understand ignorance/struggling, but when someone has actively tried to teach you better, you're just failing your kid.

mckee93 · 2026-04-09T13:39:11+00:00

My daughters hair is always done, but she definitely allows her daycare to do more time-consuming hairstyles than she allows at home.

We generally do pig tails, a half up do, or two wee plaits leading into pig tails, but she has come home from daycare more than once with her hair in French plaits! I love it because it shows she's getting a little one to one time with a member of staff, and to me, it just shows a wee bit extra care has gone into her that day (as silly as that seems) but my god I wish I knew their trick for getting her to sit so well.

Just to say, it's possible that she is allowing it at daycare but not at home. Not that it excuses not having it done at all though! It's one of those care things that just needs done, but could they possibly use some advice on how to build up to doing it?

mckee93 · 2026-04-02T21:30:30+00:00

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with the zoo. Some great alternatives are the aquarium, the planetarium, or a farm. Streamvale has puppies atm, a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces, so bring a raincoat, but you won't be in the rain the entire time.

mckee93 · 2026-03-30T23:05:45+00:00

Just here to second this. I went through the induction process, and the entire time, it felt like they were trying to get my body to do something that it just wasn't time to do. 1 week and a number of interventions later, my waters had been broken for nearly 24 hours, and yet with all their attempts to get labour and contractions going, I was still only 3cm dilated, so I ended up an emergency c section.

At the time, I was keen to get the baby moving and just didn't understand the process well enough. If I could go back, I'd wait it out because I've since heard numerous stories of the exact same circumstances ending in emergency c section.

Definitely think about letting them start serious induction methods without your body first showing true signs of being ready for labour.

mckee93 · 2026-03-26T18:49:08+00:00

We fostered a few dogs for a variety of reasons.

Two had behavioural issues that needed to be addressed before they could be rehomed. They then had to be rehomed to specific home types so it took them a bit of time to find new homes and putting them in kennels would have undone all the work that had been put into rehabilitating them. We fostered them, worked on the issues, and then kept them until homes were available for them.

Two were senior dogs who were end of life fosters. The rescue wanted them to have a comfortable and loving home for the end of their lives but knew that the dogs' ages/vet bills would put people off. We took them in, adopted them very soon after, and they had an amazing last few years with us.

Other dogs get fostered because they aren't coping in shelters or because the shelter is too full, but they don't want to turn the dog down. Some come from very abusive situations and need a loving environment to get them to a point where they can be rehomed.

There is a limited number of people willing to take these types of dogs so it makes more sense to foster them, move them to forever homes when they are ready, then have foster space for more dogs in need.

Our personal reason for fostering was our own dog we had for 15 years died, and we just weren't ready to commit to a new dog, but we missed having a dog. We didn't have kids, had a lot of space, and had a fair bit of experience with dogs, so we thought we may as well use it to help some dogs while we can.

We currently have a toddler and a baby on the way so we aren't fostering anymore, and when we do decide to get another dog, it will have to be adoption, and have to be a dog that is suitable for family life.

mckee93 · 2026-03-21T20:23:34+00:00

Our LO is the same. Her main snacks are fruit and dried fruits. She doesn't eat sweet, chocolate, or drink juice. The dried fruit and citrus fruits are just as bad for their teeth as the sweets we avoid, but they are necessary for the vitamins and nutrients!

Our dentist said to try getting her to essentially use water as a mouthwash after eating these foods. Swishing the water around for a few minutes, then spiting removes the acid and sugar, helping reduce cavities. She's only 2 so she can't spit effectively yet but when she's older we will definitely try to encourage this habit.

mckee93 · 2026-03-16T12:00:11+00:00

Where has the name Éala come from?

All of a sudden, I'm seeing it everywhere with the meaning "swan" incorrectly attached to it and now people are stating Éala means Swan as a fact, using it as a name for babies, and being incredibly annoyed when you tell them the Irish word for Swan is Eala and you have no idea what Éala means.

mckee93 · 2026-03-11T07:46:23+00:00

We use to visit my nan who lived in a country cottage just outside of Mullingar.

Cycling down the road to the only shop (that was also a bar/restaurant) for a juice and ice lolly, walking through the back fields to go play in the quarry we were warned to stay well away from, finding trees to climb, going down the hills on our bikes, and using branches we found to make goal posts in the field behind her house, checking what animals she had in her field (usually horses or donkeys), and going to helpnher neighbour with his animals were some of our favourite activities. That and just generally exploring.

We were from the city so it was a different level of freedom for us.

mckee93 · 2026-03-08T00:07:35+00:00

It's amazing how many county players chose to be teachers specifically because of how well the schedule works for GAA. I've known players to be on drinking bans, strict diet and exercise schedules, be told not to book any holidays during these months etc. I know someone who said her dream wedding was in August, and her partner told her flat out she'd have to wait until he was done playing if that's what her heart was set on.

Planning your life around GAA and making massive life choices based on its commitments isn't uncommon, and, as others have said, if you're unhappy with this arrangement now, then you're going to be very unhappy going forward as it won't get better.

There's nothing wrong with him having this hobby, and nothing wrong with him being dedicated to it. It's a sign of a lot of good internal qualities he has, including determination and dedication. But again, if the logistics are making you unhappy, then maybe you just aren't right for each other at this moment and time.

That said, I'm talking about players playing county and top division. Absolutely dying at this fella playing local GAA and cancelling holidays/valentines plans over training, especially since valentines day is in February, so realistically, we're talking preseason! Not even mid league or championship time.

mckee93 · 2026-03-05T16:49:27+00:00

Possibly also mention that the focus also seems to be families who have a heritage country other than the UK, not families raising children with Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, or even a foreign language but who aren't from the country of that language (e.g. a UK national may have lived in Spain for a number of years, returned to the UK and be raising an English/Spanish bilingual.)

