Posted by: thebabywebsite on: February 9, 2010
I was told today I was a bit of a Victoria Meldrew and it’s got to be said that I’m finding more and more things irritate me at the moment. Now today’s gripes could be because I have the mother of all headaches or it could simply be that I’m an excessively intolerant person. Whatever, reading the Telegraph over breakfast or watching the TV News leads to much huffing, puffing and eye-rolling nowadays…..
Let me tell you why I’m in a nark today…. Last week the nation was sitting on a fertility timebomb. Women are leaving it till later and later to have children and generally have only have 12% of their eggs available after 30. Understandably or stupidly (depending on your viewpoint), some of these ‘older women’ have become lax about contraception and now the over 40s bracket has an abortion rate in excess of the Under 16’s group. And then today these positively ancient women are told that there’s a 50% chance that their child will be autistic if they have a baby after 40. But as there’s only a x% possibility that they might even fall pregnant then the odds are that blahdeblahdeblah……And if they do have babies these ‘geriatric’ mothers are more likely to breastfeed though so that’s ok then…….
We used to read stuff in the paper and it would generally have some credence for a while at least. Now we read articles and wonder simultaneously what the next day’s take on the subject will be. . What holds true today, certainly won’t tomorrow.
Although, bananas will always be better for you than Kit Kats, Mr. Brown!
Kathryn
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: January 29, 2010
A lot of awww and a few eeewww moments in this video. Amazing to see how calm the mother is and how instinctively she reacts. They certainly don’t believe in calm serenity and all that stuff after the birth. Give the baby a few kicks, yell at it and….. awwww http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/656611/d1dfcfee/
We humans don’t seem to do the primal thing with the same panache do we?
http://www.thebabywebsite.com/section.Water_Birth.htm
Kathryn
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: January 27, 2010
I was going to start this Blog with ….. ‘I’m not narrow-minded but….’ when it struck me that people only really say that when perhaps they are being a little less accepting than they should be. We were putting this story on the site today about the American ‘man’ who is about to give birth and I was thinking, you couldn’t make it up, you really couldn’t.
Scott, who used to be Jessica, meets his soul-mate Thomas, who used to be Laura. Thomas is now ‘all-man’ but due to lack of funds Scott has so far, only lost his 36DDs! Fortunately for the couple, who are actually legally married as Scott is still a female for official purposes too, this means that he/she has retained her reproductive system. So Scott, who is step-dad to Thomas’ other children, will be Mum to the new baby. Or at least officially he will be Mum anyway. That sounds so wrong on so many levels, doesn’t it?
The transgender couple, who could have come straight out of a Matt Lucas sketch, apparently had trouble getting a midwife to take them on. Scott’s comments say it all….. ‘No pregnant person should be denied healthcare just because they are a man..’.
Should they??
Kathryn
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: January 11, 2010
So, yet again Gina Ford hits the headlines, due to comments from yet another person who fails to understand the merits of her methods. Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats described her books as “absolute nonsense“. Human beings are, by default, unique. There is no absolute right and wrong when it comes to what is best for an offspring.
One of the problems which I think accentuates the whole Gina Ford thing is the fact that she is not a Mother. OK, being male, I’m not a mother either, but I can hand on heart say that I played a very big hands-on part in the bringing up of my children and can fully understand the difference between following a prescriptive parenting-by-numbers approach and an adaptive, evolving approach which focuses on the child, not the parent. Parents are being terribly underestimated by Ms Ford. Irrespective of demographic or intelligence, education or religion, there is one thing that every parent will empathise with and that is the loving bond that brings parent and child together and fuels a much deeper understanding than any author can do, let alone one who has no children of her own.
Of course many parents have a hard time with their children. Days on end of continuous crying and tantrums, loss of sleep and frayed patience is all part of bringing up a baby. I would be very surprised to find any parent who at some point did not get angry or frustrated by not being able to console their child. However, anyone who would think that by simply following a book on the subject everything would be magically better is surely mistaken. Parents learn from their children and likewise children learn from their parents’ actions. When looked at very simply, all that baby is trying to do is communicate with its parent in the only way it knows, by crying. As in any relationship, be it personal or business, communication – 2-way communication at that – is the key! If you do everything by the book, are you not taking away much of that ‘2-way’ part and making it unidirectional?
