Gee I got sucked in by the advertising! On the ad for Sanitarium they say it was a NZ started company, but they don't say the same guy started the same company in Aus several years prior. And they definitely don't say that they are wholly owned by Seventh Day Adventist church and don't pay tax in either country! No wonder they always seem to be doing well.
Trill, with the bed have you looked online for local mattress producers? Even with delivery it can end up cheaper. I got W's bed (inner sprung mattress and base) delivered for $700 which was the cheap end of what was in the shops and the quality is way better. I shopped around when I was getting a bed for A, but to get one of a similar quality I would have had to pay double so I ordered the same one again.
LOl Arte, yes, they are owned by the SDA's and DH hates that fact but still prefers to support Aussie companies. When Mum got her bed a few weeks back, she got a top quality sealy matress (aus made) with a pillow top on it for $900 so we would probably go with one of those.
seriously, how rough are boys? i can't believe what i've got myself into. just got back from my friends place and the 5 boys (my 2 included) spent the whole time wrestling, running, throwing balls, pulling pants down, oh and did i mention wrestling? far out, i'm exhausted!
Yeah, well they still make some of the healthiest packaged foods on the entire market AND it's good value for money, so you can't really argue with that. There is far worse players in the market.
BTW as far I know pine-epple lumps are universally known to be kiwi lollies...?
G, yes parenting boys does seem to require more physical activity than parenting girls LOL.
Arte is DH home now? I hope you can catch up on some rest. It's never-ending when they're away, isn't it.
MD, yes, DH is home. He did all the wake-ups last night and the 4.30am start to the day!
G, W would never wrestle! He certainly runs around pushing trucks and makes a hell of a noise but he has never been rough and tumble. Actually I have been thinking of starting a thread for advice on helping him to stand up for himself. He is such a push over (literally) if kids are being rough with him. He accepts it and then moves away feeling sad
Oh no Arte, maybe you should start a thread asking for advice? L is the opposite of that and is often the instigator of rough play which I find embarrassing sometimes. He will just run up to a kid and tackle them to the ground.
Had a lovely play date at a friends yesterday and have another one today love playdates.
Trill- did you ever find that L got to an age where he (and his friends) didn't want to play with girls anymore?
Arte, some kids just aren't into that sort of play - doesn't mean that anything is wrong with them, it's a personality thing. Maybe you can just say to W that it is OK to not let other take things off him etc? Glad that your DH took all the wakeups - I hope t made you feel somewhat human again
G, L was never into playing with girls. Even at preschool he would always be playing with boys and if a girl happened to be doing the same thing it wasn't because he'd set out to play with a girl kwim? And by the time they got to school it was unheard of for any of them to play with a girl. But as I said a while back, some of his mates are starting to realise that playing with girls ain't such a bad thing afterall LOL He is a 'boys boy' through and through. Erin was the same, only she never played with boys. But P and A, their best friends were/are the opposite sex. And A is always looking to wrestle with L as well. He is certainly the more boisterous of the two boys.
Well we are going to be child free tonight! It will be kinda weird seeing as how we will be home all night - they are staying at the IL's because DH is working dayshift and I have to go to Cobar for netball tomorrow and have a 5.30am start so it made sense for them to stay there so they didn't have to get up so early.
Yeah, mine are embarrassingly rough sometimes too Oz. It's ok with boys, because they are generally rougher, but I find my girls play a bit tough for other girls sometimes, and I get embarrassed if they hurt another little girl by playing too rough. I thought it was because they don't get to play with other kids often, but maybe they are just tomboys?
Arte- I think some kids are just sensitive, and will perhaps never fight back, could you teach him to say something like 'stop. I don't like it' that way he's being assertive without having to join in the rough play? I dunno. Nothing worse than seeing your kids pushed around. Some of the older girls bully lulu in png. My heart nearly broke the other day. She went up to 2 girls (about 8) and just wanted to sit and watch them color in. One girl got her bag, pushed Lu off the seat and put her bag there and told her to go away. I saw red. Lu started crying. They didn't know I saw and when I asked what happened the girl sweetly said 'i don't know, she just started crying'. I wanted to kill the little tart! Anyway, I try not to let her get into those situations, I think it's one thing to stick up for yourself with kids your own age, but I feel like I need to protect her a little from big kids.
