u/Rowdy_Roddy_2022

We've started taking our 18m to play parks now he is more confidently walking (he was a late walker).

I am amazed by the behaviour of some of the older kids that their parents just let them away with. Like they see this tiny toddler making their way towards a swing or something else, and the older kid just runs and sometimes pushes past them to get their first, then leave it once they see the toddler moving away.

I get it's not necessarily the kid's fault (though the ones aged 7+ I'd say should know better) but it's the parents who say and do nothing about this behaviour I find baffling. I did actually call one mother out for her daughter getting on a swing and immediately going to use it whenever she saw our toddler walking right behind it! It was very deliberate and I said to the Mum, who of course was on her phone, that it was dangerous behaviour and he could have been badly hurt there. She just shrugged and said "She's just having fun!"

Am I being unreasonable here?

Paul Givan is seeking to change the criteria so as those on benefits are not immediately given top priority for pre-school allocations, with a change from Sept 27 to make it reflect primary and post primary systems (where the school gets to choose their own criteria). There will still be an element of need in the criteria but not to the current extent.

Unsurprisingly this has completely divided opinion.

On one hand, you've some who see this as a blatant attack on the poor, whose children need a good education to start life.

On the other hand, some would argue that pre-school places are most important for working parents, not non working parents, and this needs to be taken into consideration too, so they welcome the change.

And unlike most decisions here, this can't be divided into orange and green!

No matter how perfectly you have played the game, and how well everything has been set up, you are basically screwed unless you can roll and place, between you, lower than a 6, which is the maximum allowance of the brakes (presuming you got them so high!) If they're at the lowest level you need to place 2 or lower?!

Add into that you need to perfectly balance the wings too.

We enjoyed everything leading up to it but it seems like the final approach turn is riding on far more luck than any of the other turns.

I know the usual routine is bath-book-bedtime but here's the thing...baths are supposed to calm you down. Not for us. He is absolutely wired in the bath and after it. Far from making him sleepy and relaxed, he enters a new stage of hyperactivity, splashing and screaming and playing with all his bath toys.

It's great fun, but it's absolutely useless as a pre-bedtime routine.

So for us, bathtime follows on from dinner time. Then it's back downstairs to burn off the excess energy he's gained from the bath, then sometimes a bit of TV for 10 mins to calm him down, before back upstairs again for books and bedtime. It would be literally impossible for us to get him to sleep if we went straight from bathtime to books and bed though!

We have a Joie iSpin 360 and are looking to get another one for the impending arrival of No 2...only to met by the following myriad of options:

- Joie iSpin 360

- Joie Compact iSpin 360

- Joie iPivot 360 iSize

- Joie iSpin 360 iSize

To complicate matters, prices range from £124 (for iPivot) right up to £200 for the iSpin 360.

What on earth is the difference between these models? Because reading the description they all do exactly the same things!

We have used electric and induction and low is easy.

When we moved to our new house, a gas hob was installed already. Everyone raves about gas so thought we'd give it a go.

But even on its lowest setting, it is impossible to control the burn. Oil is spitting up like a volcano. There is nothing even resembling the slow simmer of an induction or electric hob.

Is this normal for gas cooking? Everything done at speed?

A 6-9 month fleecy hoody from M&S fitted our son up to 15 months. He's average size and otherwise tracks pretty accurately with clothes, including from M&S, maybe getting an extra month out of some, or a month short from others.

But this was ludicrous. At 6 months it was like a wizard's gown on him.

I don't like curry and I can't eat chillies due to medical conditions (or indeed therefore most curries).

But I do love a good slow cooker recipe. I'll try almost anything else!

What I enjoyed:

- The light show visuals were spectacular, particularly during Thank you for the Music. There was another song which had a sort of laser grid effect throughout the audience, though I can't remember which song it was, which was fantastic too

- Being amongst all the ABBA fans for a giant sing along was great

- I think the ABBA-Tar technology was good...but more on that below

- I thought the setlist was really interesting, although we had no Super Trouper

- Brilliant drummer and guitarists, in fact the whole live band were superb and their own performance of "Does your mother know" was my highlight of the night

- I loved the curtain call with the avatars of them as they are today

What I didn't enjoy as much:

- I feel some people are overselling the technology. Don't get me wrong, it's hugely impressive, but it's not enough to fool anyone. If you're familiar with gaming parlance, it felt more like a 2.5D side scroller rather than a genuine 3D appearance. This was particularly noticeable in the parts of the show where the live band were illuminated - you could really see the difference then between a 3D person and the ABBA-Tars, even though none of them were moving from their spot

- It's said there's no bad seat in the arena and while that may be technically true, the technological limitations became more apparent the further to the side you were. I wasn't even in the last block - I was in the second last block to the left - and you were losing part of the effect. If I went back again I'd definitely pay more to sit or stand head on

- I did not like the parts of the show which were just animations or CGI close-ups of the ABBA-Tars. Not what I paid my money to see

- Lastly, and it's clearly nobody's fault other than the individuals, but members of the audience frustrated me. During songs they didn't know, or during talking segments in between the songs, they decided to have full blown conversations themselves. At an actual concert people would have told them to shut up but because it's a self running show with technology, nobody did

- The venue needs to do a better job at getting people into their seats in time. The show started 15 mins late for no reason other than people dillydallying. You need good ushers, quicker announcements, and often a bit of louder pre-concert music to get people in, like Metallica do with an AC/DC pre tape and The Ecstasy of Gold providing a sort of 10 mins warning that the band are going to arrive

Living in East Belfast and looking for days out while the weather is nice with the wife and child (toddler but will mostly be in the pram).

