Debt busting misssion ..

Hi, just caught up with your diary and wanted to say a little piece about the bullying.

Sooner or later it will blow over.

My eldest, who is now 23, was born with a cleft lip and palate. He went through a bit of a rough time at one point being bullied and was subjected to various name-calling episodes while at school. I was also bullied until I was around 12 years old because of my fathers occupation (we stayed on the edge of a rough area and my dad was a policeman), so I could relate to my son's frustration and anger.

In both cases our respective schools weren't interested. It was only if a fight broke out on school property that they got involved. In my case it resulted in me having to get into a few scuffles before things calmed down. In my son's case, I had a rather strong word with the father of the main lad concerned, who was disappointed to learn that his son was bullying others. It quickly stopped.

I started karate lessons at 12 and did them until I was around 16. It not only taught me how to defend myself but also confidence, self-control and discipline. I'm not saying that's the right route for everyone to go down but it's certainly an avenue you could ask your sons to consider.

I had a conversation with Mrs fatrab about bullying at the weekend as we have a 7 month old baby. We still live close to the same rough area that I grew up in and we're in the catchment area for the same primary school that I went to (although it has been rebuilt on a new site since I was there). We don't want him to be bullied nor do we want him to be too tough either. It's a very fine line.

I'm sure everything will work out ok eventually and wish you and your sons the very best

Hi, really enjoying your debt busting diary!

I would say that if your parents can afford to help with the upcoming trip and are offering to help, take it! Yes, it is their money, but I am sure that they would love to help with their grandkids, i am incredibly lucky with both my parents and my in laws helping, both with time and money. My mil raised her son as a single parent and now she has money she loves being able to help with her grandkids when she wasn't able to do as much for her own son while he was growing up. She also loves me as she only had the one child but has four much loved grandchildren :rotfl: