Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

carolt

It's in a quiet backwater. Non-compulsory area.

Re being proud though, can I do my own mini-treliac moment?

DD1 just took part in an inter-school maths quiz with 3 other kids from her school, against 9 other schools - and they won!

Given how we've been going for maths over the last month or so, it was a very sweet victory - a great reward for all the hard work she (and me too!!!) have been putting in.

carolt

lostinrates wrote: »

I'm a bit like that now. (is it part of not being childlike I wonder? Losing that magical bit that is beaten into submission from too much housework, worry about bills and future and what everyone will et not push around plates for supper?)

I used to be absolutely the opposite, and I blame school/college science, for blunting that. e.g. in biology (always my favourite science at school) I couldn't accept that thing just happened, I need to understand why to remember it...this made my biology teacher very frustrated, the answer always was...you don't need to know that until you are studying at degree level....I guess this is partly because of having to get the syllabus covered, but its very hard for those of us who learn by...well, ''understanding'', not memorising:o. I also blame this in by almost obsessive dissections as a young undergraduate....anything, everything I could get hold of I wanted to dissect.. there were a few animals of friends whose problems were so intriguing I kind of hoped I'd be able to look in when dead. :o

No, I'm the opposite. I always loved arts/humanities and came top in them, always had my nose in a book - but never cared at all about science or why/how things worked, even at school.

Funnily enough, one of my brothers has a PhD in Physics - it just never gripped me. My parents are the same - their total lack of technical/practical skills and knowledge never ceases to amaze me now, as an adult. They cope - they either pay a little man to mend things for them, or rely on capable children/children in law.

I can't, but luckily I have an OH who can, so as I said, no need to worry as long as one of us has the skills.

That said, am doing my best to ensure all my kids (girls included) end up a lot more practically minded than I am - OH shows them how things work, how to fix things and make them. I buy them science books and make encouraging noises.

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

No, I'm the opposite. I always loved arts/humanities and came top in them, always had my nose in a book - but never cared at all about science or why/how things worked, even at school......
That said, am doing my best to ensure all my kids (girls included) end up a lot more practically minded than I am - OH shows them how things work, how to fix things and make them. I buy them science books and make encouraging noises.

I'm naturally an arts student. Pretty much everybody was surprised I decided to read a science. I think that why I did it. I was lucky in that I had a ''free choice'' of subjects to study......so it came down to preferences. I took five A levels, mainly to keep options open for university, but would have liked to take more. I took my a levels in one year, and I did toy with doing another year and another set, but I really just wanted to get on with things, and I'd taken a year out before them, so it meant I ''caught up'' with my age group. Looking back its weird so much weight was ut in that. by the time you are 17/18 a year or two here or there means so much less, and now means nothing at all really. I did have a ''mental'' growth surt in my twenties somewhere though.

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

DD1 just took part in an inter-school maths quiz with 3 other kids from her school, against 9 other schools - and they won!

Given how we've been going for maths over the last month or so, it was a very sweet victory - a great reward for all the hard work she (and me too!!!) have been putting in.

How wonderful! She must feel very confident about her maths ability now!

Exocet

Getting very excited now. Half an hour to go. Channel 4, A Place in the Sun: Home or Away is on.

John_Pierpoint

silvercar wrote: »

My nieces have Aquadraw. Initially I was impressed, but now I've decided that it just creates the impression that its OK to use messy art stuff in areas that need to be kept dry. Far better for the little ones to understand that art stuff is only to be used in the kitchen/ garden/ at nursery (depending on your level of neurosis).

Isn't there some evidence that children brought up in somewhat scruffy environments, turn out to be better adjusted and more successful?

Well that is my excuse anyway.

Give me a comfortable home, just chuck a throw over the old sofa and turn down the lighting:D

Ellie2758

Thanks for your comprehensive precis FC123. I am still a little hazy but that's probably the Pinot. You found the Dubai chap's dvds on top of the kitchen cupboard? Were they related to cookery then? Smirk smirk.

sss555s

Exocet wrote: »

Getting very excited now. Half an hour to go. Channel 4, A Place in the Sun: Home or Away is on.

I'm another Jasmine Harmen fan.

There's something so attractive about a woman in a nice frock :A

carolt

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Isn't there some evidence that children brought up in somewhat scruffy environments, turn out to be better adjusted and more successful?

Well that is my excuse anyway.

Give me a comfortable home, just chuck a throw over the old sofa and turn down the lighting:D

I so hope you're right.

Davesnave

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Isn't there some evidence that children brought up in somewhat scruffy environments, turn out to be better adjusted and more successful?

In order to know, we'd first need to define 'successful.'

I've known hundreds of kids, including a good number with Oxbridge successes, but in itself, that hasn't made them happy & fulfilled individuals.

Perhaps some of my most successful ex-pupils were those who didn't distinguish themselves academically. Either way, I'll never know.

My experience is that happy, well adjusted children come from a wealth of different backgrounds, and some of them from quite scruffy homes. At present, I'm thinking of a trio of girls, all of them delightful, whose elderly father collected and dismantled old radios, in virtually every room in the house. The Mum was artistic and not terribly 'focused,' so you can imagine the scene when I once visited, finding the entrance to their home was, initially, across a sea of footwear, scattered so liberally through the elegant entrance hall that it was impossible not to tread on them....The fact that no one apologised or commented showed that this was 'normality.'

Despite the scenes in that house, I felt that the warmth in the family relationships, and between the family and the community, made those kids particularly blessed.