Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

zagubov

michaels wrote: »

I guess you get a lot of that in those little mountain communities that are cut off all winter...sort of Norfolk with mountains....

I don't bump into Swiss people much! I did read that Israel based their military set up and shelter system on the Swiss.

It's one of the few countries you never read about in the papers, and would struggle to name the president. It's usuallly just someone in a suit travelling next to you on the tram. I quite admire their lack of fuss and pomp.

zagubov

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Honestly, your mind......

They could all ski from practically birth, so they weren't cut off much! When we went to visit our first au pair's family for New Year one year, I was 4, and her brother who was a year older than I was could ski like a champ already. My parents were astonished.

OTOH, I could read, and his parents were half astonished, half horrified, as children don't learn to read in Switzerland until they are about 7, and start primary school.

Lots of Europe does this. And suffers no harm at all. In fact early schooling's been linked with poorer outcomes in some studies.

There's plenty of big basic things wrong here. I thoroughly back Prinzessilein's post (# 9) in this thread.

neverdespairgirl

zagubov wrote: »

Lots of Europe does this. And suffers no harm at all. In fact early schooling's been linked with poorer outcomes in some studies.

There's plenty of big basic things wroing here. I thooughly back Prinzessilein's post (# 9) in this thread.

I think it might depend very much on the child, don't you think?

My mother taught me to read when I was young, not to force me, but because I was interested in it, enjoyed being read to, and kept asking how it worked, how my parents translated the words on the page into sound. And I loved it, and enjoyed reading on my own hugely from very young.

My sisters were similar; my brother wasn't interested, so he didn't read until he was older.

I'd guess that making children learn to read young would be more problematic than showing them, if they are curious?

silvercar

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

In the north or the south of Wales?

My paternal ancestry is northern Wales, from Denbigh and Angelsey. My paternal grandmother had a similar annoyance with people who were smug about being Welsh speakers, when she and my grandfather ran a B & B in Betws-y-Coed after he retired. My grandfather could speak some Welsh, and so was treated less rudely by some, apparently.

South - Measles land.

Summers spent on the Gower beaches.

neverdespairgirl

silvercar wrote: »

South - Measles land.

Summers spent on the Gower beaches.

I reckon the local tourist board will be wanting to hire you, if you can write copy like that for them, you could boast visitor numbers no end (-:

Spirit_2

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Is he facing prosecution? He should be!

I hope so.

Apparently at the point he did see the horse ,he said he put his foot down on the accelerator not the brake.

The victim is now well enough for surgery and they will start in the next day or two.

lostinrates

Oh god Spirit. Her heart must be broken too. . The poor, poor woman.

We really need a campaign for better road safety. And as riders or horse people (not all of us ride on the road, but lead or long rein or driver them) we need to take responsibility for our actions too. I've been tutting at people in the terrible weather today. So much of what we wear is designed to fit In to the countryside. When you think about it, the things that aren't like pinks, are associated with status or regalia and difficulty.

Spirit_2

lostinrates wrote: »

Oh god Spirit. Her heart must be broken too. . The poor, poor woman.

.

She is in bits in every sense.

LydiaJ

zagubov wrote: »

Lots of Europe does this. And suffers no harm at all. In fact early schooling's been linked with poorer outcomes in some studies.

There's plenty of big basic things wrong here. I thoroughly back Prinzessilein's post (# 9) in this thread.

You can't base comparisons of that kind solely on the age at which they start formal schooling. So much else is different between one country and another - society's attitude to education, for one thing, and whether the language they are learning to read is spelt phonetically or not, for another. Any child trying to learn to read German would be likely to get the hang of it very very much more quickly than an exactly similar child trying to learn to read English.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I think it might depend very much on the child, don't you think?

My mother taught me to read when I was young, not to force me, but because I was interested in it, enjoyed being read to, and kept asking how it worked, how my parents translated the words on the page into sound. And I loved it, and enjoyed reading on my own hugely from very young.

My sisters were similar; my brother wasn't interested, so he didn't read until he was older.

I'd guess that making children learn to read young would be more problematic than showing them, if they are curious?

I pestered and pestered to be taught to read, and did, long before I went to school. All those books, all those wonderful stories, and a house full of people who were too busy to read them to me all day... Then I was allowed to go to school a year early, because I could already read fluently and was clearly bored out of my skull at preschool.

Spirit wrote: »

She is in bits in every sense....

How dreadful. I don't know where to begin. I am so very very sorry to hear about it all.

michaels

WE have DS just starting the reading thing. DW is determined he does it as quickly as anyone else in the class, she can't understand about people progressing at their own speed and thinks reducing him to tears is the answer

Then again with both DDs they read technically very well but neither has much interest in reading, it is almost that they are such extroverts they can't cope with something as solitary and lacking in immediate gratification. DD1 is sufferng really because she is not developing the wider vocabulary that reading widely would bring which makes it even harder as she doesn't understand enough of the words to enjoy a book that fits her maturity level. The house is always so lively that there always seems to be something more exciting than reading for them to do.