Social Off Topic Thread - House of Dastardly Crax

[Hello Kitty]

My mum was militant in making me go to bed before I was ever actually tired. Her theory was that if she was tired, then so must I be tired. The poor thing, she was a single-mother since I was aged three, and she was out of her depth dealing with me as a son by herself for so many years!

Yep! Not touching that one with a barge pole!




Leaving it to Teri lol

 

[Hello Kitty]

ROFL!!!
You watch Waaaayyy too much TV Kitty !!!

I did, still do! I loved Charlie's Angels, really wanted to be Farah Fawcett-Major, had the hair-do lol

 

[Hello Kitty]

I put my kids to bed early after reading to them, letting them have about 30 minutes of reading time by themselves before turning off the light- yeah, even the toddlers had reading time. They all were asleep within minutes of lights out, if not while reading their books.
If I'd let them stay up later, they'd still fall asleep just as quickly but this way I had time to spend with the older kids, plus time for housework and my own reading time. Hubby worked away about 50% of the time- interstate, overseas, all over the place. I didn't have any help if I got sick or exhausted so my place had to run like clockwork which, I think, helped my kids.
I have seen kids who have no set bedtimes and a chaotic evening routine and they have turned out OK, too- so whatever suits the parents and their own routine seems to work in most cases. I've also seen kids from strict backgrounds and kids with permissive parents and both types can churn out families of little pricks...

I think it's extremely important that kids have a routine, not only for the family + house to run smoothly, but I've read that a routine engenders a lot of security in children, which helps with their development. I have a friend whose mother worked at night. He'd come home from school, do his homework, she'd give him a TV dinner while he watched TV + she went to work. Now he is an extremely successful man, but OMG he has emotional issues!!! It's really very sad. I'm not a routine person at all. But growing up, we had a routine + we always had a parent at home in the evening. But we came home from school to an empty house, cause Mum had a career. Nevertheless, she always made a three course dinner, did all the housework + like your hubby, Teri, my Dad was away on business too. But my mother did go on some of his business trips + I went to boarding school lol

 

[Hello Kitty]

You feed your little one coffee?
lol
One of my kids used to wake at 4.30am like clockwork when he was about 9 months old. Used to sit on the pot, poop, then go back into his cot and play with toys while i went back to sleep. Yep. No dirty nappies from 9 months of age

That's fantastic!!! I had a cat who used to wake me at 5:30am like clockwork + I had to go to the kitty litter with him, while he did something + then we'd go back to bed lol

 

[Hello Kitty]

Ha I actually remember a conversation when I would have been maybe 6 where my 13 year old sister said to mum "Hey Mark needs to be given a specific bed time, how about when A Country Practice ends?" (which iirc was 8.30) And me just thinking to myself what are you trying to doing you silly witch??? Get lost you traitor!

LOL We had two TV's so never an issue with my brother lol But he was a lot older + my sister went to boarding school, so from about 10 y.o. I was like an only child, except when my sister came home for weekends lol But she never watched TV.

 

[Strangled Cat]

Those are very valuable qualifications in the mining industry, SC- but, apart from bringing you in a shitload of cash while the going is good (boom time), it would place a lot of stress on your family life if you had to do FIFO. Better if FIFO is left to single people or older couples, IMO, than parents with young kids. Enjoy your kids while you can- life goes too fast for you to miss out on a minute more of their childhood than you need to.

How did your husband cope with not seeing the kids very much? I get the stress of FIFO. I'd miss my wife and kids like crazy, but I'd be doing it for them and their future. Right now it's hard to just make ends meet. I want my kids to go to a private school, I want to invest more money into my wife's business, I want to get my wife a newer car. Hell, I'd love to not have a mortgage hanging over my head for the next 26 years! Mining life may present with its challenges, but it'd certainly fix a whole bunch of problems, too.

My wife has her family around her to help with the kids unlike you had. My father-in-law has just retired after 47 years of working as a hydrologist (water engineer) for various councils around metro Adelaide. He's built up an enormous amount of contacts over the years and has set his house up with an office and all the equipment/software and is now privately consulting. He can work as little or as much as he wants to and lives 2 minutes drive away from our kids school. My daughter starts school next year and my wife finishes her TAFE studies.

At this point in time we're debating whether she go back to work full time as we won't have childcare fees anymore which will free up a massive amount of money and it'd mean that the in-laws can help us with the kids by picking them up from school. The problem is my wife doesn't want to go back into the workforce as she HATES the corporate world and the nasty, mundane, banal city office career. She did it for 10 years and was completely miserable. A well paid mining job would fix a lot of problems, like I said.

