The Family Way
7:00am Saturday 16th August 2008
Lisa Salmon looks at the weird, wonderful and sometimes weary world of parenting.
NEWS FOR PARENTS :: The cost of sending a child to school has risen to £1,077 a year.
Rising food prices have increased the cost of school meals and packed lunches while petrol prices have made the school run more expensive, according to a report commissioned by Asda.
Parents now typically spend 7.8% more on schooling their children than in 1998.
But as they'd still have to be fed and ferried around if they were at home, it's not schooling that's got more expensive - just life.
:: Letters to parents telling them if their child has a weight problem will not contain the word "obese".
While the Department of Health now wants all primary care trusts to automatically tell parents their child's height and weight, ministers say the heaviest children should be referred to as "very overweight", as people find the word "obese" highly offensive.
Anti-obesity campaigners have branded the move "namby pamby". What next - will violent psychopaths be labelled "a bit cross" because it sounds nicer?
:: Some 45% of children eligible for free school meals failed to get a GCSE at grade C or better in 2006/07, compared to 24% of pupils generally.
Such children were 193 times more likely to leave school without a GCSE at a good grade than to stay on and gain three As at A-level.
Perhaps the cash for free school meals should be used for extra tutoring instead?
:: Children would rather travel abroad than spend a day at the British seaside.
A poll commissioned by Travelodge found 53% of children would prefer to go on a foreign holiday than stay in the UK, and one in 10 had never visited a British beach.
Children might prefer to go abroad, but did the poll ask them if they knew how much foreign holidays cost their parents?
ASK THE EXPERT Q: "My eight-year-old son's always moaning about headaches or tummy aches, but the GP can't find anything wrong with him. Could he be allergic or intolerant to something he's eating?"
A: Nutritionist Patrick Holford, author of Hidden Food Allergies [Piatkus 2006, £7.99] says: "Both headaches and tummy aches are classic symptoms of food allergy. Other symptoms are sniffing, recurrent ear infections, asthma or shortness of breath, and itchy skin or eczema.
"Most food allergies are delayed, which means the symptoms may take hours to develop. So, it could be that he's reacting to something he ate the day before.
"This kind of reaction happens because the body produces a type of antibody called IgG that attacks the food. Some foods including milk, wheat, yeast and eggs more commonly cause these type of reactions.
"The best way to find out whether your son has a food intolerance is to have a proper IgG blood test, which can be arranged through your GP or an allergy clinic. It can be done from a simple pin-prick of blood, and you can get an IgG home test kit such as YorkTest's FoodScan 113 from chemists.
"These allergies needn't be for life. What often happens is that the gut wall becomes compromised, perhaps following a course of antibiotics or painkillers, and whole food proteins which normally wouldn't be allowed through until completely digested, get through causing the immune system to react.
"Once the immune system has learned to attack a specific food you have to find out what that food is an avoid it strictly for four months. By then the immune system is likely to have forgotten."
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK: practicalparent.org.uk Practical Parenting Advice is a general parenting site, unrelated to Practical Parenting magazine. It's run by psychologist Dr Andy Gill, who can be emailed directly, and as well as advice on child behaviour and development, education, family relationships and so on, there's a forum and message board, links to other parenting sites and parenting video tips. You can also sign up for a free Practical Parenting Advice newsletter.
THREE WAYS TO... deal with a teenager who comes home drunk 1. Don't discuss drinking when he gets back, but get him to bed and wait until the next day.
2. Wait till you're both calm and relaxed, and discuss the effects of drinking and the dangers, and encourage him to be honest.
3. Don't argue or threaten, but remind him how bad hangovers can feel, talk about resisting peer pressure, and be clear about what behaviour's acceptable in your house.
WHEN IS MY CHILD READY... to stop wearing a nappy at night?
There's no set age, all children are different and will be ready at different times. Many are dry at night by the age of three or four, but others take a lot longer.
If your child's completely dry all day and has had several dry nappies at night, it could be time to try leaving a nappy off at night, perhaps with a plastic sheet under the normal sheet and no liquid close to bedtime.
READER TIP A fun way to chart your child's growth is to take her photo next to a big favorite toy or cuddly animal each month, and compare the changes.