Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor

doingitanyway wrote: »

I keep a bag of ready washed baby spinach. I eat it as salad leaves raw and whatever I am cooking I throw in a handful. I think spinach goes well with eggs and that is such an easy, healthy win if you want to up the greens

Thanks Redo . I don't like raw spinach but I don't mind it in cooking. For a vegetarian I don't eat many vegetables .

Sun_Addict

I think that comment was very petty, children are noisy especially when they're in high spirits. I know it's hard but I would try and ignore it. It sounds like you're doing a fantastic job.

I still miss my mum after 19 years, it gets slightly easier as the years pass but you never forget them. For the first few years I had to stop myself thinking I must tell mum .... It was so hard I lost her too young

Sending hugs xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thank you SA . It's not easy keeping six year olds quiet, but it can be done if you're fierce with them .

I'm not sure that I'll ever stop missing my Mum,, it's just something I have to live with. It's worse for you because you lost yours sooner. I know I was lucky to have her for fifty four years.

Seasidegal58

So sorry to hear you're feeling so down Hairy and of the rather petty person who complained.

You wrote earlier that you didn't want to take time off work to go to the doctor. Please, please go to the doctor and get yourself checked out. As others have posted, your tiredness may just be down to a lack of iron which can be rectified. I use to feel that I couldn't miss work to go to the doctor when I felt under the weather. Well I realised in time that one's health is one of the most important things in life and there's always someone at work who will cover for a bit. Make that appointment!
x

milann

One of the best behaved / quietest classes in our KS1 was a class with a teacher who very rarely raised her voice, managed to find time to listen to the children and laughed with them every day. She had a range of 1 liner songs for various activities and the children took their lead from her, they loved her to bits and wanted to please her. The other class in the same year was run by a pretty fierce, old style teacher who intimidated all who came across her......including the lovely gentle teacher - lovely teacher went on mat leave and never returned. Rumour has it she couldn’t face fierce teacher. It was such a loss. Try and let the comment go....I've come across some very opinionated folk in my times working in school. Often the ones with the most to say are the least effective in what they do. If the head teacher wasn’t happy in what you do - she wouldn’t have asked you to cover for staff...she’s the lady you have to answer to and your obviously keeping her happy.

As for the doctor- get an appointment in your volunteering time. Your health comes first because if you’re not well you won’t be able to go to work.

Have a good weekend - is a Saturday saunter planned?

sashybo

Hi HH,

Sorry to hear you're feeling so down and that this comment from a teacher has upset you.

I spent some time in a primary school as a student and I really hated the way that particular school dealt with the children. Always trying to make them "be quiet" and act like little robots. Obviously there needs to be some order and discipline but some people/schools take it too far.

It was a very strange school though - everyone was terrified of the headteacher and she had lots of odd rules like the staff weren't allowed to read or do anything "anti-social" in the staff room, they had to be seen to be chatting and socialising with each other. I just found it weird that she was even bossing the adults around as to what they could and couldn't do. :eek:

Willowtree222

Morning,
I hope you are feeling a little better today. It's so hard not to take it personally. The fact the children laugh and hug you shows you how happy they are in your presence which is pretty amazing. I hope you can focus on the positives.

I add all sorts of veg, with a stock cube and then I blend mine as I like it smooth. Might be a way to get some veg in. I would still investigate with a dr though in case it is an imbalance xx

jwil

I hope you are feeling a bit brighter today.

The way the teacher handled that is so inappropriate. I've had similar experiences recently and it creates such a bad atmosphere, all which could be resolved very easily if the complainer just spoke directly to the person involved.

You are caring for the children, and that is what counts. They love you, and if the school want them to be quieter then they need to make it clearer what their priorities are. It's not like the kids are being noisy because you are ignoring them and not doing your job!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

So sorry to hear you're feeling so down Hairy and of the rather petty person who complained.

You wrote earlier that you didn't want to take time off work to go to the doctor. Please, please go to the doctor and get yourself checked out. As others have posted, your tiredness may just be down to a lack of iron which can be rectified. I use to feel that I couldn't miss work to go to the doctor when I felt under the weather. Well I realised in time that one's health is one of the most important things in life and there's always someone at work who will cover for a bit. Make that appointment!
x

Thank you SSG . I think I will go to the doctor for some blood tests, but it would be less stressful for me to go at half term.

milann wrote: »

One of the best behaved / quietest classes in our KS1 was a class with a teacher who very rarely raised her voice, managed to find time to listen to the children and laughed with them every day. She had a range of 1 liner songs for various activities and the children took their lead from her, they loved her to bits and wanted to please her. The other class in the same year was run by a pretty fierce, old style teacher who intimidated all who came across her......including the lovely gentle teacher - lovely teacher went on mat leave and never returned. Rumour has it she couldn’t face fierce teacher. It was such a loss. Try and let the comment go....I've come across some very opinionated folk in my times working in school. Often the ones with the most to say are the least effective in what they do. If the head teacher wasn’t happy in what you do - she wouldn’t have asked you to cover for staff...she’s the lady you have to answer to and your obviously keeping her happy.

As for the doctor- get an appointment in your volunteering time. Your health comes first because if you’re not well you won’t be able to go to work.

Have a good weekend - is a Saturday saunter planned?

Thank you Milann . It's hard when you put so much of yourself into a job and then something like this happens. But I obviously need a balance between keeping the children happy and making them be silent at lining up time. It's only two weeks until half term so I probably won't get a doctor's appointment before then anyway.

sashybo wrote: »

Hi HH,

Sorry to hear you're feeling so down and that this comment from a teacher has upset you.

I spent some time in a primary school as a student and I really hated the way that particular school dealt with the children. Always trying to make them "be quiet" and act like little robots. Obviously there needs to be some order and discipline but some people/schools take it too far.

It was a very strange school though - everyone was terrified of the headteacher and she had lots of odd rules like the staff weren't allowed to read or do anything "anti-social" in the staff room, they had to be seen to be chatting and socialising with each other. I just found it weird that she was even bossing the adults around as to what they could and couldn't do. :eek:

Thank you Sashybo . I think a low level of noise isn't necessarily a problem at lining up time, they were lined up in pairs and weren't running around the playground or anything. But if the teachers expect complete silence then I'll have to try and achieve that .

HairyHandofDartmoor

Nicnak wrote: »

Morning,
I hope you are feeling a little better today. It's so hard not to take it personally. The fact the children laugh and hug you shows you how happy they are in your presence which is pretty amazing. I hope you can focus on the positives.

I add all sorts of veg, with a stock cube and then I blend mine as I like it smooth. Might be a way to get some veg in. I would still investigate with a dr though in case it is an imbalance xx

Thank you Nicnak . I'll try not to dwell on it too much although it is hard not to.

jwil wrote: »

I hope you are feeling a bit brighter today.

The way the teacher handled that is so inappropriate. I've had similar experiences recently and it creates such a bad atmosphere, all which could be resolved very easily if the complainer just spoke directly to the person involved.

You are caring for the children, and that is what counts. They love you, and if the school want them to be quieter then they need to make it clearer what their priorities are. It's not like the kids are being noisy because you are ignoring them and not doing your job!

Thank you Jwil . It certainly has created bad feeling because I don't feel kindly towards that teacher now, whereas if they'd spoken to me directly I would have felt quite differently. It's true that the children weren't noisy because I was ignoring them, I was talking to an individual child who was upset about something. I must try and move on from it but it's hard at the moment.