What is one thing you didn't have as a kid, that you would like for your child.

[Beeblebear]

My husbands answer to this would be the name Luke Skywalker. Luckily I uaed my labour veto for this one.

Absolutely you can say an a la carte kitchen. Always fancied one myself. There are many people still feeling the deprivation of never having a mr frosty.

Social skills!

I had a very loving and materially comfortable childhood so would love to recreate that for my DC, but I was very socially naive, always doing things that other kids laughed at or found annoying. I'm not sure how to help my DC on this front though?

please could someone explain to me what a 'Mr Frosty' is?

www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&hl=en-gb&biw=320&bih=416&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=UvfoUbmTD8X80QXxl4D4BQ&q=mr+frosty+1980&oq=mr+frosty+1&gs_l=mobile-gws-serp.1.0.0l2.35455.36903.0.38928.6.6.0.0.0.1.608.2121.1j1j0j2j0j2.6.0....0...1c.1.21.mobile-gws-serp.6nBKcvoiPOg

The ice lolly moulds worked fine but the crunchy ice make your own slush puppy snowman himself was a bit pants. Every child wanted one in about 1982.

To grow up feeling safe and that they are allowed to speak to me, however long I have spent at the office

Attention. This is a sad thread isnt it but on a happier note I got my kids a Soda Stream and they thought it was crap, I would have LOVED one of those. Kids can be so ungrateful!

oooh I want one now!!!

Ingrates. We loved our soda stream. You could taste the gas in the water (am sure this will soon be revealed as carcinogenic).

I always wanted mr frosty too, and a kitchen, and a post office that folded up. Never got any. (In addition to the good childhood I mentioned on page 1)

I don't think it's sad, I think it makes people want to do more for there kids. Me and DH have gone into a work share scheme that pays out in five years. My dd is now 18 weeks, when it pays out we will be going on a once in a lifetime five day trip to find Santa in lap land.

Ill take her shopping and always listen to what she wants (she may not always get it, but ill listen and explain why) ill be proud even if she doesn't get top academic marks.

Ill tell her to reach for the stars as she can do anything that she wants.

Ill hug her lots and tell her everyday I love her.

A garden. I grew up in London with no garden.

There were certain toys that I wasn't allowed to have because "they were for boys" - a train set, a scooter and a skateboard spring to mind. There was a general feeling around that boys were more important than girls, which in my family came out as my brother having new things bought for him while most of mine were secondhand. DD is very unlikely to have a brother, and a lot of her things are and will continue to be secondhand, but I intend to bring her up knowing that she matters as much as any boy, and that she can play with what are traditionally boys' or girls' toys or both if she likes.

I would also like her to feel that she doesn't have to hide her real feelings from me all the time.

To feel good in their clothes

I had so few clothes, and my mum used to save up to buy something for us, and I often hated it but there was no choice.

There are so many clothes around now, though that I'm sure my dc will learn better dress sense than I have.

I only like jeans and jumper. In this weather I can cope with a simple dress. But I only feel good in a very limited set of clothes

Actually scratch that. I hope they never get a migraine or suffer from constant headaches.

More of my mum's attention. A father(figure). A sibling. More attention paid to my feelings.

Oh wait that wasn't one thing! Still those are the important ones for me.

I just laughed out loud at 'Mr Frosty'. I always wanted one of them.

High self-esteem from the start.
Vintage Fisher Price garage.

So far, so good.

Normal clothes and school gear so they fit in. I always had cheaper market versions of things and they were never quite "right" so I felt very self conscious. Like not having a proper, nice lunchbox like everyone else - I had an empty margarine tub

My mum said it didn't matter but it did.

I won't force my dd to wear a different style of school skirt to everyone else either. I had to wear a pleated skirt that came to the widest part of my calves so of course I hated it but couldn't have what everyone else had, "not with your legs". To this day I don't wear skirts.

With material things I think things sort of work in reverse though. Materially I had everything and made my dad drop me round the corner in the Jag because it was embarassing. My BF had fsm and was so ashamed I used to give her my dinner money and take her ticket. In those days, yep it was a special ticket that you handed in daily.

DD has a friend whose mum teaches but was left on her uppers by a bastard useless husband who underwrote their home and went bankrupt then left her and for a while they were in BnB. The girls are 15 now and in good social housing bit mum can only get 3.5 days a week but the dd is forever bemoaning her lack of named stuff and making her mum feel uber guilty. DD can have what she wants and is happy with a pair of pumps from Shoezone and worries constantly about the cost of whatever I buy for her.

Siblings close enough in age that they can experience life as peers. (I have a sister who is old enough to be my mother.)

I dearly hope, and have done my best to ensure, that they never end up as young carers.

To be sure that I'll be honest with them, and do my best for them.

Georgian mum of 5 I'm with you. High self esteem.

No arrogance, but self esteem.

Any ideas?

Fraxinus, I have high self esteem without (I hope and believe) being arrogant. My parents praised me often, but are very modest themselves so I was never encouraged to show off.

Tumble tumble.... They managed a delicate balancing act successfully then! It's hard to get it right, but I like the idea that being modest is key to building self esteem without arrogance.

A car that doesn't break down.
And roller boots!

Feeling normal. Decent self-esteem. 7/10, so could do better.