[galpinos]

I noticed yesterday that my bag of Aldi coffee didn't have a Rainforest Alliance or a Fairtrade logo on it. That doesn't seem right since we, as a society, have spent the past decade or more influencing supermarkets to stock only (or nearly only) Fairtrade coffee, bananas, high welfare chicken etc. Presumably we were willing to pay (or at least said we were willing to pay) for these higher ethical standards; it would be a shame if it was all abandoned at the first whiff of a cheap deal.

Couple of points:
1) They sell a smaller proportion of Fairtrade products than other supermarkets but that is no surprise, they are a budget retailer and the premium for such goods isn't inline with their customers reasons for shopping with them
2) You chose to shop their and buy their non-fairtrade coffee. If it's that important to you........
3) There coffee is pretty poor imho. Buy some decent Fairtrade coffee from elsewhere.

Not having a go at you personally but the responsibilities fall on both the retailer and the consumer.

[lagerstarfish]

Aldi put really small Fairtrade logos on their coffee bean packs - how's that supposed to help me impress the chicks? you can hardly see them unless you're specifically looking

[webbo]

Every now and then we try Aldi and we find that there is the odd reasonable saving or decent product such as the bread/ pastries. But a lot of stuff is tasteless such as their tomatoes, the coffee is shit and I've never had a bottle of wine that I would buy again.

[slackline]

Climber Steve McClure: All children should be exposed to a bit of danger – it does them good

[Oldmanmatt]

Not exactly "good" (probably quite bad actually... like, uh, very) but, anyway...

The youngest took a hard tackle in a school football match two weeks ago (she's team captain) and snapped her Tibia; so she's been in a full length cast ever since.
Lily being Lily, she's pissed off with the restrictions already and insisted on writing her own training program. She's also a bit of a "Rocky" fan (and AC⚡️DC too), so we decided to have a giggle and make a training montage.
All exercises from her head...




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[Oldmanmatt]

Yesterday was No.2 Daughter's 8th birthday, so today was birthday treat day, fun day out, exciting activities etc, you get the picture.

Except, No.2 Son came into our room at 07:30 with "my tummy hurts" followed by Bleaurgh! Splatter! Splatter!

So I stayed home with him, a bowl, a scrubbing brush and a bad mood.

The darling family have just returned with a present from Exeter Xmas market, to make me feel better.
Bless.




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[tommytwotone]

Probably in vain but looking for some advice from the Dad crew.


So Una (nearly 3, will be in Feb) is normally a brilliant sleeper - we can put her down at 6:30pm and she'll go right through till 6:30am, 7am the next morning.


However, in the last month or so she's suddenly taken to waking up in the middle of the night and insisted on coming into our bed where she ends up shuffling about, tossing and turning and generally not sleeping / keeping us awake.


No amount of "it's still night darling" / this is your special bed / even me getting to her bed with her seems to help. She isn't crying, upset or anything so I don't think it's nightmares. Only thing I can possibly think of is that she's subconsciously aware of her brother's imminent arrival (Feb 2017), and is after some attention?


We're absolutely at our wit's end, especially as Fiona is c.7 months pregnant so not exactly sleeping brilliantly at the moment. Would it be inhumane to buy a couple of door bolts?! 

[Luke Owens]

This: Gro-Clock - http://www.argos.co.uk/product/9103348

Basically a clock that you set to light up with a picture of the sun when it's time to get up. You can set it to have stars glowing at night time too. It also comes with a handy story about why it's important to sleep all night and not get up before the "sun".

We had to get one for our eldest (4yr old) after our 2nd arrived as he would get up an hour before he needed and disturb the new arrival without realising what time it was. We've never had the problem of him getting in our bed though. Maybe incentives would work with that? Stickers for being good etc. have always worked well with ours.

The clock has worked perfectly for us, he hasn't got up in the night or too early in the morning since.

[Yossarian]

We had exactly the same problem.

My wife said "You can sleep on the floor in here, or go back to your own bed"

Sibylla slept on some cushions on the floor about three times then figured out that her bed was preferable.

[Catcheemonkey]

I was surprised how acutely my daughter (then just 4) felt the arrival of my son - it was even more disruptive for her world than it was for ours.

Her sleeping went off the rails, mainly due to jealousy over our son sleeping in a basket in our room. Through guilt, my wife and I abandoned enforcing the 'Gro-Clock' which previously had worked brilliantly - two years later we're only just getting back on track.

I'd say setting a routine, sticking to it and providing constant reassurance that your daughter isn't being replaced will get you past the disruption that's inevitable when your newborn shows up.

