The Forty Fourth Republic - primaries sort of in, secondaries out, Gormless Gav says two weeks notice

[Staffdontblowitnow]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders, and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Do not give the staffroom password just in case it attracts the wrong sort

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

If you come with a stick to goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom and you will receive a detention

Oh no poor Captain (sir?) Moore!

No1 and 3 children only ever slept for 45 minutes at a stretch day or night - night had to be touching me, day had to be in a sling with me moving.... They also both had cow's milk intolerance and would vomit if you put them horizontal after feeding - so both lived in the slings until they were walking at 10 months... Then sling to nap or for long walks. My DH did not get how desperate I felt - so sleep deprived and touched out I thought I was losing my mind. Big sympathy and empathy for anyone going through that stage in lockdown. Or at all actually!
Middle child has been pretty "normal". Would be put down for naps. Didn't scream in the car. Made friends very young and would happily play on her own or with others. Iron will though

Sad about Sir Tom obviously. Only good thing might be that it would show the right wing/deniers/ " 'E hasn't let all this fuss get to 'im, went through the War didn't 'e, no messin' with him, no shutting 'imself away..." types that everyone is vulnerable.....

lived in the slings until they were walking at 10 months... Then sling to nap or for long walks. My DH did not get how desperate I felt - so sleep deprived and touched out I thought I was losing my mind

I was the same - that's why she's an only one. Literally carried her until she was walking (which was also young at 10 months), but then carried her for walks/parts of walks until she was 3. I've got a permanently fucked up shoulder from it all. She still doesn't bloody sleep - sleeps in 90 minute cycles, wandering around in between - she's 6 and a half. Scream.

Sounds familiar, Rule.

My ds (20) is an only in part because he didn't sleep for more than an hour at a time until he was 6. He is autistic.

I'm in full on toddler and pre schooler mode here 1yo and 4yo. Husband and I both agreed that lockdown would have been far better 5 years ago! The weekends are a respite from the working week but hard in a different way.
(I'm not really looking forward to half term. A week of trying to entertain them both won't be fun).

@RandomGrammarPun yes DS2 went on melatonin at 9. We were lucky with him that he mostly slept though as we kept his bedtime routine the same every day since he was a baby (but that meant literally no deviations eg going away/nights out/babysitters... for years I would get him to sleep and then go out to meet friends for dinner and I'd get there and they'd finished their food). We deviated once and it ended up DH had to sleep next to him for 3 years.

He is autistic.

Yes, that has crossed my mind. Not many other signs so far, but girl.. so you know.

I'm not really looking forward to half term.

It'll be me on my own too, because partner will take the chance to just work uninterrupted. Can I take her swimming at my parents if their pool in not attached to their house? 40 mins away?

I use melatonin. Confession: when my dog was a manic puppy who would not settle at night I used to give him some. I drugged my dog. I also once drugged my son on a plane so I could get some sleep. There is a place in hell for me I'm sure.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot, I would say yes.

I did not know all of these non napping children existed.

In my group of friends there are a mix of crap and non crap sleepers, but all ‘normal’ nappers. From five weeks old DD would only nap in a covered buggy with loud white noise playing. She existed on 3 x half hour naps a day until she was about four months, then 2 x half an hour until about eight months and then 1 x half an hour until 20 months. Nursery were astounded when she started, said they didn’t know where she got the energy from.

On the plus side, she’s a bloody good night sleeper and has only ever woken up for milk and then straight back to sleep again. She does sleepwalk though, which DP is convinced means that she can’t be moved into a bed until she’s about 8 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyone finding themselves sinking at the moment? I'm a total pit of anxiety and stress. I have chest pain (anxiety) and am teary and feel on edge a lot.

Very jittery and looking for mad solutions/projects to make me feel better. Like moving house, getting a dog and other crazy things.

I feel like I'm going mad.

Anyone finding themselves sinking at the moment?

Definitely struggling to juggle everything. 5 hours today spent on preparing for next week alone and I’m still not done.
#solidarity

@GuyFawkesDay yes me... recently started beta blockers and citalopram (again). Huge health anxiety alongside peri menopausal anxiety. No motivation at all. Just want to run away with DH and DSs and live in a remote farmhouse with a roaring fire and a loyal dog.

Monkeytennis - melatonin was something we were looking into for ds but he seemed to turn a corner at some point. It turns out that he's never been able to sleep - he still just lies awake all night - but he stopped getting up/playing up at about 8/9 ish. Feel like we maybe let him down as his behaviour had calmed down and we thought he was sleeping through.

I have moments Fawkes and I'm not even a teacher.

I do think we're all going to look back at this and realise how stressed we all were for a whole year (perhaps quite a bit longer, reading the news today, but let's not contemplate that one now).

I'm feeling better at this minute because I have walked, rang an old friend and my DS appears to have stopped arguing over what time the internet gets blocked. This may only last a couple of hours however.

Definitely struggling here, GuyFawkes.

I've ordered some of the supplements mentioned upthread as am definitely getting a reputation at school as the crazy person who bursts into tears most days. I know I'm peri or even menopausal so taking supplements is a step I can try.

Do have supportive others in yr house Fawkes? 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Yes, struggling a bit more here now. I’m bored of being relentlessly positive and ‘looking on the bright side’ to keep everyone’s spirits up. I’m accepting I don’t actually feel like that and miss all the things we should have been doing. We haven’t been ill and nor has the wider family. But life has still been rubbish, despite some good things.
I took to my bed this afternoon (finished a book) as I thought I was feeling ill. Probably wasn’t, just needed quiet time!

Both my DC are expressing anxiety in different ways too, so always carrying that is hard. And DH is ‘front line’, more so than me.

GuyFawkes yes, definitely. I find myself dreading going into work tomorrow, whilst at the same time feeling glad that this boring weekend is over. to you

for all who need them. I'm trying to keep the Sunday night anxiety at bay. I've managed quite a chilled weekend, all things considered, but I'm feeling jittery as I haven't done enough work really.

Tomorrow is all sorted and recorded lessons are up and ready to go for the (minority of) children in my class who are remote learning. The KW group is getting bigger every week - my HT doesn't seem to know the word 'No' and just keeps telling us that there are no official limits on numbers. Helpful.

LFT was negative though, so hopefully I'm still dodging Covid.

Yes, husband is supportive, but I have some fundamental issues I need sorting
One is departmental/job related but others I'm not sure about. There's a couple of big issues I want to address which are adding to the stress, which I think are exacerbated by lockdown. I'm finding DH more and more irritating and like his father......

It's all a bit shit. My average heart rate is up 10bpm from 6 months ago so that's a sure sign I'm stressed.

Tomorrow I've got lessons ready so I'm getting out for a walk asap with my headphones and a relaxation something on it. Long bath tonight and some calm app.

💐💐💐 to all who need them from me, too.
Take care of yourselves.

My self-care technique is to look at the sky each morning and remind myself it's getting lighter, earlier each day.

The KW group is getting bigger every week - my HT doesn't seem to know the word 'No' and just keeps telling us that there are no official limits on numbers. Helpful.

Yes same here. It’s so wrong , will make little difference when schools do reopen to everyone.

Be careful walking in headphones. Actually as soon as I wrote that I I realised you might be in the other hemisphere? I had visions of the pitch black I've just come in from and was scared to think of you walking in headphones in that.

Aiming for an early night tonight. I managed a fast day today but the longer I stay awake the more likely I am to get munchy. Late start tomorrow for me so no real stress other than trying to get ds up and into the shower and off to school.