Schools!

[Hillbilly]

I've never used suncream and I have never put it on my kids mainly because I was worried about chemical content but I do worry - I guess I didn't know that sun is ok - I've had 5 moles removed after they began changing and of course, put this down to (too much) sun exposure. I was never a hide-away-hermit though and have worked outside most of my adult life but reading your post has made me think.

I did a spell in a kids nursery once 'inbetween' jobs and the kids were not allowed out at all if they didn't have suncream on them. They had to supply their own and if they didn't have, they didnt get out. I felt so desperately sorry for them on glorious summer days, shut inside a blinking industrial unit (which is what the nursery was.. and PS I left..)

Homeschooling. Sara's (15) best freind Katerina is home schooled here. (since 13 - when she had to go to the Academy - bad experience, parents pulled her out) She's bright, intelligent, polite and IMHO way ahead of other kids her age. Of course she may have been super-intelligent anyway who knows but I am impressed. She is however going to an alternative school in Italy (she's part italian - has a lot of family over there) from next February until September to get some 'wordly' experience.

This local Academy is terrible. Had the kids not been 'almost' leaving age now I am not working all the time, I would be pulling them out. The local primary school is not much better and I did pull eldest son out of there after the head teacher bullied him - he was shuttled around primary schools until I got him into Monymusk primary which was FANTASTIC. I cannot recommend that school highly enough and it basically saved him. I knew homeschooling existed but until recently I was under the impression that the parent had to have some sort of qualification to be teach at home

[Martin]

nearly ALL suncreams contain unstable benzine compounds, well known to be carcinogenic......
As to the wisdom of oil - you'll find that apart from anything else, it makes you loads hotter - I still reckon that in the UK, if you build up a "base tan", you should be perfectly safe, and probably a damned sight healthier.
We evolved without clothes, as nomadic hunter/gatherers - keeping your skin clothed all year is the UNnatural part - and is I'm sure the reason why people have problems - they'll live in the gloom all winter, then leap lily-white into a tropical sun, or (like many builders) they'll work out in the sun all day, ignoring their lobstered skin. I'm quite lucky, I've got "mousy" colouring, and find that when I've got a good tan, I can work comfortably outdoors all day without experiencing any discomfort or sign of "burning" - if I can, totally without clothes- and feel SO much better for doing so! 8)
I wouldn't try it in Oz because of the ozone hole, but while we're waiting for ours, I'm going to make the best of it!

[Olive]

I was going to say martin - we have the hole in the ozone now.

But Britain has a higher incidence of skin cancer than australia does!!!!

hmmm I wonder why!!!! Probably because of the poor usage of sunscreens. There are suncreams available without those nasty chemicals you mentioned - my kids are allergic to many suncreams - but I still insist on 'slip, slop slap' as i usually get suncream from Oz.

Having spent most my live in oz - you will not convince me that it is NOT important to wear suncream.

[Shirley]

Perhaps we should start a new thread covering SAFE and/or environmentally friendly sunscreens and lotions etc...

I burn quite quickly in a very short time and so I need to use suncream - I'm going to try the Yaoh sunscreen next.

[Stonehead]

Back onto schools again...

The Big Lad came home bursting with excitment "Mrs X (the headteacher) is retiring. She's going to do what old people do - die!"

With both the head and his current teacher going (the teacher is off on maternity leave), hopefully we'll see a change.

Stonehead

[Shirley]

BRILLIANT Stonehead

Fingers crossed for a positive change.

[cat]

[quote="Stonehead]
I still have a camcorder and a few bits from my media days, so I'm going to make a short docu-film with him as the narrator, convert it to MPEG and then put it on my blog. That should cheer him up no end.

Stonehead[/quote]

I told my little boy (6) about F's nasty teacher, and he wants me to tell him when the film is ready so he can see it. That way mini-stonehead will have an international audience of children too.
I'm a teacher, and unfortunately I think some aspiring educators don't understand that you have to LIKE children (not just the yes-children, but the lively ones too) in order to teach well. Also we need to accept that we can learn a lot from them and that we can't expect children to respect us if we dont respect them, and their ideas too.

[Nickey]

Hi there! Isn't there a new school in Aberdeen somewhere that's run by the parents? It's surrounded by woods etc I believe?! Made me want to move up there...However I am going to put my daughter (3 at present) through Steiner education...they would have welcomed an oil can as a show and tell! maybe you could look into it?! I really fought hard with my concience and couldn't bring myself to put my wee one through the state system, even though it works for some it's just not for us! good luck with his teacher! Nickey

[Stonehead]

And now for my latest rant on schools and teachers...

The Big Lad came home from school on Friday with a note telling us "to ensure he had appropriate outside footwear"! We'd sent him to school in his wellies as it was wet and muddy, but the school says he has to wear plain black school shoes. He has black gym shoes for wearing in class.

We sent him in with a note saying we would decide what was the most appropriate shoes/boots for the weather conditions. If it's dry, he'll wear black school shoes but if not he'll continue wearing wellies - otherwise his trouser get wet and muddy to the knees.

What is wrong with these dumbos?

[Shirley]

Bloomin ridiculous - I hoped things had changed with the new teacher!! Aaargh!!!!!!

In answer to Nickey's post (which I had completely missed - sorry Nickey!) I haven't heard of a parent run school in Aberdeen but if you've got any info I'd be interested to hear it.

[Martin]

from reading Stonehead's descriptions, it sounds remarkably like the fun and games I had at school. The small-minded of this world just can't comprehend someone who's "different". Back in the 50's the polio epidemics were sweeping the country, and in typical government fashion, dangerous vaccines were being rushed out - thankfully, my Dad was a man of principle, and fearing the consequences, refused to have me vaccinated - all hell broke out!
- In retrospect, he was absolutely right - three of my peers are still crippled by vaccine induced polio! From then on, school life was hell - I got "picked on" by staff, and the headmistress in particular - at one point, they suggested that I saw an educational trickcyclist - the old man, who was well aware of the hell I was going through, suiggested that he would agree to it,IF the headmistress was subjected to the same indignity....... for some reason they backed off!
And like Stoney, things don't change - they'll pick on ANYTHING - choice of packed lunch, make of blazer, the fact you're "too keen" (forever wanting to ask or answer questions)..............
It left me with a sadly jaded view of the educational system, so much so, that when my daughter came to school age, we went private! Elitist, perhaps, but she experienced the sort of education that I would have loved - small classes, individual attention, and really good ethics! It cost an absolute fortune, but was well worth it - the difference in attitude between state and private is very marked! Like most people, I intensely dislike much of the "puiblic school attitude", but there are some really good, small independent schools that do an excellent job - without the ghastly snobbery of others!

[Stonehead]

And the latest is...

Today the Big Lad wore his black school shoes in (it wasn't raining, nor was it that muddy), but when he came home he said he'd been told off because they weren't clean. They had a couple of bits of dried mud on them! (In fact, his shoes get polished weekly so he's probably got the best cared for shoes in his class.)

As Martin says, I think it's down to "let's put them in their place".