We've just been through this with ds9! He has always picked his lips, but this winter (Southern Hemisphere) his lower lip actually cracked in the centre and bled. It's taken a month to heal that, but he still licks and damages his lips. Drives me crazy. I've had him use lansinoh - pure lanolin usually used on cracked nipples when breastfeeding. It has helped, but I have to remind him to put it on several times a day.

There was a BBC article on this recently. For some weird reason my phone won't let me copy the URL, but the title is "Receptionists 'put people off seeing doctor' "

I never lied, although I'm not sure I was asked. Dd is now 16, maybe no one asked back then, and anyway, in South Africa there were way bigger problems than co-sleeping for many babies (Do you have access to clean water? Do you have safe housing? Do you have HIV? for example). For ds I was in a middle eastern country, so it probably also wasn't a priority issue. I actually co-slept with him in my hospital bed once he was out of high care. It never really occurred to me, I just took him out of the crib they wheeled to me and put him in bed with me.

Yes, here are piano pieces for left hand only! http://www.left-hand-brofeldt.dk

I off-the-cuff registered to study, if that counts? I'd been thinking about it for a couple of years, but finally made a phone call on the cut-off date for registering. Still not sure if it worked out - ask me when I have a job! I'm not one for impromptu decisions, so I tend not to do much. There have been some complications along the way and that's hard because then I beat myself up for not thinking everything through. I have special skills in self doubt and self recriminations, though! Owning a bookstore would be wonderful. I think you'd really want to think about why people will go there instead of Amazon, though, and build that into your business model. I'm actually studying information and library studies at the moment, so we're on the same page there :-)

Also parental example. I grew up somewhere with very high unemployment and cheap labour so there wasn't much opportunity for teens to work apart from maybe babysitting. I never worked in high school, got my first full-time job at 19 lived on my own, paid accounts, saved, all on a tight budget with no problem. Dd16 does earn money babysitting, mostly during the holidays. She is good with money but I put it down to hours of family discussion about handling finances.

Co-sleeping. It's how I survived.

My understanding is that my grandmother (born 1916) left school to work aged 14. I don't think she left home necessarily. Her older brother became a well known journalist / adviser to the Rhodesian government / right wing conspiracy theorist. It would be interesting to see what his education was - differences for boys and girls, as well as the 'self-education' route to a profession. I think that was pretty common in journalism.

How does this work? We're going to Europe in December and have to plan for the coldest weather we've ever experienced. I bought leggings but if I put jeans over I can't move they're so tight. Do you just have to buy looser jeans? This was with my 'loose' jeans - Not even worth trying with my cute stretch lift-and-shape jeans (which might just be way too thin for cold weather countries?).

Stir fry lends itself to individual meals: I chop and store all vegetables (and cooked chicken) separately (usually 10-12 including garnish like chilli, ginger, peanuts) then each person makes themselves a bowl of what they want and tosses it into the frying pan for a few minutes. Dd usually just has it raw as a salad. A similar self-serve approach works with wraps or felafel/shwarmas.

I also don't tell anyone. It's no one's business and I don't want the kids to think that anyone has the right to this information. I think this is a core value of a modern democracy. I'm happy to talk about my view and it's pretty obvious from that who I'll vote for. I'll probably even speak about specific candidates. But "I just voted for x" - no.

We love it! Mostly we don't do traditional Christmas foods when we travel, but I always take Christmas themed paper plates and cups and table cloth. I have a mini string of lights and a collapsible mini tree. I load some Christmas movies on the iPad for Christmas Eve. We may taking his stockings, or also gifts, depending on when and where we are travelling. The stocking would focus on small fun things that can be used in a hotel room. I'm sure you could book Christmas meals out, but we just have a picnic style meal in our hotel room or apartment.

Yay! Score one for insomnia!

Well, teen dd and I don't allow each other to reply with 'the f-word' when asked how the other looks (as regards clothes, hair, make-up). We're not allowed the reply "Fine" 😄 "What the..." is most definitely banned. I'm continually stamping out phrases ds9 picks up from tv. On the other hand he's also always trying out new vocabulary he hears (mostly from audiobooks, but tv also) so it's not all bad.