[nai]

That sounds like the sort of solution you need. Mates kid started it and they let him get away with it, still does it age 7 most mornings between 5 and 6am.

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[Luke Owens]

Is the jealousy over a 2nd arrival more of a girl thing?

Our son has never seemed anything but psyched to have a sister thankfully. I must admit we did worry he'd feel left out, but it seems to of had the reverse effect and he seems more grown up/independent.

[Catcheemonkey]

Is the jealousy over a 2nd arrival more of a girl thing?

It might be. At 2 and a half my son is still "Smash. Eat. Cuddle. Sleep" whereas my daughter was discussing her relationship with her nursery friends at the same age. Based on a sample of my house, I'd say girls are way more socially aware.

[SA Chris]

Never underestimate the power of a reward chart - stay in your own bed 5 nights in a row, get xx (no not the newest CD by the band the XX).

Also could be a development leap which can cause disturbed nights - a major breakthrough in co-ordination, speech, feeding, potty training?

Alternatively could just be needing less sleep? Try a slightly later bed time? Wind down with books in bed, etc, establish a routine?

[SA Chris]

Is the jealousy over a 2nd arrival more of a girl thing?

It might be. At 2 and a half my son is still "Smash. Eat. Cuddle. Sleep" whereas my daughter was discussing her relationship with her nursery friends at the same age. Based on a sample of my house, I'd say girls are way more socially aware.

At age 4 1/2 my daughter is more socially aware than my 7 year old son!

[T_B]

There was a funny post on social media about Gro clocks. Put it this way, they don't work for everyone.

Your wife might appreciate a separate bed/room.

We had same issue after #2 was born. I ended up with #1 in my bed a lot. TBH I can't remember exactly how we solved it (selective memory). Probably lots of me lying on his floor until he'd gone back to sleep, then sneaking back to mine.

[erm, sam]

Is she getting cold?

We have had an unbreakable rule that no kids spend the night in our bed, ever. They can come in for a quick cuddle or very occasionally hang out until they fall asleep and we then move them back to theirs. Too many tales of friends whos kids come in to the bed 5 nights a week when they are 11.

If she is not upset, can you allow her to read in bed for a bit when she wakes up, rather than come to you?

[slackline]

If she is not upset, can you allow her to read in bed for a bit when she wakes up, rather than come to you?

I'd be impressed if she could...

So Una (nearly 3, will be in Feb)

[erm, sam]

ok, look at books rather than read them.

Mine are 8 and 11 now and I struggle to remember anything about what they were like when they were little. Maybe I shouldn't be offering any advice in that case...

[tommytwotone]

Thanks for the responses all - I had a talk with her last night about what happens when mini-TTT mk II arrives and she seemed receptive to that, not sure if it's pure coincidence but she remained in her bed all last night.


All good ideas to explore if this continues though - Sam, we also had a zero tolerance rule on co-sleeping, but in the last year or so at the weekend we've encouraged her to come in with us in the mornings as it means we can all chill, read papers (or kid's books to Una in my case) etc like we used to before kids. Not sure if we might have unwittingly created a rod for our own backs now!

[erm, sam]

I'm all for chilling out in the morning, all sat in bed reading or what have you..

[tomtom]

Next doors 3 yo girl has co-slept with the parents from the word dot. I'm not convinced (far from it) that this was a good plan given the wailing/tantrums etc.. we hear at many odd hours of the night/evening/morning...

[Drew]

Too many tales of friends whos kids come in to the bed 5 nights a week when they are 11.

Friend of a friend has 2 sons aged 20 and 23 and neither of them will stay at home alone. They were big co-sleepers. Just saying like.

[Oldmanmatt]

We do mass pile on, every morning. Two alarms set (first the Disturbed's cover of "Sound of silence" @ 7 and then Muse break in with "Uprising" @7:15) and kids are evicted, still singing. I wanted "Fire starter" but Mrs OMM says that's just too much for mornings.

Eldest Daughter just spent the last 48hrs exploring the world of vomit, so youngest (who shares a room with her) has been in our bed. Her leg is in a cast too.

Never.

Ever.

Again.

At 4am, the 8 year old had more bed than the two adults put together!

And was, somehow, flipped head to toe with her mum; who she kicked in the kisser with the cast.

Co-sleeping?

F#*k that!

Little sod snores too.


All posts either sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek or mildly mocking-in-a-friendly-way unless otherwise stated. I always forget to put those smiley things...

[tomtom]

The Cat is more of a nuisance than the baby at the moment (sleep disruption wise)...