June 2013 - the terrible twos aren't so terrible

[Biscuitswithtea]

Here goes with a new thread!

Generally children in Scotland are 6 months older than English kids cos our cut off date for school is 1st March and in England its 1st September. My english mates were aghast when I admitted I wasn't aiming for a September baby.

I'm not bothering with council nursery cos of the headache of logistics. At ours you only get morning or afternoon sessions. Her nursery is in the same village as the school so half her buddies will be going to the same school anyway.

We've got the Scottish parliament elections this year and most of the manifestos are promising more free childcare. We also get free meals at primary school up to age 3 which will be a help.

I thought the free hours were being increased to 30 per week this year here, but I'm not sure as we don't qualify for the increased amount due to the amount of hours DH works.

Increased hours is from 2017 so won't help the big ones. You don't get it unless both are working and each earn less than 100k. Won't be an issue here! Same with tax free childcare- that will pay 20pc of fees per child in sept 2017. Beauty of that is you can use it for all childcare including school clubs etc.

Rae- this is going to be a massive downside of private school. They will assume you don't work and can drop everything to drop off and pick up, provide an iced tray bake on twenty mins notice and appear fabulous at the school gate.

Oh that's really sweet that she was protective. I was wondering what ratios would be. I'm sure they can sort it out themselves when it comes to taking toys etc (DD lets children take them then just looks sad). This girl was just intent on hurting others for the sake of it.

I think we'll just get 15hrs. The local primary school is a minute walk away and has a nursery attached so hopefully DD will get into that. I'm still worrying that she won't get into the school as it's very sought after; I spoke to someone in the park who told me they'd moved here just to get into it. But we'd have to be very unlucky for there to be that many children the same age with older siblings there (top priority). I'm worrying because I am often unlucky! There can't be many people closer than us (distance is 2nd priority). There was a baby boom here when DS was born (2hr waits for weigh-ins!) but if DD gets in then he should be ok. Apparently they like new starters to go to the afternoon sessions.

If you look on you local authority website it should be able to tell you key stats. So for example the school we want takes sixty. Last year there were 26 siblings. We are in the catchment and they only took children in that area, the furthest being 0.45 from the school. We are 0.27. We'd have to be bloody unlucky. There is no element of choice as everywhere is horribly oversubscribed. I look at all the kids walking past our front door and think well they must live further away!

I remember looking at the stats a year or so ago. But I can't find them now! I remember it stating number of successful appeals etc. We would have to be very unlucky not to get in so I should stop worrying.

Fingers are firmly covering eyes. They are not going to school, they are still babies and I don't want to think of them that grown up.

I'll stick with the whys and night waking and firmly in denial.

But, we are lucky to have some very good local schools very close by. First choice will be the school 2 mins away my old primary school and my dads and probably my Grans too but there are several others all within walking distance that would be fine.
She's down for the schools nursery from sept this year - although the nursery she is at will do up to school age and they have a much better outside usage, I think she'd do well being 'at school'. We occasionally go to a playgroup there now.

But it is not happening yet. Lalalaalalalalala

I'm really not aware of these school issues where we are. Everyone I know just gets the school they live nearest unless they are super fussy and want to go elsewhere. We've got a lovely village school - I've not actually bothered looking at its rating but everyone tells me its had outstanding reviews and that its great.

I think in Scotland that's what happens, Sunny, having read some school threads!

I'm glad DD will have been at preschool for 2 years before she goes to school proper...though the increase in hours may be a surprise!

Opposite issue here. Used to 8-6 minimum and suddenly 9-3. And they do 2 hour days for the first two weeks to help them settle. Bugger that!

Same here, Sunny! We get the free hours as from August when the school nursery starts after the holidays.
Bean, we don't have a Reception year in Scotland. Kids start P1 when they are 5 or 4.5 (depending on birthday - the cut off is 1 March), but prior to that they have 2 years of school nursery from age 3. So I guess the second year of nursery is like Reception? We have 7 years of Primary then 5 or 6 years of Secondary school, depending on choice and/or achievements.

Hungry - yes he is (but only cause his grandfather is coughing up for it!) - he's been unexpectedly offered a place at this school previously mentioned and they start them as of Sept this year which I think is like pre-primary or something. Anyway, the year before reception. It's hard as his current nursery, although annoying with the hours they offer, is so brilliant, but if we don't take the place he's been offered (which we have already coughed up £2500 to secure) then he's not guaranteed a place there next year for Reception.

