Category: Health

Should dog licensing be reintroduced in the UK?

 In the last week alone, we’ve had two run-ins with dogs where the owners were unable to control their pets. Yesterday, we went for a walk at Heartwood Forest near St Albans, which is a Mecca for dog walkers and for kids wanting to build dens. On our way back to the car a dog came running at my four year old growling and barking. It was not on a lead.  Luckily, the owner got to the dog before I did.

The owners seemed very nice and were very apologetic claiming that ‘he doesn’t like children?’ This begs the question, why take him to a place where there’s a very good chance you will come across children?

The case for leads

I would never suggest that all dogs should be muzzled nor should they not be allowed to roam free in public places. In this case, I feel the dog owners have every right to take their dog for a walk in the woods but this particular animal should have been on a lead. A few minutes before this we had a gorgeous Husky coming bounding towards us off of a lead, but the owners were able to call it back immediately and I had absolutely no problem with this.

Unless you’re 100% sure of the temperament of the animal and you can stop the animal on a sixpence it should be on a lead in public places. Some people seem to be taking unnecessary risks which could have devastating outcomes.

Another attack

So, when I returned home and read in the news that a six-year old girl had part of her ear bitten off by a Bull Terrier I flew off the handle. The father had to punch the dog repeatedly and the owner fled, however, he has now turned himself into police. I do appreciate that we will never know the full story and in a lot of the cases children can be to blame for antagonizing the animals.

It may be the media but it seems that dog attacks seem to be on the rise and something needs to be done.

In Canada, dog owners are required to have a dog license, linking the animal to an individual. People pay a yearly fee and if you don’t have a dog license they have the right to remove the animal. I can’t help thinking this would be a good idea in the UK. Apparently, there was a scheme but it was scrapped in the 80s? I would love to know why it was binned.

We do have a local dog warden but they only get involved if there has been an incident. This seems to be reactionary and that something should be put in place to stop it or decrease the chances of it happening in the first place.

Is it unfair?

Many ‘responsible’ dog owners feel that this is unfair as they’re being punished for the bad behaviour of a few and I can’t disagree. And I can see that people are sceptical and rightly so, that it would only be another way of lining the taxman’s pocket with little or no benefit to dog owners. But, what if the money was earmarked for dog parks, beaches, dog rehabilitation, etc?

Would it deter ‘trophy’ dog owners if they were directly linked to the animal and responsible for its behaviour? Would it be a way of vetting dog owners and ensuring the welfare of the animals?

I would love your thoughts on this one.

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Would you eat your own placenta?

I personally wouldn’t and the mere thought of it makes me gag. Earlier in the week I was watching ‘How to be a good mother’ hosted by Sharon Horgan. Sharon, like many of us, was questioning her own parenting skills and went to visit 6 mothers who have very different approaches to parenting.

Introducing the mums
There was a young mother 27 who had 6 children, all home births and are all home schooled. Another who believes in extended breastfeeding, no nappies, co-sleeping, frowns upon all modern inventions including prams and is a wet-nurse. One is a busy working mum who is incredibly organised thanks to technology. She has a nanny who is required to send photos to mum daily, has 1000 of apps on her phone, schedules a video conference with her son every day and has the most amazing communication platform (chalk board) in the kitchen.

The one I could associate with the most was the ex-stuntwoman, wicked step mother and dress couture. She never wanted children of her own, inherited some step children, but then found herself pregnant. She strongly believes that children shouldn’t be wrapped in cotton wool and that helicopter parents aren’t doing their children any favours, which I completely agree with. However, I do think she takes a few unnecessary risks as she doesn’t believe in bike helmets for children. Eeek!

Penchant for placenta
But the one that I can’t get out of my head is the one that has a penchant for placenta. When her own child was born and the midwife wasn’t looking, she sneaked a piece and wolfed it down. Bleuch! She’s turned her love of placentas into her own home business. People send her their placentas and she cooks them up and not wasting a thing. She makes heart shaped window charms out of the umbilical chord, drying them to preserve them. She also visits new mothers in their homes and by request blends up the placenta with fruit to make a smoothie. Apparently it tastes quite nice.

I appreciate that umbilical stem cell research can help in the treatment of things like Parkinsons, Diabetes, Burns and Arthritis but I’m fairly sure the patients don’t ingest them.