 

[Hello Kitty]

I'm off to pick up my two girls. They've been out to dinner and a movie at my son's place
Will catch you again soon!
Catfish Alley - when your oldest is a little older, teach him to operate the DVD player

How gorgeous is that?

 

[Hello Kitty]

God I'm sick of this Goodes rubbish.

Me too! + I only found out about it on Thursday lol Still don't completely understand what it's about, but is it because he's sooking for frees or something similar + people are fed up with him + he's turned it into a race issue? That's all I can really glean. But I did love Mark Robinson saying on AFL360 how much he hates Alan Jones lol I am liking Robbo now I've been watching AFL360, he's so passionate, enthusiastic + a bit of a Teddy Bear lol

 

[Hello Kitty]

When I started school my mum made me wear singlets under my shirt if it was forecasted to be below 23°C. She'd have my uniform set for the week, with a certain amount of singlets set aside based on the long range forecast!

But weren't you in Geelong? Does Geelong have four seasons in one day, or is that only Melbourne?

 

[Hello Kitty]

It wouldn't surprise me to hear you admit that in March 2014 you gave the lot of them the middle finger and said "F... the lot of you, I'm done aftee so many years" and that's why you've adopted all of us on BF instead! I jest, of course as I'd never seriously suggest that you'd do that!

Bolded - oh yes she would!!!

 

[Strangled Cat]

Yep! Not touching that one with a barge pole!




Leaving it to Teri lol

You want to adopt me. Do you know what you're in for?

 

[Hello Kitty]

Haven't you realised she's a robot ?
She never sleeps.

The only other explanation is she's an ice addict and can go days without sleep

LOLLING

 

[Hello Kitty]

I'm not qualified in anything except Light Vehicle Mechanical, Cert II Mining at TAFE which got confined space, working at heights, 4X4 recovery and forky ticket plus I have HR licence, too. The GFC fcuked me over and killed any mining career I could have had before it even began. SA's mining industry is pretty stuffed anyway since BHP canned their Olympic Dam expansion plan.

I think the most important thing in life is to be happy + not everyone needs to go to Uni, to have a successful life. I did Economics/Law, worked in Sport Law, then changed to Property Development, Construction + Finance - all for the one company, but changed to a completely different area - Fine Art, which I just adored, much more than Law + Finance. I ran the Decorative Arts department of an international auction house + I used to be disappointed when the weekend came lol Sadly, I had an accident + had to stop work. But I think some people don't always end up in the career they first choose.

 

[Hello Kitty]

You want to adopt me. Do you know what you're in for?

But at least you've grown up + I won't have to tell you to go to bed, or to put a jumper on, or to wear a singlet lol I'll just pop over for a visit, play with the honorary grandkids + we can hit the Barossa Valley lol

 

[Teriyakicat]

How did your husband cope with not seeing the kids very much? I get the stress of FIFO. I'd miss my wife and kids like crazy, but I'd be doing it for them and their future. Right now it's hard to just make ends meet. I want my kids to go to a private school, I want to invest more money into my wife's business, I want to get my wife a newer car. Hell, I'd love to not have a mortgage hanging over my head for the next 26 years! Mining life may present with its challenges, but it'd certainly fix a whole bunch of problems, too.

My wife has her family around her to help with the kids unlike you had. My father-in-law has just retired after 47 years of working as a hydrologist (water engineer) for various councils around metro Adelaide. He's built up an enormous amount of contacts over the years and has set his house up with an office and all the equipment/software and is now privately consulting. He can work as little or as much as he wants to and lives 2 minutes drive away from our kids school. My daughter starts school next year and my wife finishes her TAFE studies.

At this point in time we're debating whether she go back to work full time as we won't have childcare fees anymore which will free up a massive amount of money and it'd mean that the in-laws can help us with the kids by picking them up from school. The problem is my wife doesn't want to go back into the workforce as she HATES the corporate world and the nasty, mundane, banal city office career. She did it for 10 years and was completely miserable. A well paid mining job would fix a lot of problems, like I said.

It sounds like, in your situation, it might be a good career move, if the chance arose, SC. I know a couple who had kids a little younger than my youngest and she lived next door to her parents, in a duplex- she and her hubby worked f/t while her parents dropped off and picked up the kids from school regularly. She was able to find time to be on the P&F, and go to the kids' assemblies, sports carnivals, etc. so it all worked well for her.

