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Moments Like This: Ready for senior school

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

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When you have two girls eleven years apart you can't help noticing how quickly life whizzes by. I look at Dolly, clapping, waving and staggering a couple of unsteady steps (these are her only three party tricks) and I have flashbacks of her older sister, Flo, as clear as yesterday. The baby is a daily, noisy reminder of how fast the ...

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Achtung Baby or Calling you Parents of Experience

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

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Since my imminent meltdown was appeased by your comments regarding Finje not yet being able to write her name, I was wondering if I could be so bold as to call on your wisdom again? Last week, we enjoyed the hospitality of two wonderful friends who live "Down South" in Nürnburg, I'll call them Mr and Mrs O. Mrs O is a Kiwi and Mr ...

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Co-sleeping: Why I love sharing my bed with my baby

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

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I'm going to come right out and say it: I co-sleep with my baby and I love it. My husband does too, and we both feel that the pros outweigh the cons. The interesting thing about it is that when you mention in conversation that you are a co-sleeping family, people can look at you strangely. Or, other parents will then admit to you that ...

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Only 32 out of 2000 schools take up 'academy' status offer

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

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Just 32 schools are set to open their doors as independent academies this week, with only 110 more due to follow suit in the coming months. ...

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Ffion Hague's miscarriage hell

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

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As William Hague was forced to vigorously defend himself against allegations about his private life last night, he also revealed that his wife Ffion had had a series of miscarriages, the most recent having happened over the summer break. In a statement issued by Mr Hague to end speculation about the nature of his relationship with his ...

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Long haired lovelies: Why do boys with long hair STILL upset polite society?

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

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'He'll get picked on!' 'He looks like a girl!' 'It's so scruffy on a boy!' These are just a few of the comments levied at my seven year old son in the past couple of weeks, and throughout his life, really. All because he has (and always has had) long hair. William's mane is his crowning glory. It is thick, wavy and abundant, and ...

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Runaway lorry crashes feet from baby's bedroom

Thu, 02 Sep 2010

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A 15-month-old baby has cheated death after a lorry ploughed through a warehouse adjoining her home, missing her bedroom by just a few feet. Taryn Alcroft and her parents, Andy and Ruth, were sleeping in their home when the incident happened at 3.26 this morning. Mr Alcroft heard the vehicle smashing into the building adjacent to ...

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Mum of ten begs for more room in council house

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

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A mum who lives in a three-bedroomed house with 10 children and her partner is asking for a bigger house. Donna Harrison, from Bradford, says she has been asking social landlord Incommunities to allocate her family a bigger house for five years, to no avail. Donna has six children and also looks after another four, one of whom is ...

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How to find out what your child gets up to at school

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

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Come early September, hundreds of thousands of four-year-olds will head into primary school for the first time and by 3pm, hundreds of thousands of their parents will be desperate to know how it all went. Were they the life and soul of the playground or did they even just talk to someone? Did they eat their lunch or sit there daunted by ...

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Female teachers are letting down boys in the classroom, says survey

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

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Sexism is alive and kicking in the classroom, says a new report. A study carried out at Kent University suggests that primary school teachers, 90 per cent of whom are female, are unwittingly holding boys back by reinforcing gender stereotypes in the classroom. Boys are expected to conform to a more 'feminine' style of play instead ...

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Double take! Two sisters give birth to baby boys at the same time in the same hospital

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

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The chances were slim. In fact, they were just 125,000 - 1. But a pair of sisters have both given birth to baby boys - on the same day, at the same hospital, on the same ward. Catherine Morris, 34, (pictured on the left of this photo) and Dawn Potts, 31, (pictured on the right) surprised midwives at North Staffordshire's ...

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Your baby's coming, ready or not!

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

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When Samantha Cameron was packing for her Cornish summer hols just a few weeks ago, she was probably thinking more comfy shoes and sun cream than nursing nighties, paper knickers and a going-home outfit. We are told that Mrs C woke up in the midst of her West Country break experiencing pains, and went to hospital just to be checked ...

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Toddler comes face-to-face with escaped tiger on trip to the zoo

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

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A day out at the zoo turned into a nightmare for one mum when her toddler came eye-to-eye with a tiger which had escaped from its enclosure. The 230g Bengal tiger managed to jump over a 12ft fence and apparently roamed freely around Jungle Island Zoo, Miami, for about 20 minutes. Mother Diana Barrett said she walked around a corner ...

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Health and Safety officials ban kids' garden trampoline

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

A childminder has been ordered to take down a children's trampoline from her garden - for health and safety reasons. Sharon Farmer has had the trampoline in her shared garden in Lewisham, south London, for 10 years. It has a safety net around the sides and it is supervised at all times when children are playing on it. Not only ...

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Mums lie to their kids every day to get them to eat fruit and veg

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

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The average mum tells her child TWO fibs a day to coax them into eating healthy food, a new poll has found. The most common lies include telling toddlers that eating fruit and veg will make them really strong like their favourite TV hero. Millions of mums regularly wheel out porky pies such as 'carrots will help you see in the dark' ...

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Five-year-old dies after mistaking dad's painkillers for sweets

Wed, 01 Sep 2010

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A five-year old girl died of a massive drug overdose after mistaking her father's painkillers for Jelly Beans, an inquest heard yesterday. Hanna Collins, from Borehamwood, Herts, swallowed the fatal dose of the drug, Tramadol, after taking the packet from a cupboard in the kitchen, where sweets and chocolate were also kept. The ...

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101 Uses for a Dedicated Dad: Television

Tue, 31 Aug 2010

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By television I mean anything that appears on the dreaded box, including videos and DVDs as well as broadcast programmes. My wife and I are not of the school that says you have to drastically curtail TV watching or not have it all, so the boys are well versed in the spectrum of entertainment available to them, and indeed the younger ...

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Superbug outbreak kills three babies at leading London hospital

Tue, 31 Aug 2010

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Three newborn babies died, and 12 others were infected, following an outbreak of a superbug in the intensive care unit at University College Hospital, London last month. Records from an emergency meeting show that one premature baby died from a bacterial infection that doctors were unable to fight with antibiotics. Two other babies ...

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The Newborn Diaries: 39 Weeks

Tue, 31 Aug 2010

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I've officially self-diagnosed myself with "nappy brain". I've never been the most organised or "with it" person, but at this stage, things are getting ridiculous. I can barely string together a sentence, let alone make it anywhere. I had an antenatal GP appointment the other day, the one, planned leaving-the-house venture that was ...

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President Obama's baby is all grown up

Tue, 31 Aug 2010

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My, hasn't she grown? President Barack Obama may still call her his baby, but his daughter Malia is catching up with her dad in height. At the tender age of 12, Malia is believed to measure 5ft 9inches - just four inches shorter than her dad, who at 6ft 1 stands among the tallest of all US presidents. A growth spurt over ...

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