Education wars

The weapon that is Education.

     Numerous Governments- for a long time have talked about implementing changes to the length of holidays, I remember this from my school days. 'Children have it too easy, lets reduce the summer holidays,' there is one main problem with this sentence, look again can you spot it? The word 'children'. Of course children have it easy, and they should. Being a child is the best years of our lives, do we really want to put adult pressures on four year olds? Growing up- paying bills, tax, cleaning, cooking lasts sixty odd years, we are children for 16 short years let them savour it.
     Already children are having to make adult decisions at such young ages, year 9 pupils are having to choose subjects which they will sit GCSE's in. They have discussions about which career they would like and are guided to choose subjects along those lines, at 13! A career that you won't start for 5 years minimum. At 13 I wanted to be a singer I couldn't sing, but that didn't matter to me I still wanted to be a singer. Were you going to tell me at such a young and impressionable age- that my dream will never happen? That i should concentrate on something more 'reliable' more 'stable'Shattering an already hormone ridden girls ambition.
    We are constantly being told that teenage pregnancy is high, surely a factor in this is young adults becoming sexually active as children. Is this due to the fact that they are growing up to quickly? Do they have too much adult like pressure placed on them? So how are we proposing to tackle this? By increasing school hours, putting more pressure on them and less free time to be children.
   Adults fixate too much on who is better, who is sitting around and not achieving, are we really now going to turn on our children? I would like my children to have a childhood like my own. Freedom to ride their bikes, climb trees, disappear for hours in a field building dens - only to come home when they are hungry. This can't happen because parents are terrified that a peadophile lurks in a bush waiting to snatch our precious kids. Maybe the current Government should focus on that rather than giving our children a 9-5 commitment everyday. The problem I have with my children doing more hours with less holiday is I want to be the one to parent my children, share their experiences and teach them right from wrong, I want to spend time and mould them into who they will become. I don't want teachers to play every role in my child's life. I didn't have children to enjoy their first three to four years, and then only see them for bedtime and weekends.
    Yes I am sure longer hours at school will help working parents, because the cost of childcare is so expensive- however I did not have children so that the impact on my life would be minimal. Children are a life changing blessing, that does not last forever if my children are having to spend longer away from me- those years will be forgotten so much quicker.
    If the longer school hours are being introduced to create better results, perhaps tackling the educational problems within schools is a more appropriate solution. Such as: more one on one attention for every child not just the disruptive ones, more sport, music and cooking. Don't get me wrong an extra half an hour I am not against, if my children are going to benefit. I could even be persuaded to back a half day on a Saturday (like private schools) on the condition that- like private schools they are spent on sporting activities. Competitive leagues between schools in numerous sports such as cricket, netball, hockey, football etc, would be hugely beneficial and opportunities for parents to watch the matches on a Saturday would be massively rewarding.
      However altering school holidays I feel is not productive. As a chid I would count down the days until the holidays, without them school would drone on and on. Children need to rest, as a parent I notice- when the end of term approaches my children begin to be tired and irritable, they lose interest in their school work. The holidays offer a refreshing rest. If they were substantially shortened I feel parents, children and results would suffer hugely thus our education system would be in jeopardy. An idea I have is that our children would benefit from a 'summer school' during the long summer holidays, an opportunity for children to volunteer to do some educational activities, such as dance, sporting activities and so on. A chance to socialise and learn a new skill and also break up the holiday. I don't feel it should be compulsory nor should it be all day five days a week and importantly it should be free!
      If we want to improve our educational system perhaps we should look at Finland- they rank top in the world. They pride themselves on offering a high standard of education to everyone, no prejudice put on wealth, religion, origin etc. I know living in England, if I could afford it my children would go to private school, they offer higher standard of education more competitive sports, music and Drama activities weekly or sometimes daily. It is also known that 80% of those who hold key positions in Britain went to private school. Finland also instead of increasing time spent at school have reduced it to just four hours per day, but still their children achieve highly. I think this is definitely something our Government needs to consider before they increase our babies work load.

Childcare

  The Baffling World Of Childcare.

      Once I had finally made the decision which childcare I was going to choose, life was much easier. I attended college when Suzi was 10 months old, spending three days away from her. Financially, we could not afford a nursery and I was keen to have family members help out, this was purely due to the fact that she was so young and it was only three days a week, and my Mum, Mother in law and close friend were keen to help. Suzi really enjoyed her few days away from me; she quickly became very independent and confident. After a year, Michael was doing really well in his job and we decided it would be good for Suzi to start interacting with other children. When she was two I began looking at childcare options. I explored all the available options. I had worked with a childminder previously, looking after about five children in her own house. The children attended on a daily basis;  some before, some after school. It was lovely they became a family, the children were very comfortable and used her house as they would their own, she was almost a surrogate mum. She lived on a farm and the children played outside and helped feed the chickens and rabbits.  They would go for daily walks and role-play together in the house, setting up shops and so on. We wanted Suzi to go somewhere structured, with more of a routine. My theory was this would help her adjust to school later on.

