June 07 - you really would think we would have better things to do than chat on here all day...

[RiallyEeRiaee]

New thread.

this is the only link I could find Holly.

Bless your DS Holly. they are funny things. DD2 does say 'uh-oh' then drops her weetabix on the floor the bugger knows exactly what she's doing.

That's awful about DPs son, but what can he do without feeling awful about it. Its a real no-win isn't it?

you scared me foxy!

I am hoping my own teenagers will be easier

why aren't I geting any better at this silly fecking word game?

mine will be in a saturday job as soon as it's legal.....teach them the value of money....never did me any harm......mutter mutter gripe gripe

I definately think kids have too much these days; just look at the things that you can buy them....we never had effing climbing frames or fuck off trampolines in our back gardens, or Wiis, PS2s, computers etc.. We were lucky to get some snakes and ladders and a selection box at Christmas, and one "big" thing like a tape player or something.

I was a nice teenager, so hopefully my dcs will be too [hopeful emoticon]. I say I was nice, I was nice to my parents and they thought I was good. Really I was quite bad, but they never found out! I am a sly bitch!

I like that foxy! Say uh-oh and then do bad stuff!

I don't know what he can do about his son. We are so far away that it's not really possible for him to physically do anything. Dp puts a lot of emphasis on education and getting a good job, but his exw doesn't. She is obviously more of an influence on him, so I guess he is going to take a leaf out of her book and sit on his arse for the rest of his life! If that happens dp will wash his hands of him. He won't help him if he doesn't help himself.

is that the wordplay thing Ria......I got one decent score and haven't been able to even get close to it since. A good memory is vital as the same letters come round time and again....which is why I'm most shite at it. Jammy is the undisputed queen though!!

I have rediscovered scrabble on FB.

I had a job as soon as I finished my GCSEs and was in work from then until going on mat leave with dd. I worked through my A-Levels and the bit of uni that I did. I hated having hand outs from my parents, it felt wrong. I liked having my own money that I had earnt myself.

We only had sweets once a week. On a friday my dad would bring us a packet of chocolate buttons or a curly wurly home from work with him!

holly, it must be really difficult for DP watching this and not being able to do anything about it or anything influential at the least. Hopefully tis a teenage phase and he will grow out of it?

Another vote here for not looking forward to teenagers!

Feeling a little better, but still croaky and coughing and sneezing and everything. Had loads of people tell me today how bad I sounded - they really looked surprised when I told them I was a lot better!

The thing this afternoon was good. They want parents and other interested parties to volunteer to get involved at the childrens centre. In return for volunteering you get involved with decisions etc and get experience and training, which may of course be useful for work and stuff.

I started working in a pet shop on a saturday when i was 16, and was there till uni, then had a part time job all through uni, and even worked three jobs at one point as my first graduate job payed peanuts.

I've had two stints of being out of work, and then the two years I had off when DS was a baby.

I hate not having my own money as well. hopefully I'll get something part time when my maternity leave is finished and DH is here to take over in the evenings and at weekends.

Glad it went well jammy and glad you are a bit better. Hope you can get a bit of rest over the weekend and shake it off completely.

Hope it is just a teenage phase. My sis was a bit of a bolshy teen, but now she is a town planner with a degree and a masters, so there is some hope for him.

I did door to door sales when I was 15, I worked part time in a local shop through 6th form, I worked in a chip shop between end of 6th for and going to uni. I didn't really work during uni other than one summer vacation, and I did sign on and claim for the few weeks between finishing uni and starting my masters degree. But since finishing that I've been in work, or recently on ML of course. I was a nice teenager I think.

glad you are feeling better jammy. Can DH take over with the jamlet this weekend and give you a chance to rest and recuperate?

DD is very unsettled again tonight. We have given her some calpol as I think it's her eye teeth coming in. something has broken through but it's the teeniest tiniest point only.

I was "talking" to Dr Tanya today on the kids and TV focus group. Was really good, and she answered one of my questions, addressing me directly. I felt strangely pleased

Yep, I worked as soon as I could get a job. Supasnaps in the holidays, then Benetton every saturday - which I paid for my driving lessons. Worked all through Uni, Sainsburys staff cafe on Saturdays, beers, wines and spirits on Thursday evenings. Bar jobs. I had to work through Uni - my grant cheque would get used up on hair extensions or ale

My folks never gave me 'owt. No hand-outs or 'big' pressies. Oh no, it was made very clear we stood on our own two feet and left home at 18

Oh Daisy! Where was that then? What was your question?

I was a truly horrible teenager, I think partly because of the massive age gap between me and my older sisters. I wanted to be doing all the stuff they were doing. I got a job in the village tea rooms when I was 14, worked there weekends and holidays until the summer of my GCSES when I had a boyfried and drink to consider. I started work in a typesetters straight after my GCSEs and worked there (and did my alevel at night school) until I married DH when I had my first major depressive episode and left after 10 weeks sick, we moved and I got another tearoom job until mat leave with DS1. Have had series of crappy P/T jobs since then, my favourite being the most recent stint in a mailing factory when DH had his last op.

I do think christmas was better in the old days , but I love christmas shopping! (not that my christmas shopping is the same as the Beckhams for example)

Did any of us sit on our arses and take everything for granted? NO! so there you go. we were better than the youth of today Wonder if they still drink Thunderbird or Snakebite and Black, or have they moved onto more sophisticated drinks?

I need to go to bed. COuldn't sleep last night waiting for DP to get in.

it was on here. There was a survey a few eeks ago about kids and tv and 25 who completed it were chosen for a focus group. we had to discuss various aspects of kids and TV on five threads and then it culminated in a webchat with Dr Tanya who is part of a team producing some guidelines for safe/appropriate media exposure for our DCs. I'll get £25 amazon vouchers for my troubles. Fairy was in there too, but she wasn't on the live chat today I don't think.

I was asking about DSs overly aggressive reaction to the TV being switched off and whether it was just his age/sex or something to be worried about. She reassured me that it was indeed normal! The answer is bin the TV!

they drink bacardi breezers now...

DH is watching Jonathon Ross, think I'll go too. night all. x

I do think (many) young people today do get too much too soon and expect to be given everything on a plate. I used to work with a girl (I was 30 she was 21) who within the first year of her job had loads of time off sick, up to the limit of paid sick leave the employer was contractually obliged to pay within the first year. Then when she had to have a few weeks off (still within the first year of employment) she had a knee operation (which was non-urgent) they said she wasn't entitled to any more sick pay so would only get statutory sick pay she was outraged. "How can they do this to me? It's outrageous! What if I had a mortgage to pay (she lived with her parents) how would I survive? There must be something the government can do?" I explained that if you take a mortgage you have to make decisions about whether or not to pay for a policy to cover you for sick leave, and that it's aprt of being a grown up that you have to work things out. She wasn't very impressed when I said that at the end of the day her parents were unlikely to throw her out if she couldn't pay them her rent for a few weeks and if she'd just had a knee op she could hardly go out clubbing every night so what did she need much money for anyway as a short term measure? Was i too harsh?

Wow sorry for that rant

rant on jammy; i'd have done the same!

Thanks Daisy! ANyway I'm off to bed. My voice has gone even more ridiculous which probably means I've had enough for today. DH is meant to be taking jamlet to "Dads Zone" tomorrow, so I should get a couple of hours break Whether he will or not remains to be seen however Then we are all going to a party tomorrow evening and on Sunday my brother and his GF are coming over and we are going for lunch and to the local arboretum, so should be a lovely weekend.

Hope everyone else has some nice stuff planned for the weekend and good night all.