If every author were to fight so viciously every time a comment was aired, questioning or dismissing their views, the world would be a very bitter and nasty place to be. Another parenting website was famously challenged by Ms Ford back in 2006 when members of their forum made their own comments on her teachings. An out-of court settlement was made to quell her claims of defamation. She was equally vehement then that her views were the only valid way of bringing up a baby and she caused a great deal of anger and resentment. Does she subconsciously have the same approach to her innocent baby subjects we wonder? Shut up – or I’ll shut you up, like I do my critics!
N.
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: January 7, 2010
Am I being an over-protective mother here or am I justified in being narked as hell with Wetherspoons…..?
Here’s the story – DD2 is on a Gap Year and working her socks off to get enough money to go travelling Down Under soonish. She’s working in a local Lloyds/Wetherspoons and works incredibly long hours. The problem is if she does the late shift, say 6pm to close (which can be after 5am!!) and the weather is snowy and icy like it is now, she has to get a taxi home. Well obviously she’s on the minimum wage and needs to work more than 3 hours just to pay to get home! This applies to all members of staff and not just her.
20 plus years ago I worked in a hotel and if any member of staff, particularly a young female, had to work past the time that buses/trains stopped, we always paid for their taxi home on the hotel account. Staff’s personal safety mattered to us!
Surely Wetherspoons could be doing this too?
And now that I’m on a roll – food and drink! When these young people on the minimum wage are working, they are not entitled to any allowance towards food/drink even if they work a 13 hour shift! The pub our daughter works in has a big kitchen and does food all day/night, yet can’t even spare a sarnie for their employees or a glass of coke. How much would that cost them for goodness sake?!
Sheer exploitation if you ask me!
Wetherspoons should pay for transport home if employees work beyond the times the buses/trains travel. They should be aware of their female staff’s personal safety. They should provide a small allowance towards meals/drink when their staff are working. If a company is paying people less than £6 an hour, it’s the least they can do. No?
K
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: January 4, 2010
Oh well, I suppose that’s it for another year. My first day back in the office today has made me realise just how important the last few days off have been to us. Our office door was slammed shut on the 30th and we took off to seek refuge in what proved to be the warmest and brightest part of Britain. Having spent a few days there last year we said then that we’d love to return, so teeth firmly grasping the proverbial bullet we booked the New Year holiday at The Penthouse at Packet Quay in Falmouth. In an imposing location overlooking Falmouth Harbour, just opposite the picturesque village of Flushing, it was just the spot to forget all about the daily routines and work commitments and just switch off to enjoy the peace, quiet and luxury it afforded us.
We weren’t disappointed either. The weather remained sunny and dry, if a little cold, but by far the best part of the break was just taking in the slower pace of life in a Cornish town: a pint in a pub here, dinner at a quaint seafood restaurant there, a walk along the front at Gyllingvase beach, a latte in a warm coffee-shop before settling down to a good read once dusk approached. Everything seemed to spell ‘relax’.
If only the rest of the world were the same, life would be so much nicer. Today we read of all the toil and trouble in the world and how full body scans are to be carried out at UK airports. More snow is on the way to continue the gridlock in certain areas of the country. The conservatives have kicked off their election campaign in what must be the most clichéd, pathetic way imaginable. Let’s capitalise on the recent victory at the Battle of the Biscuits, where the groundbreaking decision about whether to disclose your taste in biscuits could make or break the nation. Smug from his recent acquisition of all those ‘Mummy Friends’ in the aforementioned battle with Gord the Dour, Dashing Dave has predictably dug up something Mummy-Friendly and guess what! Options for when and where and how to give birth – only in England though, I hasten to add! My God, what PR company is he serving his time with, and when does he finish his internship? He couldn’t have pulled out a more predictable or dare I say, ineffectual, or feeble policy to start the New Year and the overall campaign on if he tried. At the moment, I have no idea which way to vote come the day, but the way things stand at present, abstention seems the best option for me.