It's all a palaver and nothing makes me want to return home to Australia more than the whole stupid schools issue here in London. Firstly he'd be nowhere near a school yet and secondly there's much more choice and the local schools, wherever you are, are fairly much all great and there's none of the politicised stuff that exists here in the Uk about state VS private. I just can't get my head around it. Don't start me on the weird school year you have! A May birthday in Aus is a good thing, but here not so much. I've been here 15yrs and I still don't really understand it.

I do feel vomitous at the though J will be having to sit exams at aged 7. I might have to make a final decision about Aus before then. I am not sure I can face it. Ridiculous.

Anyone else's 2.5yr old still having afternoon naps? J is. And long ones. I'm starting to worry if it's normal!

Rae I have the perfect solution for you - move to Scotland! Seriously none of those things you list are recognisable to me.

Lil is still a major afternoon napper. I leAve her for 2 hours - generally she thumps around for the first half hour or so then sleeps v heavily for the rest. She also sleeps well at night so I'm not going to change anything especially since those naps will come in handy once #2 comes along.

Sunny Scotland is my favourite of the British isles.....and Orkney my favourite place! Maybe a stay on Hoy beckons.

Am reassured to hear that about Lil. Joe can also do 2-3hrs most afternoons, especially after a morning at nursery. And still goes to bed at 730, drops off at 8 and wakes up around 7am next day.

I must go make sacrifices at the alter of the God of Good Sleepers. I owe them.

I'll say you do Rae ;) I feel no need to make sacrifices at that particular altar. DS still naps - generally for an hr or so. He is usually asleep by 7.30ish but frequently awake before 6am. And he STILL wakes at night. Now that he's in a bed, he just toddles through and climbs in with us. We have no energy to battle with this at the mo. It will pass but by god it's tiring!

2-3 hrs is the average here, though Christmas mucked everything up a bit.

Something weird has happened for the past month or two. DD is still asleep by 7pm but she now wakes up later at around 8am on average (8.30 today!). I would say it is the darker mornings but her blackout curtains are quite effective so it's always pretty much pitch black in there. We'll probably be struggling to wake them at a reasonable hour before long!

Biscuits I do worry the same will happen once J get his 'big boy' bed, which arrives in about 4 weeks from the manufacturer. Am rather hoping the fact it has an exciting ladder and we will make him a reading cubbyhouse type setup underneath means he'll just camp out in his room till the GloClock turns yellow.

Fingers crossed!

Fingers crossed indeed. DS will move from his tiny room to a big room in a few months. We may just put him in a normal single bed then. I think he likes the space that he somehow gets in our bed so a bigger bed for him may help. But I also think he gets lonely sometimes. He falls asleep in our bed hugging my arm. Which is sweet and I know he won't do that forever but still...

It's hard isn't it, navigating the small and cute and time-limited stuff that you know you'll miss once it's gone, against what will be easier/better and all that....

There is no way DD will stay in bed once we convert the cotbed.

Do they have to be completely toilet trained by the time they go to (a school attached) nursery at 3?

Surely not cup. It's not unusual for a not long turned 3yo to still be in nappies. I appreciate that plenty will be out of nappies by then but I doubt it can be taken as a given.

However I'm glad ds won't be having to change nursery patterns this August. If all goes to plan then dc#2 will arrive in August.
Not sure I want to blow ds's mind out of the water more than is necessary that month!!

On one of my other groups someone has a two year old (nearly three) who will be around 3 years 2 months when they go to 'pre-school' and they've been told they'll need to be toilet trained. I wasn't sure if that was the standard requirement.

I'm still not keen on her starting that early; mainly because it limits when I can visit my family (at the moment if DH is working nearby we can all go, etc). And half terms here are different to half terms there which limits when DD can play with her cousins.

DD doesn't really nap. She might have an occasional 10 minute power nap, but any longer and that's bedtime totally buggered up (10pm last Sunday!).

I think DH would like it if she napped as he'd get a proper break in the middle of the day. As it is, it's just DS napping!

She's been in a single bed since her second birthday, give or take. And she doesn't roam round at all, thankfully. She's never slept in with us as she hasn't wanted to. DS does and it's too sweet when he holds my hand or leans his little feet against me. Love it! (When it's not interrupting my sleep!)

Apparently Ofsted don't approve of preschools etc who say that children have to be potty trained (there was a long thread in here recently).

DD's preschool are fine with them needing changing. Thank god!

Ours rarely nap at the same time. Oh for a break!

Aww that's sweet hungry. DS is still in the bedside crib at nearly 8 months (it's massive!) and I'm happy for him to stay there for the time being. First I said we'd move him a month after he started weaning, then we moved it to after Christmas (we used his room to hide presents!). I love having him there!

Oh that's interesting (and good, just in case), hungry. I missed that thread - thanks.