Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

Generali

michaels wrote: »

Am i the only one who didn't know that 'Birdseye' brand came from Clarence Birdseye rather than just being a made up brand name?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24551578

IIRC he was from a West Country seafaring family.

Birds Custard has a slightly interesting history if you can be bothered to look it up as has Dewhurst butchers. As has teriyaki sauce actually. It's as Japanese as apple pie (kinda).

SingleSue

LydiaJ wrote: »

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.



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.



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

I wasn't taught to read by my parents directly, I picked it up from where they were trying to teach my elder brother (3 years older) who had started school....I picked it up and very quickly, he didn't!

The result was that by the time I started school, I could read perfectly, could count into infinity and was craving information, much to my brother's annoyance who was still stuck at first reading level and couldn't write much past the basic words.

My parents had no idea what to do with me, I wasn't like all the other children and an often heard remark at the time was "Too bright for her own good" from pretty much all their friends and family (plus a few teachers too), a remark to this day that still confuzzles me, how can you be too bright? Sure, it makes it harder work for the adult with the constant questions and demands for the brain to be kept active but surely, that is a good thing.

My infant school teachers struggled to know what to do with me too, they had a class of children learning how to spell their first words and there was me who was so far beyond simple 3 letter words and was wanting to read books more suitable for an 11 year old. In the end, they let me read the age 11 books but I had to do the same as all the others for everything else.

Unfortunately, I wasn't pushed at primary school, I got bored and switched off until I was at high school by which time, I had become fairly ordinary...plus it was a hell of a shock to my system!

LydiaJ

SingleSue wrote: »

I wasn't taught to read by my parents directly, I picked it up from where they were trying to teach my elder brother (3 years older) who had started school....I picked it up and very quickly, he didn't!

The result was that by the time I started school, I could read perfectly, could count into infinity and was craving information, much to my brother's annoyance who was still stuck at first reading level and couldn't write much past the basic words.

My parents had no idea what to do with me, I wasn't like all the other children and an often heard remark at the time was "Too bright for her own good" from pretty much all their friends and family (plus a few teachers too), a remark to this day that still confuzzles me, how can you be too bright? Sure, it makes it harder work for the adult with the constant questions and demands for the brain to be kept active but surely, that is a good thing.

My infant school teachers struggled to know what to do with me too, they had a class of children learning how to spell their first words and there was me who was so far beyond simple 3 letter words and was wanting to read books more suitable for an 11 year old. In the end, they let me read the age 11 books but I had to do the same as all the others for everything else.

Unfortunately, I wasn't pushed at primary school, I got bored and switched off until I was at high school by which time, I had become fairly ordinary...plus it was a hell of a shock to my system!

Sorry to hear that Sue. In your case "too bright for her own good" appears to have meant "to bright to fit into the system so will fall through the cracks".

I doubt you'd find any NP to agree that you were "fairly ordinary", though.

SingleSue

Phew, caught up now..you lot talked a lot over the weekend!

James' visit went well but he declared on Sunday night once he had got back to halls, that he never wants to do that again and I must pick him up for Christmas...my reply was that he has to learn how to do these things and it will become second nature after a while. I don't think he helped himself by bringing back enough stuff to last a week instead of just a few days...although saying that, we will probably try to come to some sort of compromise.

I have both the younger ones off today, horrible cold which has completely wiped them out...for middle son to be off he must feel bad as he hates not being at school. He is fast asleep in bed which is another rare event as he takes after me for not sleeping for long. Youngest came down with it at the weekend and is still very eek, peak flows going crazy, no energy and just wants to sleep all the time...will have to keep a close eye on him over the next few days.

silvercar

James' visit went well but he declared on Sunday night once he had got back to halls, that he never wants to do that again and I must pick him up for Christmas...my reply was that he has to learn how to do these things and it will become second nature after a while. I don't think he helped himself by bringing back enough stuff to last a week instead of just a few days...although saying that, we will probably try to come to some sort of compromise.

We have this problem. Coming home for a weekend is fine, but with enough stuff for the holidays (including books etc) means that the journey is too difficult on the train.

zagubov

silvercar wrote: »

We have this problem. Coming home for a weekend is fine, but with enough stuff for the holidays (including books etc) means that the journey is too difficult on the train.

It might sound obvious but if he's in halls he should check if there's a storage room to keep his stuff in over the hols. Sometimes there's a fee. In one hall I stayed in they didn't publicise the storage service (which is quite common, especially if they don't make money out of it) and we only found out by talking to the cleaners, who know everything.

Wheezy_2

Can we have an update on the hamster please Lydia? I'm worried.

LydiaJ

Wheezy wrote: »

Can we have an update on the hamster please Lydia? I'm worried.

Still no sign. We have put out food and water in each room and shut all the doors, so we're hoping for some evidence of where to look later.

Thanks for caring.

neverdespairgirl

michaels wrote: »

That is the sort of thing that makes getting out of the house on time in the morning so difficult....

I have to say NDGs photo is probably less likely to make me read the thread than more, but on a serious note, it shows 3 identifiable people and will probably go viral, is it fair for people to have their image posted everywhere?

It's viral already, that's where it comes from.

neverdespairgirl

LydiaJ wrote: »

Still no sign. We have put out food and water in each room and shut all the doors, so we're hoping for some evidence of where to look later.

Thanks for caring.

Has DD gone off to school upset and worried about the hamster?

Hope it turns up soon.