Our journey home yesterday was also not as smooth as it could have been. The first hour and a half went well heading North East until we hit Taunton. From there to Bristol then took about three hours. Wall to wall traffic jams caused by collision after collision, no-doubt caused by wives with iPhones, constantly cursing their every function, or lack thereof, until the husband’s patience can survive no longer and his intervention then results in the necessary one second break in concentration required to create the carnage. That’s my theory, anyway! If in doubt, blame someone, preferably a large multi-national whose ‘brand’ is responsible for global behavioural shifts. Apple seems like as good a choice as any.
We’ve recently introduced a new toy onto our site which helps expectant Mums and Dads decide on their Baby Names. It’s got a fab breakdown of meaning, origins, popularity and just about everything you could want to know when deciding what to call junior. Many of you seem to like the Random Name Generator, which throws all sorts of weird and wonderful combinations at you in the hope of finding that special term of endearment. Who knows, we could be held responsible in five years time for a plague of Algernons or Felicities. Could we survive the inevitable resultant guilt I wonder? We’ll just have to wait and see, I suppose.
N.
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: December 12, 2009
I read with great interest this morning an article in the Telegraph by Charles Moore which discusses the education of today’s children. It read along the lines of Children never having had to work so hard to learn so little, or words to that effect. Having observed the educational rite of passage of five teenage children over the last few years I have become quite familiar with the way education is applied nowadays. Actually I would go so far as to say that it is injected rather than applied.
Modern curricula are extremely prescriptive down to the last decimal place. If it isn’t in the list, it simply isn’t taught. From the point of view of results and achievements it allows both pupils and schools to ‘achieve’ while at the same time it succeeds in injecting just the right amount of ‘relevant’ knowledge into the appropriate brain cells. I become quite nostalgic over time spent during my own youth with a certain teacher who was at the time quite close to retirement, Mr ‘Gammy’ Rees (I can’t remember what his first name was, but of course everyone who was there will remember his nickname for sure). By today’s standards I have no doubt he would rank as an atrocious teacher for many reasons. His mind would wander, he was forever mixing up our names, he used to forget to assign and mark various pieces of work and on more than one occasion, to our great amusement, actually fell asleep during one of our classes. Imagine that in today’s media-fuelled society!
Despite Gammy Rees’ curricular misgivings, I still to this day have the greatest of respect for him and the indelible mark he made on my education. I learned more from him during one school year than I think I have done in any year of my life either before or since. You see he was old and wise; he had a wealth of experience, both academically and socially, which he was so brilliantly able to impart onto his pupils. When he taught, it was spellbinding! It didn’t matter what the topic or subject, it became so interesting, gripping, fascinating that not a single pupil in that class could help but be enveloped by it. Scientific, historical, linguistic, mathematical, artistic, political; it didn’t matter, he had the uncanny ability to make us all so deeply interested in it that we couldn’t help but learn and, more importantly, enjoy learning. I think it is such a crying shame that such a teacher wouldn’t last five minutes in today’s educational system due to his teaching not being sufficiently focused or specific – or ‘relevant’.
My own thoughts about today’s methods are that yes, there are merits from the viewpoint of consuming knowledge as a means to passing, and as importantly getting good grades in examination and therefore allowing better progress up life’s long ladder. However, the thing I find most obvious lies not with what IS taught, but what is not! Diversity has always curried favour and that is one ingredient that I feel has suffered as a result of the tightening of today’s state educational system.
I had the pleasure, (or was it the torture?) of giving a lift to our sixteen year old daughter and three of her friends for their night out recently. Now you have to bear in mind that they are English A-Level students, reasonably familiar with the history, structure and, in my own opinion, the true beauty of our ‘Mother Tongue’. So why does every spoken sentence have to contain at least three, sometimes as many as six renditions of the word ‘like’? It kinda like beats me why someone who is like studying a subject which is like so like interesting that you couldn’t possibly like add anything to it to make it like better.
I know. Colloquialisms have always existed and no language would be complete without its own menu of slang to garnish it with. I put it down to media influence again. Lo and behold, we switched on the old goggle-box a couple of nights ago and tuned into Channel 4’s ‘Alan Carr – Chatty Man’, a weekly melting pot of camp comedy, innuendo, double entendres and other iniquitous society gossip. All quite entertaining I must add! One of his guests this week was Miley Cyrus, possibly better known as her alter-ego Hannah Montana. Miley is about the same age as our daughter and obviously went to the same English classes. However what made this interview even less bearable was her demeanor – that of a dentist’s drill! Every sentence that uttered from her impeccably bleached mouth made us wince and squirm in the corner. How Alan Carr managed to survive a fifteen minute interview with her I’ll never know, but he did have the great foresight of having a loud klaxon to hand for use in emergency. His patience allowed him to only have to use it on three or four occasions.