     I had also worked in a nursery and really enjoyed it. The children were encouraged to be independent- hang up their coats, remove their outside shoes and wash their hands before eating. Education was taught subtly, without pushing it on the children at too young an age. For example, finding their names, tracing pictures, ball skills and colour matching. They would have a letter of the week and be asked to bring in items beginning with that letter. I also liked the fact that different children went on different days, encouraging Suzi to be sociable, not sticking to one friend all day, every day. I felt this was the best option for Suzi, she liked to be independent and would thrive in this environment.

    I was right she loved it. Once I knew this was the right option our other three children would follow. Although Oscar is not old enough yet, he will attend a nursery next year. It was a time that I thoroughly enjoy with them. Parents evenings are held, which allowed us to view their activities and the milestones they had reached.  Best of all, each milestone was photographed and put in a book. Looking at the pictures of what our children get up to when I am not around is a very odd. The reminder that they are little people, no longer a part of me, they have their own  voices and ideas when I am not around! As you can imagine these books are kept locked away, safe and sound. Sometimes we pull them out and re-live  times which seem to  have gone in a blink.

    One of the best things about this particular Nursery for me is Sports Day. So many nurseries and schools have made Sports Day non-competitive, or a day where everyone has to be a ‘winner’, or they just no longer have Sports Day. I believe l this is a terrible! No way does it reflect life.  Like it or not, life is extremely competitive and if our children believe they will achieve without trying, how can they become ambitious adults? I love sports days I think my children have only won about three events, but hearing them say "I got distracted, I know what to do better next year," or watching them practice weeks before, determined to get that first prize sticker makes me proud. I also love the look on their faces when I am sitting at the edge of the grass with my camera, even when they miss the word 'go' and are left at the start line waving and blowing kisses for me to catch.

    Another joy is the nativity play. For me Christmas isn't Christmas without a children’s nativity play. A lot of hard work for the staff, but the fact that they continue to come up with slightly altered versions of the same play, year after year, is so touching. The children love it, with the exception of the odd one that spots his/her parent and cries throughout the play! Or the poor little mite who, even though the teacher has made it clear that they must go to the loo before the performance, wets him/herself and has to be escorted off stage
    Something which immediately draws me to a nursery is the location, primarily the safety factor. However well staffed and with locks on every door, too high for a child to reach, I will worry. In my mind my child is Houdini (in reality they struggle to turn a door handle) and if he/she gets out what danger lurks ?  ‘Our’ nursery is on a farm at the end of a long track, traffic is minimal so a collision with a car speeding through the village is unlikely. There are not likely to be unexpected visitors using a nearby car park or attraction.  The only people in the vicinity of the nursery are the staff or other parents.

. The first consideration when we choose a nursery is the staff.  If I am greeted by someone who seems bored or disinterested, no matter how amazing the setting, our child will not be attending. Children are so precious, so priceless, they deserve one hundred percent commitment from their carers.

     A nursery’s decor is very important. Colour - no one wants their child attending a dull and dreary nursery. I like to see individual places for various activities so that I know my child is going to have a full day and not just be plonked somewhere doing the same thing all day. An big, fenced outside play area - a grassy area for rolling, reading and other activities is a massive plus. Our children take after their father and love to be outside. A hard-play area for riding peddle bikes and tractors and drawing shadows is great.     As I was not working, I was able to pick and choose the times they attended nursery. The first three have been lucky to begin with just three mornings a week. Long enough to settle, get to know the staff and take part in activities. After their first term two of the days were bumped up to  include lunch. All our children have really loved lunch at nursery it made them feel grown up, and their table manners improved dramatically. After another term, if they seemed ready, afternoon sessions were added to the two days on which they had lunch.  I believe attending the nursery for a full day during the second year prepared them for the full day they were soon to have at school.

Kids in mind: Pregnancy and Labour

Kids in mind: Pregnancy and Labour: Oscar Michael        In English, Oscar  means ‘Divine S pear ’  and in Gaelic  ‘L over of  D eer ’ . Oscar was named by Michael .  I had...

Kids in mind: Pregnancy and Labour

Kids in mind: Pregnancy and Labour: James.      My big gorgeous boy: he was definitely my most traumatic birth.      I knew I was having a boy because at my 20 week scan, M...

