FORUM

When one our daughters was about 9 years old she had a friend in our rue aged about 7years who loved yo play a game - being a cat. Incessant meowing. Nothing different to playing mummies and daddies. She grew out of it.

This week's headline UK news brought that back.
So my thoughts are, where does this feline toilet? Littertray, behind a sofa, corner of classroom?
At break does she catch a bird to eat?
Saucer of water/milk and a few forkfulls of something .ushy out of a tin similar to kitecat for tea?

Walk along roofs for entertainment.
At night does she nap on ther parents lap and then get shooed out of garden door,?

I bet she does her makeup in girls toilet and uses the sanitary bins.
Tuck shop for chocolate/cake at break.
Chippy/school canteen at lunch
Taken to a resto or a home cooked meal for tea/supper
Sleeps in a comfy bed after being ferried obout in mum/dad's taxi after youth club/teen disco night.

I am not a black and white mum..
One of my girls decided she wanted to pee like dad( standing up) that didn't go well
The other hated showers till she realised boys were more than just people you played out and got filthy with.

Your thoughts

My initial thoughts are that if this doesn't re-invigorate the Forum, nothing will.

I take it it's a reference to the Church of England school teacher who apparently told a pupil she was “despicable” after she refused to accept that her classmate identifies as a cat. it seems the children were being taught that they can “be who you want to be and how you identify is up to you”.

My youngest grandson, aged 3, identifies as Spiderman. How far in advance to him starting school should we be asking the Head and Governors to think about special arrangements to accommodate his special needs?

Perhaps Kate, as a former teacher, has some advice.

I don’t agree with letting kids be exactly who they want to be. I think gentle guidance is needed, a gentle push in a different direction, a different set of options placed on the table. Unrealistic targets in young life lead to later disappointment. In this new (for our age group) ‘anything goes’ world, I think we have to be careful not to be so desperate to show ourselves as PC that we sanction things that are just downright wrong.

There's an interesting piece in today's Times: https://archive.is/SfNts

"it should be an immediate safeguarding red flag if a child starts pretending to be an animal"