I would like to say to Mr Balls and his department, who are collectively responsible for shaping the educational development of our offspring that, in the words of the great English poet William Cowper, “Variety is the spice of life”.
N.
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: November 11, 2009
Reading through a few of my recent posts, you must all think I’m a right old Victor Meldrew, who grizzles and groans about anything and everything. I suppose it’s because it’s always easy to criticise things in a negative way. It’s really not the case because I’m actually quite proud of being very positive in my approach to life, work and people.
When I talk to others about the importance of positive attitudes I always think back to my last job in a previous career, where a negative approach simply wasn’t on the agenda. Sometimes, even in the face of adversity, the simple belief that things were possible was enough to ensure they got done. I regularly say to Matthew, my youngest, when he uses the word ‘can’t’ a little too frequently that I think he actually means ‘won’t’. “Don’t say ‘can’t’ unless you’ve exhausted every option available, and even then, don’t shout it from the rooftops” is my frequent response. There might always be that last hidden option there somewhere.
I often think back to when I was a nipper and used to spend a lot of time with my grandparents. I know it’s hard to relate their approach then at that time to the way I remember it now, but I always admired the way they soldiered on regardless of the circumstances. My Grandfather used to have a very philosophical approach too life’s trials. Very little appeared to rattle him. To me, at least, he had an air of calm and control that I recognised, learned from and admire to this day. I have worked with many colleagues who have impressed me so much with their resolve and self-belief that I really have to thank them for the way they have influenced my own attitudes.
Do kids these days approach life in the same way we used to? I remember my own father telling me the merits of being positive and believing in myself and my abilities. Our own kids have all done really well academically and seem to be very self-driven in such disciplines, but I sometimes wonder about their approach to some of the more practical day-to-day challenges that live throws at them. Does perseverance still rank highly in their thoughts I wonder?
Going back to Grandparents again, I smile about it now, but many years ago I held a certain resentment at the fact that at a very early stage in my life, my aforementioned Grandmother quite unintentionally and very lovingly gave me a gift for life when giving me a goodbye Granny Kiss. Something that I would remember her for and something I would keep for ever. I hasten to add that I’m not alone in having received this gift from someone near and dear to them. In fact many reliable sources indicate that over 90% of the population carry it with them, but this isn’t a true representation. Realistically, around 40% of the white Caucasian population of the world at some time or other suffer from a good old-fashioned cold-sore on their lip. Caused by the Herpes Simplex virus, it is a recurrent condition which, once contracted cannot be cured and which rears its ugly head whenever it gets the chance: usually when the immune system is compromised by another factor such as fatigue, illness, dehydration, too much sun.. amongst others. Take my word for it. For those who have never suffered their wrath they are totally unpleasant, at times very painful and cosmetically downright ugly!
For many years I battled with creams, antiseptics, after-shave lotions, old wives’ remedies until the advent of a cream containing a substance called Acyclovir, which at last started to have some real effect on the condition. If applied early enough it actually stops the sore from forming and clears the symptoms really quickly. It was my travelling companion of choice for many years and I am still full of praise for its effectiveness.
Earlier this year though, by pure chance, I was introduced to a product that claimed to be the latest development in the battle against the Cold Sore.
Looking rather like a lipstick, it’s called the Herpotherm, and works by simply heating up the area in order to stop the virus developing. There is a very good description of the way it works on their website. So I gave it a go…. and haven’t looked back since! It’s brilliant. Four or five seconds of application at the right moment really does nip things in the bud. Nothing happens! No sore, no suffering, no Mr Ugly. Just a great feeling knowing that it has been averted again. Over the last year I have been aware on several occasions that something was brewing. A hasty application of the Herpotherm made sure that it was just that! It has been successful on so many occasions that I can’t recommend it highly enough. It has been a complete revolution in the way I approach the condition and it has dramatically improved the way I live with the condition.