G- I definitely think some kids prefer one gender over the other. I know I did, I hated playing with most girls! But I think it depends on the kids. There is a little boy in png who only likes playing with girls, but he is a sensitive quiet kid. He told his mum he didn't want to come to our house because Lu pushed him. Then there are boys there a but older who don't like playing with her because she's a girl and not rough enough for them. I think they all need to find kids that match their intensity level.
I'm rethinking my excitement for the wedding. It's only day 1 of the weekend and I'm exhausted already. Is it Tuesday yet????
I am sitting in the city having a quiet cuppa while waiting for DJ's to open though, so its not all bad. Lucky for my iPhone or everyone would know I was a loser with no friends!
JM, thinking of the big girls picking on L nearly made me cry! But then so does the toilet paper commercial these days lol.
I have tried teaching W to use his words if kids are rough but in the moment he forgets and doesn't know what to do.
I was so freaking furious Arte. it made me want to cry too and pretty sure it had nothing to do with my hormones! The worst thing is that Lu is drawn to the two older ring leaders who are both nasty pieces of work. So she sets herself up for their nastiness. Another time she was trying to play and they were telling her to go away i said to Lu in front of the two girls 'No Lu, you don't want to play with the big girls, they are too nasty. Come and play with X, he is much nicer.' then they were all sweet and lovely for 5 minutes. They are so manipulative and horrible. It's not just Lu. These two ring leaders are horrible to most of the other kids too. They need a good sorting out. If only I was 9!
JM I would have seen red over that incident and called them out on it. I hate that type of behaviour in kids. Years ago when L was only 2ish we used to go to the Rugby to see BIL play every now and then and there was this one family and they were total ferals and the father played and the mother would scream like a banshee from the sideline telling him to 'KILL 'EM KEV!" (I kid you not LOL) and their children were equally feral and their youngest would have been about 4 and he was a shocking bully and would throw things at the other kids or hit them and I had a gutfull of watching this kid hurt the other kids (including mine) and none of the other mothers ever said anything - which completely baffled me - so one day I went up to him, removed him from the sandpit and told him that if I saw him hitting any more kids I would smack his backside. His mother came over and looked like she was going to say something and I got in first and told her she needed to control her child because everyone was sick to death of him hitting their kids. She didn't say anything to me then because everyone was watching us by then LOL. And last year there was this girl in the same netball team as my girls who was really sly with her bullying - that nasty, and spiteful bullying that girls do - and I kept calling her out on that too. Little witch thought none of us knew about it. I think it is the reason why she isn't playing this year because her mother knew I was coaching them and she knows I wont stand for that type of crap. She's the type of mother who's kids can do no wrong and is mouthy herself. People probably don't like me for doing that kind of thing but I don't give a **** - I can't sit back in good conscience and just watch that sort of thing happen to any kid. Even during one of the semi final game's L's footy team played last year I told the team off at half time because while I was taking pics of the kids, I could hear them bag each other out on the field if one of them missed a kick or something. Just call me the champion of the bullied and harrassed LOL
JM, that kind of exclusion is really nasty. At DD1's old school they had lots of problems because kids kept forming "clubs" with exclusive memberships *sigh*. I"m sure it caused all sorts of unhappiness. I like your concept of finding other kids with similar intensity levels. Like picking your favorite kinds of chocolate LOL.
G, DD played with boys at school for a long time. She really only got herself an all girl posse once we moved to this school. We also have very dear friends who up until recently were an all-boy family, I don't think DD ever even really "noticed" LOL if that makes sense. when we see them it takes all of 10 seconds and they're all off playing somewhere. It will be interesting to see how that changes once they're all moody teenagers LOL. Missy E on the other hand is showing very definite preferences for playing with girls (but has always been a bit more girly than DD1 ever was). I think some of it is because there are more girls at FDC, but she has a lot more contact with girls overall (friends' kids, cousin, big sister etc).
BTW you have plenty of friends my dear. We're just a bit geographically challenged, tis all.
ETA - round of applause Trill. You are going to be a *magnificent* teacher!!!
That sucks JM. It it just horrible when the other kids are nasty and make them feel bad Especially since W took so long to interact with other kids, I just hated it back when it took a lot of effort for him to join in and then the other kids were mean. I wanted to hit them. I have been known to tell him quite loudly that he doesn't want to play with those kids because they are rude and have no manners lol
ETA, Trill, the "KILL 'EM KEV" from the sidelines is a classic aussie moment lol, I can hear her accent in my mind! Good on you for calling out the other kids.
Yeah, it's like a scene out of Muriel's Wedding or The Castle, or something, isn't it?