So, the question is, would you eat your own placenta? Do you believe there are health benefits or is this woman crackers?

[polldaddy poll=5837372]

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How to talk to a complete stranger?

Nearly broke my heart today. My daughter asked to go to a soft play centre, which is equivalent to hell for me. However, in an attempt to be a good mother, I said no problem, but I explained that we would be going on our own and wouldn’t know anyone there. She said she wasn’t bothered. Normally, she is a very confident social character. She hasn’t had any problems making friends at school and socializing with other children in familiar situations is a breeze for her. She’s far from shy and has a lot more social skills than her mother.

The Problem

However, when we arrived at the soft play centre, she struggled to find anyone to play with. She attempted to go off and play but came back a bit deflated saying she felt lonely and no one would play with her. In my quest to develop her independence, I tried my best to sit back, playing on my IPAD and let her work it out. But…..

Our Attempt to solve it

At one point, I walked around with her holding her hand looking for a playmate but they were all running by so quickly. She tried a couple of times to say excuse me but they didn’t hear her. Bless!

Totally lost, I suggested finding someone playing on their own and introduce yourself and ask if they would like to play, but no luck. Then, I suggested that she find some children having fun and play near them and maybe they would ask her to join in. Bless she went and sat by herself in a play tunnel for ages and no one came by. It was so hard to watch.

Solution

In the end, I intervened again and luckily found two sisters, who were lovely and when I explained she didn’t have anyone to play with they swooped in and whisked her away. I had to drag her away in the end.

In reflection, it is rather an odd thing to go up to a complete stranger and ask to join in? As an adult walking up to people you don’t know and striking up conversation is the social equivalent of skydiving. So why do we expect children to do it so easily?

In future, what can I do to help her? Do you have any tips on how to help them make friends in these situations?

At what age do children become self conscious of how they look?

Firstly, I must preface that this has nothing to do with the particular parent, child or their parenting skills.  It could have been any child even my own.

We were at a Christmas party on the weekend.  There was a pretty little 4-year old girl in a lovely party dress.  She accidentally spilled a glass of red wine all over her dress.  Her mother whisked her off to change, but she was very upset, not because she was worried about being told off, as it was a genuine accident, but because she ‘didn’t look pretty anymore’.  This comment freaked both her mother and I out a bit and we did chat about it.  The mother also mentioned that she overheard the girls use the word ‘skinny’ in the nursery playground but didn’t know in what context.

This isn’t the first time.  When my daughter was two I distinctly remember her pal leaning over to her and saying ‘I like your jeans’.  I was absolutely stunned. WTF?  How does a 2-year-old know what they like and what they don’t like when it comes to fashion.  I can appreciate that they may like chocolate, toast or mummy and daddy but clothes??  They couldn’t even dress themselves yet.

How does this happen at such a young age?  Is it parental role models? Media?  How can we stop it from happening?

I would love to hear your ideas.

 

 

Stranger Danger!

I’m not one for giving unsolicited parenting advice, as parenting is not my forte, but I genuinely believe this is very good advice.

My daughter is only 4; she knows our house number but not the name of the street, she can count to 30 and back but would never be able to recite my mobile number and on a good day I’m lucky if she knows my last name, as we have different last names. I’m adamant that I don’t want to frighten her into that thinking there’s a bogeyman around every corner waiting snatch her, but I do want to equip her to cope is she ever in a frightening situation. For example, if we get separated in a crowd.

So, when we go to busy events; Fireworks night, Winter Wonderland, turning on Christmas lights or travelling on the tube in rush hour, I always have a quick conversation with her in a blasé tone, to play down the likelihood that this will happen. I begin by giving her one of my business cards and asking her to put it in her pocket. Then I remind her that if ‘we get separated don’t panic/cry, find another mummy, tell her you can’t find your mummy and give her my business card’.  So many of us tell our kids to find a police officer, but when’s the last time you stumbled across a Bobby?

Nine times out of ten, most other mums will be completely safe, will do their utmost to help, will comfort her and reunite us in minutes.

Fingers crossed this never happens but it makes me feel a lot better that she at least knows what to do, heaven forbid it ever happens. But, we all know kids are bloody quick and it’s only a matter of time before it does.