pfb -in fact only child - off to secondary on Thursday...

astroturf trainers are no good if they're training on on wet/muddy grass, moo - he would be falling over all the time & come home plastered in mud (& wouldn't that be a treat for you )

He will need actual boots I'm afraid - sorry

bella, it is miserable for them (& other family members!) in the autumn term when the nights start drawing in so fast they can't go out to play after school at all after a while. The whole first term thing - travelling, organisation, load-carrying, difficult lessons, lots of different teachers, much bigger kids, finding classrooms etc etc is a nightmare for them after primary, poor little things...

DS came home yesterday with a form to fill in to do music lessons. Guess what instrument he wants to do. Drums! FFS! Drums!!! We live in a very modest 3 bed terrace with neighbours I'd like to stay to good terms with. But he really really wants to do this. £60 for the first term but apparently he doesn't need a kit at home for a while. So I guess we'll cough up for the lessons and hold off on the drums until he's sure he's likes it. DH is getting rid of his car so maybe we can convert the garage in some way. Why couldn't it be the flute or a violin ?

as usual, made DS do his homework when he got home from school, but he is so slow...... DH said I have got to give him a chance and he will get quicker as he gets used to it, I sort of feel a bit mean...

He then asked at 7.10 if he could go out, so we said yes, but he must be back at 8.15. We did not realise he had taken his bike and at 8.00 DH went into the garage and saw no bike, but it was getting really dark. There are no lights on DS's bike! So we had to ring him and say come home straight away. I know he only missed out on a few minutes of play outside, but I am beginning to feel meaner and meaner every day over the homework.

Oooh, I'm glad it's Friday too. Ds1 has been absolutely fine - happy, everything's fab, it's a brilliant school etc etc etc. Then last night he came home in an absolutely foul mood - was mean to ds2 (6) and made him cry, threw a tantrum about football boots, and finally stormed upstairs with much door slamming (really not like him at all - he is generally a pretty laid back and amenable boy).

I went up after a while to talk to him and he had a big cry and said he's just so tired, and he's finding it all overwhelming, and he couldn't find his English classroom and he didn't understand the maths (and he asked and it was explained again and he still didn't understand it )

It is such a huge transition isn't it - from primary to secondary? I remember spending a lot of my first year wishing I was back at primary.

I made him have a bath and an early night and he seemed more cheerful this morning - but I'm glad it's the weekend.

Football boots tantrum, btw, was because he has joined the football club (after school on Tuesdays). He says that the coach says they have to have "proper" football boots. He already has astroturf/grass footie boots (with very small rubber studs) which are what he took this week. He also has ordinary PE that day - so I questioned whether the coach was actually saying he needs to take two pairs of sports shoes on that day (which would be madness, surely - he already has his sports kit and books to carry, plus every second week he will have food tech that day and need ingredients/containers as well - he'll be falling over with the weight of his back pack!) When I said we would need to check whether the boots he had would be OK (he can wear them in the gym and on astroturf, so- unlike proper football boots - they are multi-function) he threw a total strop, and said "why don't you believe me?!"

Aww OrmIrian i do sympathise for the long hair thing. My son has just gone into year 1 and came home with his hair tied with a rubber band!! He was really upset about being teased for looking like a girl,but runs screaming (oddly enough like a girl) when i suggest giving it a trim!

Had a word with his teacher who said it was only tied cos they were cooking but for normal school activities its ok. Phew!

My daughter got her first detention today, jeez its only been a few days! She left her homework in her planner and left her planner at home so she had to do 15 mins of lines. I spent the day feeling really bad because i should have reminded her, but with 2 other kids to sort out, it just slipped my mind till i saw it on the kitchen table at lunch time!

At least i managed to get her a swimsuit from SportsDirect.com. Theres one about 15 mins drive from me so thats one less thing to worry about. Now all i gotta sort out is her PE kit!

In Yr6 when her primary school went into SATS overkill all I ever got from DD was we did literacy,numeracy and it was soooooooooo boring. I was really worried that all I'd get from High School was the same so for me to hear her become so animated when telling me step by step how they did an experiment in science is great,plus her even coming to the conclusion that Geog might be ok because the is nice is wonderful. I know it's early days .

