UK and America are two countries separated by a common language, UK and US Q&A

[Pipbin]

Continuation of the previous thread where posters from the UK ask questions like 'what the hell is going on with the gaps in US toilet doors'; and posters fro the US ask things like 'what is with wearing stripes'

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a2149133-to-think-there-is-something-wrong-with-Americans?msgid=48969042#48969042

I absolutely LOVE this little quirky island

Me, too, from an early age. And I had the unbelievable experience of seeing it for the first time at the age of 19, sailing into Southampton.

onedrop- 5 guys burgers are to mcdonalds what a good ripe brie is compared with a tesco value processed cheese slice!

I think Five Guys has good burgers. They are a chain. My favorite burger chain is Bobby's Burger Palace. They are fantastic. We have a lot of little local places that are good, too.

My kids like McDonald's. I order a salad if I can't talk them out of it. I like Wendy's better as far as fast food goes, it seems a bit nicer.

Sounds like Reception is preschool/pre-k, and Year 1 is kindergarten.

CheerfulYank 12 weeks unpaid is the federal requirement.

Five Guys is a shitty chain. In and Out is only the West Coast, and they're good, better ingredients/practices than most fast food. McDonald's is considered utter shit, and could incite the same types of bad parent flamings sausage roll threads garner here, but at the same time they're the biggest fast food chain in the country for a reason...

I'm very against circumcision, myself.

I've, ahem, known, an exactly equal number of circumcised and uncircumcised men. Most parents I know now are not circumcising their boys, and it's supposed to no longer be the more prevalent thing among this generation. From, er... the men I've surveyed, I think it's an equal split amongst men in their twenties, and from the parents I know it's more common to not circumcise among this generation of boys.

I have a school question - do your kids not have dedicated school buses? I see a lot of threads about challenges getting kids to school on city buses, but here, most kids ride the big yellow school bus to school.

McDonald's is a treat (or Wendy's, Burger King, etc.). We go through the drive-thru occasionally. It's probably frowned on by people who are very strict on diet and/or very principled re: where your food comes from. Fwiw., I am pretty principled on that and am actually very into nutrition research and diet, but I don't think it's any big deal. The food is gross, but great

The school system used to normally go like:

Elementary school
Kindergarten, 1st grade-6th grade

Junior high school
7th-9th grades

High school
10th-12th grades

Now this is the norm:

Elementary
Kindergarten, 1st-5th grades

Middle school
6th-8th grades

High school
9th-12th grades

I don't know why ...

I have family in rural northern Ireland and they have yellow school buses but I live in a large town in england and only the local grammer school run school buses everyone else has to get there by public transport or parents taking them

Is it normal to go out of state for college or is that quite a prestigious thing to do? Again I'm thinking of tv shows where the child gets into Harvard or Yale etc? Is it normally the moneyed people who do that?

No steff my younget son will because he will be going to a special needs school,but genrally in primary school we live close enough to the school not to need transport in secondary schools sometimes provide buses ,I think if you have to send your child to a school out of area,for primary due to maybe overcrowding you might get help,with costs but I think this is very much up to education authorities

My work gives 2 weeks paid maternity, and If I get a doctors note, apparently I can claim 6 weeks short term disability, because you know, having a baby..... If I take 1 day off over 3 mths I can lose my job. I know I won't be able to go back at 3mths and will ask for 6 and see what they say.

DS2s preschool takes babies from 6 weeks, I better check if there is a waiting list as they seem to have about 6-8 in the infant room.

I went to university out of state, but my children went in state. It depends a lot on many variables. It is very difficult to get into Harvard and Yale or any of the Ivies. They are all very well endowed and so can offer financial aid for students they want to admit whose parents don't have the resources to pay.

Just although steff the yellow buses for schools are these provided free or do you have to pay?

A thought not although!

The only school local to me that has buses are the Catholic school as it covers the whole borough and public transport doesnt.

The rule about bussing in my city is that if you live 1 mile, you are eligible to ride a bus, you just have to call the bus depot and get it set up.

is not are!

Yellow buses in our school district are free. There is a new Walmart going up next to DS1s school so this year they are even providing buses for DC who would normally have to walk due to proximity (due to the construction)

Do you pay to go to religious schools or are they state funded?

Just although steff the yellow buses for schools are these provided free or do you have to pay?

We don't pay for the buses directly, they are paid for by property taxes. So, we do pay indirectly. Some cities have cut bussing due to a lack of funding, and there are private bus companies that you can pay to pick your kids up, but I don't think that's very common.

One mile? Thats not much at all is it? I expected it to be a school covering a 50 mile radius of something (thinking of Forrest Gump again!) My DD's senior school has kids within catchment coming from 3 miles away and they have to get themselves there.

Kind of like the car riders setup too. It's like a military operstion. Youtube queue, pull up, child gets out and you drive off. After school you have a sign in your window with DC name and grade, pull in, someone wallis talkies to the front of queue your DC name, DC comes out, jumps in car and off you go!

Only problem is you don't get to meet other parents

Is that not because being a church school they have a wider catchment area bogeyface I attended a catholic school and we came from all over our town as opposed to most secondary schools that had a much narrower catchment area ? We did have buses but they were just normal buses that we had to pay for but I think they just took school,kids ?,

Do you pay to go to religious schools or are they state funded?

You pay tuition or get scholarships. I don't know if they get any tax dollars at all. Public schools are free, but there is no religious education at public schools at all.

One mile? Thats not much at all is it?

No. We live two miles from the HS, and my son typically rides the bus. Although he can, and has, walked before.

Do you pay to go to religious schools or are they state funded?

Religious schools are private, paid by parents.

Separation of church and state is a big reason we left you lot. State-funded (public) schools cannot be religious.