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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

10 things children should do before ten

91 replies

aloha · 08/07/2005 17:13

Did anyone see a news report on this and can do a link? A charity drew up a list of ten things every child should do before they are ten - eg make sandcastle and I wanted to see it.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Hulababy · 08/07/2005 17:51

Pooh sticks is from Winnie the Pooh. Stand at one side of a bridge and drop your sticks in (hopefully same direction as current). Go to other side and see who's stick wins the race to the other side.

rodeo1 · 08/07/2005 18:02

Surely it's preferable to

Getting to level 87 of 'Maim Fury Hell' on ps2
Reciting lyrics to latest crappy gangster rap
Watching an 18 certificate film when you're really only 9.....

Enid · 08/07/2005 18:04

well it must be brilliant living in the country with an arty mum then as dd1 (5) has done all of them except breakfast in bed (grrrr) and the five bird species - but Bruno can name them for her does that count?

Original poster

aloha · 08/07/2005 18:07

god, i love bruno

OP posts:

Enid · 08/07/2005 18:09

They have been seperated!

Bruno is going up to Class 2 and dd1 is staying behind in the duffers class.

His mum rang me and he is

Dd1 is heartless and doesn't care.

Original poster

aloha · 08/07/2005 18:10

no!! this is bad for mn

OP posts:

Enid · 08/07/2005 18:11

It is a small school and they live in the same village so will still meet.

Just wait until November and his birthday party. Oh what tales I'll have to tell.

triceratops · 08/07/2005 18:12

Why not a snow man? You have to be careful round here about the snow angels as there may have been a dog about if you know what I mean (then you really do need the persil). And I loved camping but I don't think I managed to stay all night outside on my own before I was 10 (we used to sneak into the living room and "camp" there).

WigWamBam · 08/07/2005 18:13

custy, my dd is 4 and has done all of those things you're on about, and I wasn't guilt-tripped into any of them - we've done them because (a) they're fun and (b) she wants to do them. She's done 18 of the list, and I hope that she is able to do all of them by the time she's 10, because she's a child and children thrive on new experiences.

You really mean to tell me that you never, as a child, mixed up rose petals with water in a jar to try and make perfume? It always stunk to high heaven, but it was perfume just the same - I thought every child did that?

Enid · 08/07/2005 18:15

was it really sponsored by Persil ? Scuzzy.

I hate it when they catch you out like that.

Nightynight · 08/07/2005 18:17

spot on custardo!

Enid · 08/07/2005 18:18

Sorry buy why is it weird to grow veg?

And don't give me all that middle-class crap, its perfectly normal for rural kids to do all those things - you are being Townist!

okapi · 08/07/2005 18:21

can't see my ds's ever wanting to make perfume...stink bombs maybe

WigWamBam · 08/07/2005 18:22

I'm not in a rural location, but dd has grown strawberries this year, helped us dig the veg patch and helped me plant peas, grown her own broad beans and planted flowers. She's also grown mimosa from seed. Why is that odd? What's wrong with children having experiences like this?

Granted, no-one should feel obliged to tick things off a list just because the list is there, but most of these things are quite normal childhood experiences, surely?

TwinSetAndPearls · 08/07/2005 18:30

dd (3)has done 24 of the 33 but a lot of that is due to the fact that we have a very laid back lifestyle enabled my my dp earning enough to support my choice to be a SAHM. AS much as it makes me ill to realise I am probably a daily mail ideal woman!!

As custy points out, and I knew she would so I waited for her to post first, this list is all about guilt tripping women into becoming the daily mail ideal.

Not criticising the items list (which I think are lovely and i wish I had benefited from such a rosy childhood) but the motives of the daily mail.

WideWebWitch · 08/07/2005 18:31

Ds has done most of them, phew, or I might have started to feel inferior as unable to provide correct and idyllic childhood

rodeo1 · 08/07/2005 18:32

My kids have clay (ever so cheap from ELC) And my house is filled with deformed, demented hedgehogs (why is it alway hedgehogs?)

Hmmm.. I am catholic though

rodeo1 · 08/07/2005 18:37

Ooh I'm definitely not a daily mail pin-up.

27? on 3rd child? Not married!!! In, dare I say it....rented accommodation??! They'd be deporting me to my homelands if they had their way

TwinSetAndPearls · 08/07/2005 19:26

Wigwambam sadly many childen do not have such childhoods their creativity is limited to a new level on a playstaion game or playing I spy while waiting for mum and dad to come out of the bookies/pub/pawn shop/ all three!

Enid it may be normal for rural children to do such things but isn't a rural lifestyle becoming limited to those that can afford it or have had their house for ages. Dp and I have been trying to relocate to our rural idyll for ages, we have now given up and are looking to emigrate as it seems the only way we can afford our own version of the "good life".

I wonder as well how our tendency to schedule children whether it may be from after school club to childminder or in my own case from dance class to gymnastics tonature club to yet another playgroup limits their oppurtunities for such creative experiences.

WigWamBam · 08/07/2005 19:34

TSAP, I was referring more to the comments that some people have made about parents doing these things out of guilt, and that things like planting vegetables are odd. It's a shame that it's perceived to be weird to do such child-friendly, interesting and exciting things.

Hulababy · 08/07/2005 19:47

I did all but 1 of these as a child and was brought up in the middle of a town, not remotely rural or middle class or anything. It was just how childhood was.

TwinSetAndPearls · 08/07/2005 20:13

Looking at the list I would say that as a child I did 12 as a child and I think 10 of those I did while playing out on my own for hours at a time with no parental supervsion. WE just don't let kids do that for a variety of reasons.

WE are also obsessed with pushing kids in their cognitive intellectual abilities so neglecting their creative side. I watched a programme recently about a child "genius" who had a play room filled with number charts, maps and books yet never had time for "play" and hence had no imagination. The parents were only concerened when told that her intellectual ability could be hampered without an imagination. It therefore wouldn't surprise me if many parents had cut out this list and was ticking them off one by one in their bid to create a superchild.

Enid · 08/07/2005 20:34

er, twinset there are actually rural kids who are born and bred down here and, shock horror, some of them are actually poor.

We aren't all London refugees you know

mandyc66 · 08/07/2005 20:36

its not before 10 in the morning then!!! lol

gossifer · 08/07/2005 20:36

why do you have to be under 10? can't we still do them when we're 32???

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