Kids in mind: Pregnancy and Labour

Kids in mind: Pregnancy and Labour: My labour stories. Suzi.  arrived a day late. I had been sure she would arrive at least a week...

Kids in mind: Where did the time go???

Kids in mind: Where did the time go???: 8 years! 8 short years is how long I have been a mummy (not the toilet roll accessorising kind a mother). In those 8 years I h...

Where did the time go???

8 years! 8 short years is how long I have been a mummy (not the toilet roll accessorising kind a mother). In those 8 years I have been blessed with 4 beautiful children, I have 2 girls and 2 boys. Some would say I have seen my fair share of everything child related from numerous A and E visits to being poked in the eye consecutively just for a bit of piece and quiet.
However there is still one thing I cannot solve, one thing I am desperate for the secret to, one thing that has left me completely and utterly stumped! Where does the time go? Before the children were born I heard this phrase from numerous people at different occasions I would usually smile in agreement and sometimes reply with "yes today has gone quick" or "time flies when your having fun". But I never fully understood what happened to one of the most logical and understandable things human kind concocted until I was blessed with my little time wasters. You may be horrified at the term 'time wasters' being used on my own children but I use it in an affectionate way. I have often and I am sure I am not alone got stuck into cleaning the cooker your up to your elbows in grease and grime from last weeks (and the week before if your honest) roast dinner. The power spray is foaming and you are scrubbing realisation of why you were putting this job off dawning on you. Your 1 year old is asleep your not going to hear from him for at least an hour, your 3 year old is in front of the telly peppa pig on a loop snack, drink all within his easy reach and you put him on the loo before you started you should have 20 minutes to get this job done before he gets bored. The scrubbing is in full swing when in he walks in "mummy" his voice rising at the end you don't look at him, head stuffed in the oven, you hear the peppa pig theme tune, a new episode he will hear it and retake his seat in the sitting room. He doesn't!
"Mummy I want you sit down with me, I want tuddle (cuddle) pleeeeease" don't look at him you know if you look at him, at that blonde hair and big brown eyes you will give in you will stop. "Mummy I want a tuddle" he's crying you come out of the oven and look at his baby face the chubby hold still on his neck and wrists these years go so quickly and you had sworn u would enjoy every cuddle before they stopped wanting them. One cuddle won't make to much difference after all a cuddle only lasts 5 minutes. You take off your marigolds "5 minutes 1 peppa pig episode ok" I am saying this for my benefit more than his. "Ok mummy" he beams that huge smile and jumps up and down on the spot with excitement.
Do you sit for 5 minutes? Do you sit for 1 episode? No he sits so perfectly still holding you so tight that you both fall asleep before Peppa finds the ball in the tall grass. You wake up in a panic just before you have to leave to pick up the girls from school - where did the time go I haven't checked more than 3 things off my to do list.
This is one example of how time disappears another is the one that I struggle with the most the one that truly stumps me. We walk to school on my own it takes 3 minutes with the children it takes 5. We like to arrive at school at 8.35am logic tells you we should leave the house at 8.30, so putting shoes and coats on at 8.25 should allow us to leave on time. After all my 8 year old and 5 year old are more than capable of putting their shoes and coats on themselves. We start putting shoes on at 8.25, we leave the house between 8.40 and 8.45 15 to 20 minutes it takes my children to put their shoes and coats on. Their shoes which are in the cupboard exactly the same place everyday however they insist on asking me where they are every morning. Any logical person would look at this and say its a simple case of time management you want to be there at 8.35 it takes 5 minutes to walk., 20 minutes to put shoes on start putting shoes on at 8.10. So we do just that what do you imagine happens? You would not be foolish to think that it took them 40 minutes to put there shoes on, had this happened I would have concluded that this was a conspiracy the children had concocted to send me crazy. Sadly no this didn't happen we were all set and ready at 8.13. 3 minutes!!!! We were at school for 8.21 the gates were locked we were forced to stand outside freezing in the snow for 15 minutes the children sobbing that they were cold and asking "why did we have to leave so early?" So I ask again what cruel joke does time insist on playing with parents and why?
You would also not be completely foolish in thinking that when the weekends come around and my husband is home surely the task of getting out of the house is much easier. The cruel dictator of time must allow us to half our personal best when there is a dependable, organised male in the house. The answer is no it gets even more baffling, husbands need 40 minutes to get themselves ready to leave the house, but they can't share the children's 40 minutes, they can't occupy themselves while you get the children ready. No that is far to straight forward they demand a whole 40 minutes of their own usually whilst you are sat in the car waiting. That makes 80 minutes over an hour to get 4 children and a 30 year old man out of the house. Illogical!