She is thinking of doing an aerobics class at lunchtime - but was a bit worried if she ended up going one way and the others another...Plus if she didn't like it she'd still have to go. I pointed out that lunchtime/after schools activities were optional and if it wasn't something she'd enjoy she didn't have to go every week. So she's going to see if any of her friends want to go. I have visions of everyone else swinging arms to the right and DD going to the left

And as Bellavita said Thank crunchie it's Friday!

Thank crunchie it's Friday

magenta - when DS finally gets his locker, his form tutor has said they can give him a spare padlock key in a named envelope so if there are any forgotten keys - he can sort them out.

I asked him tonight (on his way to bed) if he had finished all homework (apart from history because he still does not know the rest of the question for the homework) and he said yes he was up to date. I have just been into the dining room and lo and behold on the table there is homework for yesterdays cooking lesson and homework for a drama lesson earlier this week

He has got 4 merits already this week. I really don't want him to spoil it for himself if he does not do the history homework, but I suppose like DH says he has to learn.

roisin - suppose really there is no half way mark - either they say everything or nothing!

OrmIrian - that is quite a long day really if walking all the way to and from school - at least DS has a school bus. Having said that though, when I went to high school I had to walk and it was about 3 miles there and back. Good in summer - not so good in winter

ds1 tells me loads and loads about every day ... it's getting a bit wearing.

He managed to sort out a locker today finally, so he will have somewhere to dump his PE kit after PE lesson first thing tomorrow.

The school seems quite strict (compared to ours) which I'm pleased about. He couldn't find one of his exercise books for a lesson today (found it later in his bag), so he worked on paper. But this evening he had to copy the work out into his exercise book and has to hand it in to the teacher tomorrow morning or break! Also today two students in his class got detention for chewing gum.

Your telling me OrmIrian! The best of it is she has two keys on a lanyard around her neck, I've just taken one off and put it on her house key ring which stays in her school bag - I thought she'd done that already Grrrr!

Hopefully the skin headed lot won't tease him too much about having to wear a hair band!

DD informed me that Geography wasn't too bad - she'd deemed it boring prior to starting. Apparently the Geog teacher is really nice and that makes it alot less boring in DD opinion. Science today was more experiments and it's the best ever lesson.

Hmmm...locker keys are an accident waiting to happen really aren't they

DS played hockey today in PE which was better but he's is a vile mood. I think he might be tired. He's been going to bed quite late, getting up earlier, walking 1.5 miles each way to school, and then all round the school, not to mention extra adrenalin coursing round his system. He's in bed now - earliest for a few months actually

DH think the main issue was that he had to wear a headband for PE. I did warn him that if he kept his girly hair he'd have to tie it up like a girl

Oh and her locker key spent the day at home today!!! Thankfully she didn't need anything from her locker!!!

Omrian - hope you've got to the bottom of the hair thing with your DS hope it's not because he's being teased about it! Bellavita I got aload of can't remembers yesterday too!

DD informed me on Wednesday how some children weren't wearing those £5.99 PE socks...so it was a waste buying them Mum! Tonight she tells me that the no PE sock wearers all have a detention!! Erk!

Glad your DS is happy today and got a decent lunch MAS.

Bellavita, if it is any consolation, not all plain sailing here. She came out without her wet swimming kit which I didn't realise until we were nearly home so had to go back. Has also lost her purse and her Personal Notebook, which is the thing they have with all their homework etc in. I hope your DS feels better after a night's sleep.

On the plus side she had a hot lunch and joined the harmony singing club and has no homework (though DS flipping well has and I am now back to that Jolly sodding phonic palava !)

DS has come home feeling tired.

I have asked what homework he has got today and he said "he cannot remember", I asked him what he had for lunch he said "I cannot remember"

He also forgot to ask his friend if he could copy down the rest of the history homework instructions.

At least one of us has a cheery child MAS.

I don't need the house to be empty to talk to myself

Well on the 2nd day, after losing his bus ticket the first day, ds2 nearly missed the bus!
He has made friends with another boy a couple of streets away and wanted to go to school with him. So off he went.

DH passed the bus stop a few minutes later - no sign of ds2 but the bus was there. So he drives around looking for him, no sign of him. A few minutes later ds2 and his friend saunter out of his friend's house. Dh is screaming 'the bus is there' they just made it! Turns out the friend was doing his hair

I don't work thursdays or fridays so today is my first time 'alone' in the house since before the holidays so it is very quiet and I am walking around talking to myself!

sentance? sentence