Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen : German Corner 3 - life goes on

[SSSandy2]

Other thread was getting a bit full. Alles wie gehabt :
"Deutsch or English
Native speakers, expats, anyone
From Brezeln to Bier

Please don't ask if you join in, everyone is welcome "

I don't think that I would want to teach in schools here in Germany either. I did some classes at home with preschool children, the parents are really keen on that at the moment. I think that the kids are really eager to learn at that age, as they are not in school so it is good fun. I really enjoyed it, although I would prefer to do it outwith the house and I did nto like getting my house invaded 3x a week.

Yes, you can put toys in the freezer to de-nit them.

Hupa,
We have that here too, kids being kept home if there is a bug going about. Is it just my frieds or are Germans a bit hypochondriac sometimes?

Well, the Untersuchung went ok. The Drs were a bit concerned about his German, he does not say SCH or K right, so it is a 'warzer 'ater instead of a Schwarzer Kater. And he gets his der/die/das muddled, but then so do I

The Drs said that I should go to Logopädie, SALT when we get to CH, ASAP. No bloody way. He has to learn French first. And I did the SALT thing with DD, it was useless. Why do they not just accept that he is a bit behind in his speech development because he is BILINGUAL?

There is no way I am stressing myself and him rushign to get a SALT when we move. If I feel that he needs in in the spring, then I will make a move but certainly not before.

ds may be borderline special needs

I have been in tears this morning as mil

said I should not be talking to the teachers and says I should not be going in with him

I was a nursery school teacher

and feel so bullied by mil and am so unsure of myself now

ps sorry have been on your thread for ages and

hope everyone is well

Dd had some problems when she was smaller with both languages - she would say tofa instead of sofa and I can#t remember what it was in German but she didn't speak alot in public anyway so it went unnoticed and she stopped doing it eventually.

Ernest, from someone who put their dd in to primary school a year early - don't do it! My dd was so bored in the mixed age group she was in at Kindergarten. She played with the girls who were a year older and wanted to leave when they left so we got her into school as a Kann Kind and the first year was great but it slowly caught up on us when she had to keep up with girls and boys nearly 2 years older than her, because of course the class was made up of dc who had started at the normal age and a few who had been kept back as long as possible.

Germany keeps trying to reform the school system but without thinking logically they just seem to dive in at the deep end without learning to swim first! When they decided to allow younger dc to start school I think they should have created a sort of reception year like in UK and not just throw them all in one pot with the older muss kinder. Teachers were often against it, the same as alot of them are against the schnell-abi that has been introduced. Exactly the same problem when they (the politicians I presume) decided Ganztagsschule is the thing to go for. Trouble is most schools aren't equipped with canteens, no kitchens and badly qualified staff take over the afternoon activities where in a lot of cases the dc are just watched over but left to entertain themselves. Anyway this is all on the wrong thread eh, we must revive the school thread as I need to let it all out and want to know how everyone's dc are doing this term!

Lets revive this to get support, advice and talk about the good and bad things in German schooling.

Cinders that sounds awful. I always thought it must be so nice to have PIL nearby to help out but your mil doesn't seem to be doing much to reassure you

exactly!

Cinders
Did I understand right? Your DS is having problems settling in Kindergarten and MIL thinks you should not mollycoddle him, you should just dump him and leave?

What do the kindergarten teachers say? Is he very upset?

They do suggest that we don't linger when the DCs are upset in our Kita, it often just makes the whole thing go on longer and upsets the DCs more. I normally go (with tears in my eyes)and then phone the kita an hour later to see if he has settled.

And tell MIL to bug out, he is your DC, not hers. She has had her turn. Is she German?

Ar you having an Abschiedsfest for the dc mmelindt or is that all over and done with already?

Ernest, you are doing your dc a big favour by letting them visit their friends again. I did this once after we move dto Berlin. I took them back about 3 or 4 months later and ds met up with his best friend, went and said hi to his old teacher and dd played with her friend where we stayed - it was great for them. If it wasn't for that I would never have gone back as I didn't like it there. Hope you have a nice time and the dc will remember the trip for ages.

Oops I think you were talking about going to see the boys friends on your other thread maybe! Oh well, you know what I'm on about atleast.

at Cinders MIL. Deep breath, chin out, "You have your opinion but he's my child and I'll do what I think is best." Repeat several hundred times, worked with mine, eventually.

Back from pharmacy with Nydal, nit comb and bad conscience at having sent d to school. Hadn't realised the lice bite in the neck and apart from the one mosq bite, I'm sure from reading on t' web that they're lice bites. Groan.

