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WIN £500 WORTH OF BODEN VOUCHERS WITH NANNYTAX! Calling all nanny employers, the Nannytax Survey is now live and it's your input that contributes to shaping an up-to-date picture of the current nanny industry. Plus be in with a chance of winning £500 to spend at Boden! Complete the survey here.

Greetings from Mumsnet Towers,

Where we've been gussying up our new Style & Beauty pages, diligently distilled from the advice and tips being swapped on Talk. Do have a peek at our top-to-toe advice. 

We've also done the legwork for you and picked the best Christmas markets around the UK and rounded up this year's lists of must-have children's presents. 

India Knight is our guest for a Christmas-themed Q&A, while Dr Chris Steele is taking questions about your skin problems. Plus, the answers are in from CreditExpert's Caroline Thomas to your questions about credit scores and ratings.

And wanna be in our gang? Then come and join our shiny new circle on Google+.

Now for this week's parenting news...

Antipsychotic drugs concern: The number of children being prescribed antipsychotic drugs has doubled in a decade. A Channel 4 News investigation found that in 2010, 14,999 under-18s were prescribed antipsychotics compared with 7,649 in 2001. Mental health expert Professor Tim Kendall said: "As far as I am aware, there is no evidence that there has been a doubling in the rate of psychosis, so if there is a doubling in the rate of children being given antipsychotics, that is a worry." (Daily Mail)

Degrees of worth: Students will soon be able to judge which universities offer the best value for money as both the Office for National Statistics and Which? begin to collect data on graduate employment and salaries. "The labour force survey gives details of salaries and employment over time, which students can make judgements on," a government source said. (Telegraph)

WATCH PLAN UK'S AMAZING VIDEO Find out what happened when a MNer sponsored a child through Plan UK and see the exciting work we've been doing with Plan UK.

Other stories in brief

• An American couple may be prosecuted after selling 'chickenpox lollies' to parents over the internet. (Telegraph)
• The Children's Society has come up with a list of 10 must-have items that children 'need' to feel happy. (Yahoo!; join the discussion on Talk)
• Royal Brompton's children's heart surgery unit wins a temporary reprieve from closure. (Guardian)
• 216 schools in England fail to hit the Coalition's new GCSE target. (Guardian)
• Longer working hours and higher childcare costs could be behind a marked increase in the popularity of boarding schools. (Telegraph)
• 71% of parents in a survey say reading with their kids is the 'highlight of their day' (BBC News) - and it turns out it has a long-lasting impact. (BBC News)
• And finally... it's a postcode lottery as to how much kids receive from the Tooth Fairy. London children get as much as £5, while in Hull it's more likely to be a paltry 5p. (Daily Mail) 

The week on Talk

• Thread head - do you mentally translate Real Life into posts on Mumsnet?
• Off their trolley - supermarket etiquette you wish fellow shoppers could observe?
• Oh Muuuuum - norty methods you employ to embarrass older children?
• Sweeping aside - what do you credit with getting your labour started naturally?
• Sink or swim - is being able to swim an important life skill?

Quote of the week

entropygirl poses an interesting question: "Do they count as stretchmarks if there is more mark than stomach? I think I may have un-stretched marks."

Blog of the week
Reopening the Case: This blogger pushed her viola case under the bed in the early '90s and forgot all about it. Now she's reopened the case and the viola's back for good. Tune in to her musical journey as she learns how to play an instrument all over again.

Enjoy more juicy blogs on our Bloggers Network.

Competitions

Check out the great prizes in our November competitions. Here's what you could win:

• £500 John Lewis voucher
• Portable DVD player and DVD of The Little Engine That Could
• Ferry transport across the Channel (to Calais or Zeebrugge), two nights' accommodation on the Flemish coast and four entry tickets to theme park Plopsaland
• Four tickets to the quarter-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals
• Spa day for two
• Coco Cot Mattress from Naturalmat
• Family ticket to The Heart of Robin Hood at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon, plus pre-theatre dinner and B&B
• Kindle and £50 of Amazon vouchers
• Skylanders Spyro's Adventure starter pack

JOIN IN WITH 5 BY 25! A new campaign which aims to ensure that by the age of 25, people can plan, food shop, prepare and cook at least five meals from scratch, using fresh ingredients. Find out more about 5by25 and take the Master the Dish challenge.

Recipe of the week

NormaSknocker's chorizo lasagne - a spicy twist for a trusty staple, and it uses up seasonal squash.

You can review this recipe here - or why not upload one of your own?

That's all. We're off to find our nearest Glühwein-glugging opportunity.
Love, MNHQ

VISIT TALKHEALTH, A LEADING PATIENT HEALTH WEBSITE. It offers information on a range of chronic ailments and health, plus forums, blogs, and news about advances in research and treatment. Read monthly online clinics, in association with NHS Choices, with a panel of leading medical experts. This month's topic is prostate disease.

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