ETA - how is W at asserting himself at home, generally? He sounds like he's quite thoughtful and chatty. Miss E on the other hand has *no* trouble bossing everyone around - including pets, big sister, and - especially lately - me.
Speaking of which, she has been very clingy lately. I expected her to get better once DH got home, but he's home now it's worse than ever! We were planning to use Easter as the excuse to get rid of the dummy (yes, GUILTY) - leaving it out for the baby bunnies - but I don't know if I can handle the escalation of the constant need to have 150% of my attention. We're talking - wants me to take her to the toilet every time - then refuses to let me help her, i just have to stand there and watch - wants me to spoon/fork the dinner into her mouth - wants to sit on my lap any time my bum hits the chair - whines about wanting to come into my bed when its her bedttime and I'm not even in bed. In fact last night when I got home, I was still opening hte door to get out of the car and she was already whining about wanting to sit on my lap . It's insane!! Any ideas?
Last edited by AnyDream; April 15th, 2011 at 09:57 AM.
They were truly awful people. But at the same time I thought it kinda hilarious that they were involved in the Rugby Club, because the Rugby Club has traditionally been for all the knob bigtime farmers who thought they were better than everyone else - or the 'White Pants Brigade' as DH calls them LOL for their penchant for wearing white moleskin trousers. And they always hated the idea that they had to rely on 'townies' to make up their footy team numbers and put themselves at the mercy of people like Kev and his family. They left town after one year though.
Kev's wife sounds delightful Trill! These girls are somewhat similar, they rule the roost at home and school and no-one pulls them up. I think mainly because they are so manipulative that they do fool many. I made it very clear i wasn't happy with their behavior. But next time I think ill take the direct Trillian approach. the mother of one of them is the one that is nasty to me, so I can see where she gets it from. Apple doesn't fall far. so no love lost if I tell her off. It's just hard living in a super small community. We've always been in country towns but this is a whole new level of small.
Md- thanks. I was just sitting on my own having a cuppa and hot cross bun and felt all bare with no kids and no friends. its strange to be on your own these days. Lu is not as bad as you describe but she is going through a similar thing. I thought it was the pending baby, but perhaps not. She wants me to feed her and go to the toilet with her. I tell her that she's a big girl now and if she wants to a baby then that's ok but she'll lose some big girl privileges. I talk about how you can do so many more things when you're a big girl, it's way cooler than being a baby and needing help! I hate spoon feeding her, she is capable, so I refuse. I tell her she can either do it herself or go to her room for 3 minutes!!! Harsh I know, but it works. Then I generally make a fuss of her doing it on her own and sometimes give her a treat. She is improving. But it was hard when I first started refusing to help. Same at bed time, she insists I sleep with her. I tell her I will, but if she goes to sleep on her own we can do x,y or z tomorrow. Last night I told get if she went to bed without a fuss on her own granny would stat home from work tomorrow. Little did she know that was the plan already. but she went to bed without a peep. Can you see a trend on bribery here?????? Is that bad?!
At the hairdresser under the heat thing, making me feel like I'm back in PnG. Lol
Last edited by Junglemum; April 15th, 2011 at 02:26 PM.
LOL JM, a bit tropical is it? That is just awful that the nasty girl is the DD of the Nasty woman. Poor kid was probably up against it from the very start. I reckon you should be direct too. But I totally get that in a small community like yours it would be hard. And I don't see that as bribery, I see that as knowing what works for her
When L was in preschool I was never more glad that he wasn't a girl as there were some real class acts in that group and it was so sad to see that even at 4and 5yo that these girls were already so nasty and exclusive. There was one girl that caused all sorts of problems because she would say she only play with certain girls - but each week it was different and even sadder that all the other girls would be hoping it was their turn to be her 'friend'. You just know that that girl will be like that her whole life.
MD, I have no time for that type of carry on and it frustrates me so much when any of the kids have tried it on. I just use tough love LOL - especially when I know they can do whatever it is they want me to do for themselves.
2013 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.
love playdates.
He is a 'boys boy' through and through. Erin was the same, only she never played with boys. But P and A, their best friends were/are the opposite sex. And A is always looking to wrestle with L as well. He is certainly the more boisterous of the two boys.
Then there are boys there a but older who don't like playing with her because she's a girl and not rough enough for them. I think they all need to find kids that match their intensity level.
. It's insane!! Any ideas?
so no love lost if I tell her off. It's just hard living in a super small community. We've always been in country towns but this is a whole new level of small.
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