Our pharmacy is great, if they haven't got something they order it, comes within hours and the pharmacist going home for lunch or a woman who drives past my house on her way home will drop it off in your postbox. Downside in small village is everyone hears what you have. 3 of my old lady network just told me not to bother with Nydal or chemicals and just send d outside & the fresh air will kill the lice, lol. Mind you, not so funny when half a dozen mums from school know all about your bladder infection and ensuing thrush from the antibiotics

Found school letter and d won't be allowed back without the Attest from doc... This is because so many parents send the children back fully-loused & infected with every bug. Agree about hypochondria but doesn't extend to schooling here. V pushy parents.

MmeL, s2 and d had that "sch" thing, most common with monolingual German children and of course bilinguals as mouth sets patterns to form diff sounds. With s2 the paed said to just practise with him and make him speak more slowly. With d, he said she'd benefit from the Logopaedie as her German was so much weaker than her English. The "sch" was resolved after 3 sessions so we looked upon it as extra German tuition, it was only down the road, helped with der/die/das a little, gave her more confidence, it was all play to her & the Logo woman was happy enough to do it though we both knew it was a bit of a cheat. She said d had problems because she's bilingual so it was justifiable.

Skipping over to start a new schools thread with shiny new pencils...

thank you for your support

chin is stuck out

key to garden gate is removed

ds is being disruptive think he is striving for attention and is acting up

the kindergarten teacher suggested play therapy and is happy to try and settle him in she wants to talk to me,

i am gutted by mil she has her priorties and her views and we are too diffferent

till later

cIc, sorry also to hear about mil probs - how dooes your dh view your son's problems? Can he not have a word?

ML, my dss had Logopädie in CH, and it was just done during school time, the boys enjoyed it, maybe it won't be a pain for you? 1 also had speech therapy, again during school time, &he loved going.

FN - small villages are great aren't they ?

Must get packing.

Ernest
Ooh, that would be great if the school would offer the logopädie. We had a bad experience with DD so that is why we are reluctant.

new school thread

Ernest, tbh, I like it, far more advantages than disadvantages. Wouldn't like it as much if we lived on one of the new housing estates, too goldfish bowl ime. Everyone hears you out in the garden, couldn't prance around in my bikini. And every one hears if you have a row with your h or you shout at yr children! In the old bit most of our neighbours are deaf and the hedges too high for nosing.

What are you packing for?

D is combing s2's hair with the new nit comb looking for nits Completely unsure now, she has the red bites/spots but I can't see any sand-like bits and the leaflet which came with the comb said the lice would be about 3mm and the nits 0.3 by 0.8 mm so should see something? Don't regret getting the stuff though as d is as I type happily being checked by s2 and seems disappointed he can't find anything! So we're ready if we do get stricken.

Ernest, in reply to your earlier post, my pupils found me rather than me actively looking for work. One is a neighbour and her friend. I charge 15 Euros an hour for that one although we often go over one hour. Neighbour seemed to think that I could charge more. It's easy money though as basically we just chat - tis a good way for me to find out stuff too. Sometimes I look for a newspaper article and get them to discuss that and go over new words and phrases.

With the boy, his mother got my number from someone I know and asked me if I'd give him lessons once a week. She asked me what I charge and I took a deep breath and said 20 Euros fully expecting her to say that's too much, but she just said OK. People are well off round here so maybe it's not too much to ask for.

As far as Steuer is concerned it is all cash in hand at the moment but it's way under the 400 Euros limit anyway. If I start to do more than I will have to find out where I stand as I don't particularly want the Finanzamt on my back

Have you finished packing yet?

not sure whether it is the right thing to do but have kept ds home today, am so unsure of what to do

dh has spoken to mil who claims she was trying to reasure me ....strange attitude .

I want nothing to do with her
going to be very hard living next to her ..

on monday i need to talk to the kindergarten ...does anyone have any ideas

off to drink tons of coffee

wishing all a good day

Poor you, I would hate to live next door to mil. Has she always been like that?

Don't know what to suggest re KG. Sounds like they are prepared to try to help him. I suppose I'd try to find out exactly what they mean by play therapy and ask what you can do at home to support him. Has he just started there?

started a new thread here
This one is getting long. Am obviously in an everything new for the start of term/autumn mood. Wish it would apply to cleaning house/clearing garden

Cinders

How do you feel about the kindergarten? Are you pleased with it, do you feel that they are doing their best with your DS.

How do they react when he cries when you leave? Can they calm him down?

I don't know what to suggest either, I have seen cases like this in our kita and it is difficult to say what is the best way to proceed. With my DCs I had to leave them there, crying for me and shouting Mamamama as I left. It is one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do. I used to go home and cry. I would phone 1/2 later and they would tell me that the DC was ok, that they cried for a couple of mins then were fine.

I am not saying this is what you should do, it depends on the child. Some DCs don't calm down.

Did you have a breaking in period, just going in for an hour to begin with, staying with him. Gradually working up to a couple of hours and leaving him for short periods of time alone in the group.

A good kita will be able to offer a couple of options. Good luck for Monday.