Willing to travel up to 45 mins for an easy trip for a few hours, or further afield if a fuller day trip is warranted.

Already done further afield trips to the North Coast and Enniskillen as well as closer ones in Donaghadee and Ballyhalbert beach. Been for walks at Stormont, North Down coastal path, Ward Park, Mount Stewart.

I'm not even going to bother linking to individual news stories because they're on every outlet, including the BBC, backed up by "experts" including the Head of OFSTED, that the six week summer break is apparently a terrible thing for children as they take too long to resettle into learning afterwards.

...while ignoring that it's seven weeks in NI (for teachers - eight weeks for pupils!), who get better results.

...while ignoring that it's three months in the Republic of Ireland, who have better outcomes.

...while ignoring that six weeks is, in fact, one of the shortest summer breaks in the Western world.

EDIT: Removed reference to Scottish longer summer breaks, seems to only be an NI thing, though broader point still stands

Anyone else have a baby or toddler like this? Our son has been like this since about a year.

When we're in work he's in a different routine as we HAVE to wake him up early but his natural circadian rhythm, if left to his own devices (like during holidays and weekends) is that he prefers a late bedtime - sometime between half 8 and half 9 - but will then sleep that full 12 hours until half 8 or 9 the next morning.

To be clear, we're cool with this as we are both night owls and love the long lie ins. But just wondering why he seems to have a totally different circadian rhythm to other babies!

We are big readers and it has always been one of our favourite things to do with our son. And he enjoyed it too, particularly lift the flap books. We'd read once for fun during the day and then had a selection of night books for bedtime.

Well, fast forward to about 15 months. Won't sit still to be read to, regardless of the book. His favourite thing to do is to take the books himself, open them, close them, then throw them around. He has zero interest in sitting listening to us read or interacting with the books any other way.

Anyone else been through this? Please tell me it's just a passing phase?

Our 15 month old is and always has been a "floor baby". They CAN stand, holding onto furniture, but only if you put them into that position and only if there is something which they deem appropriately entertaining to be worth the effort of continuing to stand.

What mostly happens is you put a toy or something up high, they get on their knees (one foot planted), you gently guide them to push up.

Then they grab the toy and sit back down again. And it's a controlled sitting back down, not just flopping. They absolutely have the strength to do this, but have no desire to do so. And obviously until they stand, they can't walk, so he's starting to really get behind his peers.

Can anyone recommend any toys etc which would help? It has to be something they need to stand to play with, not just on their knees (which is what he prefers!)

I swear this just happened within the space of a week. He used to be no bother with changing nappies or clothes. At worst a little bit of protest but nothing major.

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But now...it can only be described as a wrestling match. He is absolutely furious from the second he is laid down to change his nappy and will twist and wriggle and sit up and try to crawl away. It's a nightmare. I've tried all the recommended tricks of distractions, toys, cuddles, making a game of it. Nothing works because he is just too mad to be distracted or listen to anything.

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I've seen recommendations for pull-up nappies but even that isn't particularly helpful because he can't even stand independently yet, so all changing has to be done with him lying down.

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What to do?!

So this is an odd one...

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Northern Ireland is getting a new curriculum (for all subjects) from 2028. Focus is on "knowledge rich".

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The draft came out yesterday and it's been noticed that the new English curriculum is, word for word, copied and pasted from Ormiston Academies Trust.

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It seems aimed at a very high level (EG. Teaching trochaic inversions and very precise, technical grammar terminology to KS3 pupils), has no references to oracy/speaking&listening, nor anything on personal or creative writing. It's a total sea change to our way of teaching here.

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Does anyone here have any experiences with delivering this curriculum, good or bad?

So I wore my beanie hat.

They're 13 months and when they get home from nursery, they don't want food. Don't want to play. They just want to chill out. If the weather is nice this is a walk in the pram. If it isn't, it's in their cot in a dark room with white noise and their cuddly toy.

Is this normal behaviour? They're really active and social in nursery and enjoy it loads, and with us at weekends and days off etc they are usually in great form too.

He can pull to his knees (and do very often) and crawl on all fours like lightning. He babbles a lot, eats really well, great sleeper.

But he shows absolutely no interest in standing up. I don't think it's a strength issue as he can do it in a walker. If you try to help him to stand up normally though he gets furious and throws himself back until you leave him be.

Is it anything to worry about at this stage? He's been slow with all his physical milestones to be honest, but just figured them all out in his own good time. Didn't roll til 6 months, crawled at 9 months, didn't choose to sit to play until nearly 11 months.