The welfare of a child,advice/opinions please.

[Labrador]

I must say that I agree with Robin, this is not the sort of subject I would expect, or want to see discussed on a Broads forum. I would suggest that the OP joins an appropriate forum to ask this question.

[ExSurveyor]

Woof woof,

Is there any minority interest that doesn't have a forum

[ExSurveyor]

BBBF, !!! no I won't ask

[ExSurveyor]

As you ask Dave

In what must be the ultimate exercise in navel-gazing, an Austrian scientist has solved the mystery of belly button fluff.

After three years of research, Georg Steinhauser, a chemist, has discovered a type of body hair that traps stray pieces of lint and draws them into the navel.

Dr Steinhauser made his discovery after studying 503 pieces of fluff from his own belly button.

Chemical analysis revealed the pieces of fluff were not made up of only cotton from clothing. Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust.

Dr Steinhauser's observations showed that 'small pieces of fluff first form in the hair and then end up in the navel at the end of the day'.

Writing in the journal Medical Hypotheses, he said the scaly structure of the hair enhances the 'abrasion of minuscule fibres from the shirt' and directs the lint towards the belly button.

"The hair's scales act like a kind of barbed hooks," he said. "Abdominal hair often seems to grow in concentric circles around the navel

Why is belly button fluff always blue?

Answer The age old question ever since Adam and Eve looked upon their first child(Adam and eve never had Navels as they were created not born).

The reason Belly-button fluff is blue is simply because Fibre form your clothes collect in your navel even though most clothes may not be blue most darker or even black dyes are made up of blue dyes/pigments. Therefore fluff of the navel is blue!

[loribear]

 Belly button fluff, now there's a new one lol,  i thought it stood for ... bald bored buggers forum      . lori 

[MauriceMynah]

Psychicsurveyor Mark,

You really do need to get out more! 

[Paul]

Answering the OP, I can understand the concern but it is not an unusual practice and can often be done for the child's safety. My sister has two girls, the eldest started sleepwalking from about two years old and still does, even now twenty five years later as a married woman. She had to be confined in her room as a child for her own safety, a proper twist lock is the way to go meaning no keys to lose etc. At 4 years old a stair gate is not a good idea, certainly you should not have a stair gate at the top of the stairs as by this age children are expert climbers and you are increasing the fall risk. Most children can cope with stairs quite well at 4. My son, Jamie was 4 at the end of June and regularly wakes very early, as in 4 or 5 am . Sometimes he comes into our room which we don't have a problem with but other times he will go down stairs. At 4 years old he can open the bottom stair gate which we keep as we babysit a younger nephew, he can handle child safe cupboard and drawer catches, he can move furniture to reach up onto shelves. Basically nowhere is safe. So far we have resisited using a door lock on his bedroom, but that may have to come. Over the past twelve months we have had a number of worrying incidents, not least finding him sitting on the kitchen floor with the Kenwood Chef plugged in, bowl full of milk and chocolate milk shake powder trying to work out how to fit the whisk attachment into the hole. He was trying to make mummy chocolate milk shake for breakfast. Bear in mind he has opened the kitchen cupboard, with supposed child safe latch, taken out the mixer, fitted the bowl (which is not easy on a kenwood, it has a bayonette fitting.) He has taken the child cover out of the electric socket and plugged the mixer in, He has opened the Ammerican fridge door, moved the kitchen chair to reach the milk down, opened the pantry door and again moved the chair to get the milk shake off the top shelf, unlatched the mixer head to tilt it back and is now trying to get the balloon whisk in. At 4 years old you would be amazed what kids can do.

Making sure he can't lave his room until we are awake may be the only way forward, at least for the mid term future.

[ExSurveyor]

Psychicsurveyor Mark,

You really do need to get out more! 

I try to get out more but the guards say I have to stay in the special facility until the courts say I can go out again

[sean8390]

Not a personal opinion, ,, from a fire sevice point of view the a lock would be better placed on the kitchen door likewise anywhere else where danger is likely to become a unsupervised child

[MauriceMynah]

I understand your point Sean, but the original question was more along the lines of ...,

"I've seen this bolt in somebody else's house, what should I do about it?"

This is another way of asking...

"At what point do I intervene in somebody else's parenting decisions?"

That's one hell of a minefield to wander into!

 

Say for example you see a parent teaching a child how to cross the road, and you hear them say...

"and then only cross if you are sure you can run fast enough."

 

Hmmm,. Question to all... What would you do if you witnessed that?

[Gracie]

I don't think any one has any right to question peoples parenting unless you are 100% certain there is abuse of any kind going on.

 

MM, Once while out shopping I and most other people in the shop heard a man saying "No you can't F......g  have it, I haven't got the money so stop your F......g moaning" or words to that effect. When I turned round he was screaming at a little girl of about 4, I was mortified and asked him would he mind not talking to the little girl in that way, his response as you can imagine was to rant and rave at me, he was eventually escorted out of the shop by security.

 

I still think of that little girl today and wonder what kind of verbal or any other abuse she is being subjected to, if a father can treat his child like that in public, what on earth is going on behind closed doors

 

Back to the original subject, although I don't agree with a lock on a childs door, it is tame in comparison to the above

 

Grace

[Paul]

" from a fire service point of view the a lock would be better placed on the kitchen door"

the problems with that are many fold. Not least that there are dangers outside the kitchen which a child like Jamie could have a field day with and it would also mean removing the key from the front door, which knowing a family who lost a parent in a fire because the lady could not find her door key in the dark then that is an absolute no no to me.