For those of you who perhaps still suffer in silence, give it a go. You’ll never be the same again!
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: October 25, 2009
It’s a while since I had a good rant about anything. Anyone who really knows me will vouch for the fact that I’m generally quite a tolerant person, and it takes a lot to rattle my cage. However, that doesn’t mean to say that certain things don’t stir up my grumble bugs from time to time. There’s a sign on our living room door which says something to the effect of “A lovely lady and a grumpy old man live here”. Am I grumpy? I suppose I have my moments, but there are other times when I’m decidedly anti-grump and will try to get others to see the lighter side of things.
As they often say on ITV, the following are the results of my pet hates vote and they are – in no particular order …
1. Long addresses: In our business there’s a fair amount of dealing with addresses, whether they’re traditional geographic addresses or the newer and supposedly far more simple electronic ones. The event that brought this to light was a few days ago when we were doing a little contact-management maintenance work. Why, when an email address is supposed to be concise, simple, quick and all the other things electronic communications are meant to be do a large percentage of the employees of Public-Relations companies have email addresses that would challenge North-Walian mainline railway stations for waffle factor. Why don’t PR companies do just a little bit more research when it comes to choosing internet domains? I know that many of the shorter domain names have been gobbled up by the resellers, but it doesn’t take too much looking around to find a short-ish domain name that is appropriate to their company name?
Having typed probably fifty or more contact addresses into our own records recently I found myself becoming irate at the number of so ridiculously protracted email addresses out there in the PR industry. Why would someone realistically choose (and this one’s fictitious) jennifer_wright-harrington@alongnameprandcommunicationscompany.uk.com not choose jen@company.co.uk instead? Admittedly, it’s not always the individual who’s at fault here. Any IT professional worth his or her salt would realise that the longer an email address is, the greater the margin for error at the remote end.
This brings me on to those street addresses…
I’ve been reliably informed by a couple of sources at the Royal Mail (you know… those ones whose work force is doing its best to destroy whatever is left of that wonderful and historic institution) that all you need to ensure a successful delivery is a house or building number – or name – and an accurate UK postcode. Our registered office is at 89, CF158RE. That would get anything to us there. It’s easy, leaves little room for error and saves paper and ink. What about some of those I’ve whinged at lately? (This one’s fictitious too..) Daffodil Cottage, Buttercup Close, Daisy Road, Flowerbed, Gardenville, West Horticultshire, England, United Kingdom, FB12 4BC. Even those plebs who can’t find their way to the bathroom in the morning without a sat-nav would be able to find “Daffodil, FB12 4BC” by simply typing it into their little battery-powered brains. So why labour over such an unfeasibly large work of literature for an address? Beats me!
2. Tailgaters: You know the ones… those who seem to want to try to intimidate by driving so close to your rear bumper that they must be choking on your exhaust fumes. Just down the hill from ‘Chateau C’ is a T-junction that at certain times of the day requires a small helping of either bravado or cheek to get out of if you don’t want to end up waiting for half an hour while the rush hour finishes. A right turn manoeuvre at this junction is an art-form and I like to think I’ve pretty much perfected it now. All that’s required is a bold statement of intent when a large enough gap appears. It’s the only possible way of getting out of there. Waiting for a clear road is simply not an option. So there was I a few weeks ago, doing my usual, and sneaking through the small, but useable, gap that became available. At the very worst it necessitated one vehicle slowing for a couple of seconds to keep a safe distance after I’d pulled out. Oh no, not for Mr Angry with his aggressive chip-on-shoulder mentality and his “My wife abuses me at home so I’ll take it out on everyone while I’m suitably anonymous behind this gas-guzzling roo-barred road-hog machine” attitude! Anyone would think I’d stolen his best copy of Trainspotters Monthly. The stream of traffic was moving along at around 25 mph, which my own car, though by no means a high-performance specimen, achieves in just a few seconds. So why did he then have to drive up to around ten inches from my rear bumper, leaning on his horn and gesticulating some sort of orchestral conductor’s movement in close proximity to his own windshield. That sort of thing starts to wind me up too. However, at the same time, it gives me great pleasure in a situation like that to follow the advice of all the advanced driving manuals and to slow down until a safe distance exists behind. If I’d have sped up, he’d still have been there with his testosterone-fuelled alter-ego frothing at the mouth, only inches behind. How lovely it was to see him suffer as a result of his own stupid actions. It even happened to me very recently in some leafy village somewhere in the Midlands while we were returning from our narrow boat adventure. Only on that occasion it was a woman, not a man. I reckon she’d messed up her HRT dosage that morning! How sad!