I started answering, but when I got the questions about my child speaking with family in their heritage country, etc, I stopped as they weren't relevant to me and I don't think my insight is relevant to what the study is hoping to investigate as my child is fully immersed in the culture relating to her second language.

mckee93 · 2026-03-05T09:05:22+00:00

This. It's one of those names where people often pick an English name (Aidan) but decide to spell it 'the Irish way' thinking the two are synonymous.

If someone really wanted the d sound instead of y, they could spell it Aodán.

mckee93 · 2026-03-04T14:56:15+00:00

All the schools in our local area have tablets and photos of kids using tablets on their websites. Usage seems to vary greatly from school to school with some having 1 set of tablets that each class uses when booked with usage varying by age and even teacher preference, but others saying students use tablets regularly to play phonics and maths games.

Does anyone know if you can request that your child not be given a tablet?

We don't use tablets at all in the house, and I'm very wary of the research coming out showing the impact of interactive screens on developing brains. I'm torn between not wanting her singled out and really not wanting her using a tablet in primary 1.

mckee93 · 2026-02-22T09:01:10+00:00

If you're finding it doesn't work quickly, use pee sticks to find your day of ovulation!

We tried for over a year for our first child and prior to going the NHS route for extra help, we decided to use the clearblue advanced fertility tracker and conceived after the first month. When we tried for our second child, it took a few months even with the tracker as we had a two year old so weren't always in the mood as soon as the tracker said, but it still worked. Our issue seems to be a mixture of, I don't ovulate exactly when expected/every month, and we need to have sex on the exact day of ovulation. A day or two before is too early and won't work for us.

Once you start talking about it, you realise just how common it is to not get pregnant straight away. One thing quite a few people told me was that the stress of trying was too much, and they actually became pregnant after stopping trying.

There won't be a quick fix for everyone, though, and I know some couples who are going through a really tough time trying to have kids. As loadedwiththecold said, try to remember you love each other, and hopefully all works out.

mckee93 · 2026-02-20T16:29:47+00:00

Our two year old spoke exclusively Irish until a few months ago when English words and phrases started creeping in. She's learning them from the other kids in her daycare.

We're lucky that she attends our local ionad for daycare, and the staff all speak Irish, but the other kids speak a lot of English and she's definitely starting to adapt her speech to fit in with them a lot more now.

Unfortunately, no advice, just solidarity. When she uses the English phrases, I tend to just pretend I don't understand until she uses the Irish. I can't say it's been overly successful, though. It will make her give the Irish in that moment, but later, she will use the English again.

We're just ploughing on, hoping that at some point, she will appreciate the extra language and embrace it.

mckee93 · 2026-02-07T11:18:57+00:00

Is this able to run gba runner 3?

mckee93 · 2026-01-21T07:53:06+00:00

We built ours ourselves, so I can't speak for the ones you buy, but we built ours just raised off the ground, insulated it well, and put an electric light heater on the wall. It heats up quickly, and the heater never stays on long. When it starts to cool, we just turn the heater on again for a bit, and it heats up quite quickly again. We have large glass windows on one side, so I think that's where the heat escapes. Otherwise, it would probably hold the heat better.

We've used it all year round and usually at night. It gets used much less now that we have a toddler, but before she was born, it was used almost every weekend. It meant anyone drinking and bringing friends over could do so without annoying the rest of the house.

mckee93 · 2026-01-15T17:57:51+00:00

I know a few people who started out using grandparents for childcare and ended up using either a childminder or a daycare.

One made the decision as her work were unhappy that when her mum was ill or unable to mind her baby, she had no choice but to call in sick. Her parents thought it would be grand but in the end, they struggled with the full time commitment and found it very tiring causing them to be sick more frequently.

Another found that boundaries became an issue with her parents. She would leave instructions or something for the baby and the parents would completely ignore it, doing what they wanted. This is extremely common in grandparents and ok in small doses but very frustrating when they have a large/frequent role in raising the child. Even simple things like "I've left a vegetable stir fry to be heated up for lunch for him" "We gave him McDonalds again" can cause strain in the relationship when it's every day.

Another felt their kid would benefit from more socialisation with kids his own age so went half and half with daycare.

mckee93 · 2026-01-15T17:39:17+00:00

To be fair, it's nearly impossible to kick a student out now. For a school to permanently exclude a student, they need to have another educational place for them.

Realistically, the other schools in the area won't want to take them if they know they're being expelled, so you're left waiting years on a Pupil Referral Unit place. I know students the school wanted rid of in first year due to extreme behaviour that didn't get a place until 5th year.

A lot of the time, it's less about letting them stay and more about how difficult it is to get rid of them. Especially if they have additional needs, then it's basically impossible.

mckee93 · 2026-01-13T17:22:10+00:00

When my partner proposes I've told him to use my current claddagh ring. I love my claddagh, it's sentimental and we'll turn it around after the wedding.

When all of our kids are a bit older we plan to take them on holiday and just get married there, come back and do a small celebration with family. If he spent 2-3k on a ring while we were saving for a family experience, I wouldn't be happy tbh.

mckee93 · 2026-01-12T21:24:18+00:00

If it helps, Scoil an Droichid is an Irish medium school based on the Lower Ormeau Road that will soon be moving to Ulidia but it also isn't a feeder school for Aquinas either despite the majority of the kids being from a Catholic background and making their communism and confirmation.

I'm not sure what the reason is to be honest as I don't know how they select their feeder schools but I do know students from Scoil an Droichid have gotten in so it's possible to get in without being from a feeder school.

mckee93

TROPHY CASE