[sean8390]

As I'm on duty ill keep this response to minimum,, the tragic events you refer to are a reminder to everyone to take the opportunity to have your local firefighters visit you at home at your convenience to discuss the firesafety plans which will cover safe egress from a property keys night time routines etc .. as well as any particular unique concerns you may have its free and should you need a smoke alarm will be fitted as well also hearing impaired alarms are available .. I'm not going to go into teaching people to suck eggs there are many alternatives to safe guarding particular rooms without using the same keyring as the one with front door key .... a valid point though always make sure If you need a key to evacuate it is readily available and everyone in the property knows where it is its all part of the night time routine your local FF.s will be happy to discuss, also any particular concerns you may have ... good job I'm on duty otherwise I'd ask for overtime;)

[BroadScot]

Hi Sean

 

Many thanks for your input regarding fire safety etc. I am sure I speek for all members, that the job you guys do, is at at times above and beyond your job description. We I am sure don't say it often enough, how grateful we are, to have the Fire Services.

 

Iain..

[Gracie]

Well said Iain, what a fantastic job they do with so little reward and if you don't mind me saying very handsome in their uniform too.

 

I don't mean to make light of this thread and the seriousness of it but a couple of years ago at our kids summer fete we were lucky enough to have a fire engine with it's crew in the school playing field and they allowed the kids to climb on and explore the fire engine. Most of the mums congregated in that area for the best part of the afternoon me included Lol, I think it's the uniform that does it every time  forget film and football stars, these guys are the real heros in my book

 

Grace 

[sean8390]

Thank you for your kind comments , it is a very rewarding job but we are just one agency who set out to help people and education is the best safeguard for anyone, social workers have a awful task of safeguarding vulnerable people and supporting those vulnerable people in the community rather than people being kept behind some institutions doors ,, I was told recently that a social worker who has just graduated can expect to have seven years front line social work before being burnt out because of the stress and anxiety related to their role ,,,

On lighter note yea fire kit seems to beat any other uniform when we attend incidents with police they are normally very smart with nice shirts ties etc , we turn up in fire kit and big boots and somehow have the lynx effect , eh oh pressure of the job we have to put up with

[deebee29]

Iain and Grace I couldn't agree more

Sean a big thanks to you and all firefighters everywhere

David

[donnygeoff]

I had social services knock on the door..........

 

Hello, can we come in...

 

Me. No...

 

Them.  we are social service, it is about your sons black eye

 

Me.  And

 

Them.  We need to talk to you..

 

Me. I am listening

 

Them. can we come in

 

Me. No

 

Them. we need to come in

 

Me. No

 

Them. Allright sir, but we have been told by the school, the your sons black eye he has is down to you.

 

Me. OK they could be right

 

Them. Can we come in now 

 

Me. No

 

Them. We need to talk about this Sir, your sons black eye is very bad, do we need to get the police involved, to talk to you under caution

 

Me.  How did he get a black eye

 

Them. He told the teachers you did it

 

Me. So his teacher saw his black eye and asked how it happened, an he said I did it

 

Them. Yes Sir, can we come in now

 

Me. No

 

Me again.. (insert sons name here) come here a minute

 

son comes to front door

 

Me. should we have a game of footy again, so these people can see how we play

 

Son. Yes lets play, we can have 2 a side if they play, but I am not in goal......

 

Me. No you go in goal...

 

Son. No because the last time, I was in goal, you scored and I hit my eye on the post.

 

Them. Hit your eye on the post

 

Me. Yes, we used  a bucket and watering can for goal posts

 

Them. You told you teacher that your dad did your black eye

 

Son. Yes he did, cos if we hadn't used the watering can, I wouldn't have fallen into the spout.

 

Them... To me....OK, we will remove you and your address from our database

 

Me... I can't say what I said, but the next morning I went across the road to the school and had a nice word with the classroom assistant who phoned them

 

She does not work there anymore....

 

[MauriceMynah]

I called it a "mine field" before and I'll call it a "mine field" again.

 

We can all see both sides, what we can't see is what the hell to do about it.

 

On the one hand there are the majority of cases as above where a father has been giving his son some quality time, whilst on the other there are the thankfully rare cases of genuine physical abuse. I have to admit I have a lot of sympathy for the social workers who are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

 

They would say they err on the side of caution in the child's favour, which on the face of it sounds perfectly reasonable, but is it?

 

Geoff was lucky, in that he was visited by members of the social services who were reasonable and listened, but they really are caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

The only person who can be said to hold any level of fault here is the over zealous teacher, who it seems needs further training on interviewing an injured child.

[Gracie]

The Lynx Effect indeed, have you seen the advert for the yoghurt with the girl in the bath and the Fireman with his hose, we were watching the tv when it came on and I just uttered "Ohhh nice" my husband asked what I was referring to and I said "the bubble bath of course"  Well I've got the Yoghurt

 

Grace

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Grace,

I hope you are wearing your fireproof pants    or is it that you want a call from the emergency services

 

Regards

Alan

[MauriceMynah]

"have you seen the advert for the yoghurt with the girl in the bath and the Fireman with his hose,"

 

Oh my brain hurts after the boggle it just had.

[sean8390]

Unfortunately unlike Ff yogurt , we have to be clean shaven to allow our breathing apparatus to seal to our little chubby chops ,, sorry ; ( ,, but if Ff yoghurt did join the fireservice we would have lots of fun lookin for a obscure nick name ,, culture, , bacteria, , rotten milk to think of few im sure there is more ?

[sean8390]

I do hope I don't get a slap off the mods for creating a unruly ,, culture:)

[BroadScot]

I do hope I don't get a slap off the mods for creating a unruly ,, culture:)

Nope, not yet  

 

Iain