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Had the kids with me since Thursday...
Aug. 26th, 2018 09:29 pmAnd for the life of me I can't get my 5 year old daughter to eat anything I cook. She's great with a breakfast croissant and then will eat nothing but pasta in a tomato and cheese sauce. And even then not always. She will eat rubbish like crisps or sweets, and will eat some fruit, but the only carbs she will eat are pasta and chips, and the only proteins she eats are: sausages (of a very specific kind), salami, eggs, and cheddar cheese. No chicken, beef, lamb, pork, or fish (even fish fingers have been given the push). Pizza has fallen out of favour. Now my son, the elder by two years, can't eat eggs, nor can he eat nuts.
Menus can be a right pain. How the kid's nanny, Kay, manages to feed them together is a source of wonder to me, but they do appear to be healthy and growing well. I shall have to have a proper conference with Fred about their eating habits.
H. goes into Year 3 in Sept. Æ. into year 1. I have to think about whether H should be put down for Winchester or not this year. And if H. boards at Winchester at 13 we shall have to offer the same to Æ at Cheltenham Ladies College; the combined fees at today's prices will be some £80K a year. You could set them up with a couple of mortgages for that money instead so they wouldn't each have to buy a house; one wonders which is the best investment for them? I'd always say education; but that's the way I'm brought up. Fred may have a different opinion. Her people weren't quite as clerkish, bookish, or political as my crew; but these days a Public School (in the English sense) education is more of a political handicap than otherwise. The other thing is Æ shows serious academic promise, though 5 is a little early to gauge.
H is second in his maths class, which isn't bad for a Summer baby. (The school year runs from Sept though to July - Summer babies are the youngest in their classes, which at six and seven makes a huge developmental difference.) However, he is lazy, his handwriting is pretty appalling, he makes it up as he goes along, and he's got an explosive temper and a love of subversive behaviour. Also he's charismatic and reasonably good-looking. And we all know how those character traits pan out. I feel I have to lead by example here to give him the desire and structural tools to discipline himself to the right values. I'd rather he didn't go over to the dark side. So there's a lot of "We do it this way" with attendant stories of noble behaviour, heroic self-sacrifice, uncommon decency, and putting oneself at the service of the community. People of my class and age are almost always total and complete psychopaths, mostly socialised through both fear and violence enforcing discipline at school. Learn, leave, or be beaten - that motto worked for generations of schoolboys where the fear of a beating made the lazy among us do the bare minimum of work. The world has changed and corporal punishment is no longer meted out in any shape or form thank the gods. But this does mean that H won't have learning thrashed into him, and therefore may not get the inclination or impetus to actually learn much at all unless immersed in an environment like Winchester which is academic, discursive, and both competitive and co-operative. As I'm a reasonably sane, civilised man I abhor the thrashing, obvs. and will not hit my kids. But that may mean that H never fulfils his intellectual potential unless at the right school. And Winchester may be a bit too academically-inclined for H. I don't want him to ever be bottom of the class, for example. (I knew a chap who came bottom for 4 out of his 5 years at Winchester - it affected him rather badly and he became a Scientologist.) Another option for H is a bit closer to London, but Slough Grammar is just a trifle large, with around 1400 pupils. Dulwich College is a bit populous too. H has mentioned the King's School, Canterbury - it appeals to him being the oldest school in the world. Fred wants the kids near her, and would prefer them not to board. Me too, except I worry about H.
Æ of course will be head girl and win exhibitions. I wonder if she is quite as bright as H, but can state categorically she is far more motivated.
The stuff that keeps us up at nights, eh?
Menus can be a right pain. How the kid's nanny, Kay, manages to feed them together is a source of wonder to me, but they do appear to be healthy and growing well. I shall have to have a proper conference with Fred about their eating habits.
H. goes into Year 3 in Sept. Æ. into year 1. I have to think about whether H should be put down for Winchester or not this year. And if H. boards at Winchester at 13 we shall have to offer the same to Æ at Cheltenham Ladies College; the combined fees at today's prices will be some £80K a year. You could set them up with a couple of mortgages for that money instead so they wouldn't each have to buy a house; one wonders which is the best investment for them? I'd always say education; but that's the way I'm brought up. Fred may have a different opinion. Her people weren't quite as clerkish, bookish, or political as my crew; but these days a Public School (in the English sense) education is more of a political handicap than otherwise. The other thing is Æ shows serious academic promise, though 5 is a little early to gauge.
H is second in his maths class, which isn't bad for a Summer baby. (The school year runs from Sept though to July - Summer babies are the youngest in their classes, which at six and seven makes a huge developmental difference.) However, he is lazy, his handwriting is pretty appalling, he makes it up as he goes along, and he's got an explosive temper and a love of subversive behaviour. Also he's charismatic and reasonably good-looking. And we all know how those character traits pan out. I feel I have to lead by example here to give him the desire and structural tools to discipline himself to the right values. I'd rather he didn't go over to the dark side. So there's a lot of "We do it this way" with attendant stories of noble behaviour, heroic self-sacrifice, uncommon decency, and putting oneself at the service of the community. People of my class and age are almost always total and complete psychopaths, mostly socialised through both fear and violence enforcing discipline at school. Learn, leave, or be beaten - that motto worked for generations of schoolboys where the fear of a beating made the lazy among us do the bare minimum of work. The world has changed and corporal punishment is no longer meted out in any shape or form thank the gods. But this does mean that H won't have learning thrashed into him, and therefore may not get the inclination or impetus to actually learn much at all unless immersed in an environment like Winchester which is academic, discursive, and both competitive and co-operative. As I'm a reasonably sane, civilised man I abhor the thrashing, obvs. and will not hit my kids. But that may mean that H never fulfils his intellectual potential unless at the right school. And Winchester may be a bit too academically-inclined for H. I don't want him to ever be bottom of the class, for example. (I knew a chap who came bottom for 4 out of his 5 years at Winchester - it affected him rather badly and he became a Scientologist.) Another option for H is a bit closer to London, but Slough Grammar is just a trifle large, with around 1400 pupils. Dulwich College is a bit populous too. H has mentioned the King's School, Canterbury - it appeals to him being the oldest school in the world. Fred wants the kids near her, and would prefer them not to board. Me too, except I worry about H.
Æ of course will be head girl and win exhibitions. I wonder if she is quite as bright as H, but can state categorically she is far more motivated.
The stuff that keeps us up at nights, eh?
