From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Cherryfudge

Ours is through, too. I know it pays for things we all use (like roads) and things some people need and could not otherwise afford (like care for older people) but it's still a noticeable increase. I think, @Greying_Pilgrim, you will just have to have lots and lots of days out and take the new coffee cups each time, and you will soon have saved the difference! I'm sure there's a fault in my logic somewhere 😁 but time with LG is precious and investing in that is important.

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921654#Comment_81921654

Yes, I think we will have to have lots of days out 😁 And you know my feelings about what time we have with LG, and how we would prefer to spend it with them. Although, again, readers will know that I feel very blessed that we have been able to exercise choice about that. I do fully realise that choice is not open to everyone. But gosh, don't I count my lucky stars that LG is satisfied with going somewhere to look at a pile of bricks, or a canal, or for a walk up a hillock or something.

Greying X

rtandon27

Dearest @Greying_Pilgrim - yes indeed LG loves these things but only because dearest mama & papa have instilled the values in them! - So count yourself lucky that you have a decent head on your shoulders and pat yourself on your back!

Watty1

RT is so right. LG only loves those things because you have encouraged that. A friend's daughter who is just 5 rushes home from school to go to her pony - why - because mum and dad both have horses and they live on a farm. Another friend has two lovely children who politely sit in the corner with their Ipad. Nicely bought up but they do not engage with adults but play with their Ipads - why - because that is what they have been encouraged to do. Another has an 13 year old son who offered to cut my lawn as the first step in his farming contractor business - guess what his entire wider family do - farm (I would have taken him up on this but he is too young to get here without mum and I could see mum was rather hoping he would concentrate on near neighbours!).

I love seeing how children flourish doing what they are encouraged in.

beanielou

That’s a good investment.

Greying_Pilgrim

Thank you rt that is kind of you to say.

Watty - and what I would add to your post is that not one of those kids is "wrong", they are all doing their thing their way, and without causing any sort of issues to others. I would be delighted if my kiddo was any one of your examples - with a possible bias towards the pony mad 5yr old, jus coz…….. 😁 We've got a slight issue at the mo with local children playing out. Now, normally, I have no issue with kids playing out - we spent hours - of the day on our own when I was a nipper. But some of these local kids give LG grief for not joining them. But the thing is these kids - unsupervised - aren't using jumpers for goal posts and having a 36-a-side footy match, or zooming around the bike track at a million laps a day on scooters, bikes, pogo sticks and shank's pony, or even just sitting chatting outside the shop. No these kiddos are making mischief, playing knock down ginger, running into the road and generally making a nuisance of themselves a) LG doesn't want to be part of that scene, and b) we don't want our kiddo behaving like that.

Although having said all that - I really am not sure when/how the apron strings can start to be loosened 🫤 A conundrum for another day!

Greying X

Baileys_Babe

I see lots of lovely days out for family Greying use the bike rack and the thermal cups and some slices of cake or cheese scones.

rtandon27

The things I learn in these here parts…

What says I is 'knock-downknock-down-ginger'?

MrG00gle replies - a traditional prank where children knock on a door or ring a doorbell and run away before it is answered

…and then adds…

…while often considered harmless, it is technically illegal in the UK and can be considered trespassing, causing alarm, or harassment.

Across the pond such pranks would get a swift slap from someone's parental - and it would not necessarily be your own! Heaven forbid your own parental caught wind - it would mean a second bit of trouble!

redofromstart

it's called different things in different bits of the country as well @rtandon27 'knock and run' where I was brought up.

my generation played out after school, generally until the street lights came on. My children never needed a 'curfew' as such because they just talked to their friends on line, and that seemed to be the norm for their social group and the local villages.

badmemory

We too played out all day - even in quite bad weather. We only went home when our father was heard bellowing our names. Everyone obeyed him - he was a teacher & back then virtually everyone did as teacher said & he never laid a hand on anyone.