3. Cold Lattes… If you’re paying a premium price for a ‘good’ cup of coffee, the very least you’d expect is for it to be hot. Mrs C and I are frequent patrons of the various coffee establishments scattered around town and we generally have lots of good things to say about them. Yes, we are self-confessed coffee-snobs and take great pride in our own abilities when it comes to producing that irresistible ‘proper’ coffee. None of your Nescafé mediocrity for us. Fresh beans into the grinder and milked steamed, not microwaved! On the rare occasion we happen across a den of coffee apathy (mentioning no names – Warminster services on the A36!) we have a really good mutual whinge and even though it doesn’t make the coffee taste any better, it makes us just happy enough for us to make it to the next refreshment post.
My goodness, this is getting ridiculous. Running out of time and only 3 done! I must be an old grump after all. Don’t you just hate those who labour a point or three?
N.
Posted by: thebabywebsite on: October 10, 2009
Given a choice of activities for a wet October weekend, how many of you would choose a sedate cruise through the canals of Staffordshire and Shropshire on a Countrywide Cruisers Narrowboat? Not many, I bet! Mind you if we hadn’t done something similar ourselves a couple of years previously, then we wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic either. It was cool, there was rain forecast and Friday morning had been particularly hectic work-wise, so what we needed was a good old chill-out over the weekend to recharge the batteries.
Narrow boats are not difficult to sail/drive/pilot, or whatever it is you describe it as. Everything happens very slowly and the canals are so blissfully quiet that you can take your time, relax and go at a pace a snail wouldn’t even find challenging. Mrs C still can’t get to grips with the fact that the tiller has to be pushed to the left for the boat to go right though. I put it down to the well-accepted inadequacies of the female right-brain. I have a simpler way of getting her to remember which way by imagine that she is pulling the stern (back – for the nautically uninitiated) to one side or the other. I personally prefer the tranquil and far more relaxing option of doing it myself.
By far the most appealing and actually quite beautiful aspect of narrowboating is that you can very easily find total peace and quiet. Yes there are visitor moorings in most of the towns and villages along the canals, offering very convenient fly-ridden bins and Elsan** disposal units, but there’s always the alternative option of finding the remotest spot and just tying up as far away from the hustle and bustle of so-called civilisation as possible. As long as there’s sufficient TV signal to receive the latest offering from the good old X-Factor, everything’s fine and dandy.
On the subject of the X-Factor, if that Lucie talks about those sheep one more time I’m going to start shouting at the TV screen again. You may recall in one of my previous posts my outbursts at those nitwits on The Apprentice earlier in the year. Apparently it is perfectly normal for certain things to trigger outbursts of opinion in men. For some it’s the footie, for others it might be neighbours behaving badly, although I put my hand up and openly admit that I suffer from neither of those afflictions. For me it’s TV producers trying to make Joe Public believe that there’s a wonderful story for every person who enters a “Reality TV” series. Come on Mr ITV for crying out loud! I know that it’s a fact that Wales has a relatively high sheep population, but in Powys and the rural areas of Carmarthenshire. Not in the suburbs of Cardiff! Perhaps Lucie’s hallucinating and seeing the flocks of hooded youths outside Pentyrch Spar as some sort of ovine gathering. Perhaps someone should enlighten her.
We’re no-doubt going to watch it again this weekend though and I’ll be quite honest about looking forward to the fact that they’re now going to at last start some performances that will last more than 25 seconds a piece! I’m well prepared. The beer’s on ice, the pizza’s in the oven and all projectiles in the vicinity of my armchair have been secured out of reach just in case Pentyrch’s sheep population gets another mention.
Off to London tomorrow for the annual BPA show in ExCel. Tell you about it soon.
** Chemical Toilets
N
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