Don't know how my hubby manages but people are all different and he is involved when he can be. I think he would've liked to have been involved more with footy/cricket, etc but, because he was away a lot, he just scored for cricket every weekend he was here, helped out at footy when he could and I did the rest. He's missed heaps of birthdays, lots of award ceremonies and things but he can pick and choose to some extent, so tries to arrange to be here for things like Year 12 graduation dinners, etc.
Sadly, he has sometimes been away for 2-3 days before anyone notices that he isn't around. That always makes me chuckle.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Bolded - oh yes she would!!!

....and I have indeed done just that

That's fantastic!!! I had a cat who used to wake me at 5:30am like clockwork + I had to go to the kitty litter with him, while he did something + then we'd go back to bed lol

what did you do there, Kitty?

 

[Teriyakicat]

How gorgeous is that?

Yeah, they love their big brother (one of my 'girls' is my Italian 'daughter' )

 

[Hello Kitty]

....and I have indeed done just that

what did you do there, Kitty?

I'd sit on the loo + wait for him to use the kitty litter lol Then I had to tell him he was a good boy + we'd go back to bed, he'd follow me up the stairs lol He was an amazing cat! Whenever he heard the keys, he'd be at the front door, went everywhere with me. I'd take him to the park every day + he'd see his friends - three geese + then we'd have a cappuccino, he'd sit on top of a sandstone fountain, stare at the dogs. He had a hat collection lol He was such a cutie!

 

[Teriyakicat]

I think it's extremely important that kids have a routine, not only for the family + house to run smoothly, but I've read that a routine engenders a lot of security in children, which helps with their development. I have a friend whose mother worked at night. He'd come home from school, do his homework, she'd give him a TV dinner while he watched TV + she went to work. Now he is an extremely successful man, but OMG he has emotional issues!!! It's really very sad. I'm not a routine person at all. But growing up, we had a routine + we always had a parent at home in the evening. But we came home from school to an empty house, cause Mum had a career. Nevertheless, she always made a three course dinner, did all the housework + like your hubby, Teri, my Dad was away on business too. But my mother did go on some of his business trips + I went to boarding school lol

I understand that having a routine is essential for kids who have issues like Aspbergers, ADD, autism, etc. Since that is in the increase these days, and routines seem to be on the decrease, I wonder if there's any relationship between that and the increase in medications handed out by doctors.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Yeah, they love their big brother (one of my 'girls' is my Italian 'daughter' )

It's wonderful! + I guessed that one was your Italian daughter.

 

[Teriyakicat]

I'd sit on the loo + wait for him to use the kitty litter lol Then I had to tell him he was a good boy + we'd go back to bed, he'd follow me up the stairs lol He was an amazing cat! Whenever he heard the keys, he'd be at the front door, went everywhere with me. I'd take him to the park every day + he'd see his friends - three geese + then we'd have a cappuccino, he'd sit on top of a sandstone fountain, stare at the dogs. He had a hat collection lol He was such a cutie!

aww... How lovely. I guess he's well and truly gone now?

 

[Teriyakicat]

It's wonderful! + I guessed that one was your Italian daughter.

You guessed good! Yeah, my eldest girl is currently in Melb.

 

[Hello Kitty]

I understand that having a routine is essential for kids who have issues like Aspbergers, ADD, autism, etc. Since that is in the increase these days, and routines seem to be on the decrease, I wonder if there's any relationship between that and the increase in medications handed out by doctors.

Could be! Probably is. I think it's also to do with their diet. So many times I've been at the checkout, with a Mum + her screaming kids behind me, I'd look in the trolley + it was full processed, packaged meals, packaged fruit, pop tarts, soft drinks, lollies etc, no fresh fruit or veggies. + the mother would look at me with despair + I'd just say "Look at what you're feeding them!!!" (FFS in my head lol)

 

[Hello Kitty]

aww... How lovely. I guess he's well and truly gone now?

Yes, sadly He was 16 when he died. Now I have my little lilac/cream tortoiseshell girl wanting a cuddle.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

I understand that having a routine is essential for kids who have issues like Aspergers, ADD, autism, etc. Since that is in the increase these days, and routines seem to be on the decrease, I wonder if there's any relationship between that and the increase in medications handed out by doctors.

Bolded = myself.

FWIW, I consider Aspergers Syndrome to be a social disability rather than any other sort and I rely on structure to get me through though it can get dull.