Some people just prioritise themselves over other people. I have one 'friend' I dropped for doing this many, many times. I walked away from the friendship when she got me involved in two things that both ended up costing me money because she bailed at the last minute and I had to cover expenses I wasn't intending to. Now her daughter is doing it to another friend's daughter. She simply prioritises what is happening to her, and is unable or unwilling to consider the impact on other people. My friend is encouraging her daughter not to consider any arrangements with the unreliable child as confirmed until they happen but to continued with the friendship. Personally I think that is tacit approval of that sort of behaviour. Clearly I'm not over this issue yet, and it's almost two years to the day since I walked away from the unreliable friendship!

This one is clearer and more informative, I think.

Oh! I accidentally did the magic thing where the video embeds! And on my phone, and at 12:50am! Even if it's the wrong video, it was a useful exercise :-) ETA: I Googled ... history of presidential election by state ... then looked under the video tab. There are several that look like they might be what you're looking for.

This?

I agree, just quit. It's ok to stop for a while. We're having a period like that now. So much going on that I get periods of feeling breathless and panicked. So - no kids' activities for 6 months. One play date / social event per child each week only (kids are in school). 15 minute meals (usually take 30 minutes to cook in reality). I finished with big holiday celebrations a couple of years ago. Now we focus on making our own traditions - pizza on Christmas Eve, picnic lunch on Christmas Day (summer Christmas). More pre-purchased food for holidays, less cooking. It can be done.

I would put it as full time volunteer work, and expand from there. It's tricky if you're filling in an online form, but on a resume I'd think there's room for you to expand. I wouldn't mention a salary at all.

I had to get beyond gentle with dd, but again, best she got the message from me. It's really tough for some kids, though. Without an involved parent dd would not have been able to manage this. The 'industrial strength' antiperspirants from the supermarket were still not enough. I researched for her and found a once-a-week type from the pharmacy she uses that stings terribly, but does work. And then of course all her tops had to be replaced. For a kid who doesn't have support it must be impossible. It is sad.

If he doesn't have a history of exercising and isn't going to enjoy it, I'd say the very best thing you could give him is a commitment to exercise with him, either at home or in a gym. An outdoor exercise class might be more pleasant than a gym. I signed up for one with a friend and really enjoyed it - it was a large group, so I felt nicely anonymous and because I had someone depending on me to be there, I actually went. At the end of the 8 week, twice a week programme my friend and I continued to meet 3 times a week to run at a nearby park. At first we were doing 10 sets of run for 30 sec walk for 30 sec, 6 months later we're running for two sets of 8 minutes. The point is that we're still doing it. Exercise needs to work with your personality, so focus less on the exercise itself, and more on the other stuff - where and who and how many etc. to find something he'll enjoy and stick to.

This is why I can never understand it when parents say they "don't let" there teen have a Facebook account (for instance). If you're letting them have access to phone or Internet then you're letting them do pretty much what they want, barring filters which they may or may not know how to get around. I mean, if I don't want my kids to see something, I use private browsing, or I delete the text (and no, not an individual text so that it's obvious a message is missing as one friend optimistically suggested, I delete the entire conversation). If I'm tech savvy enough, and I'm not actually working at hiding anything significant, I'm pretty sure a motivated teen can manage it.

I'm glad your lawyer thinks that he can't rush you, but I would recommend that you proceed swiftly with the sale. The issue is not going to go away, and avoiding things just pushes the problem into the future, it doesn't resolve it :-( On your other issue, you'll find an apartment more secure than a house, and less upkeep. It sounds as though you need a space just to recover from the stress. An apartment will be much better for that. After her divorce my Mom moved us into an apartment. I think it was a good move.

I'd dial a cab for him, perhaps. But I'd feel very vulnerable walking back to my house from the mailbox with someone behind me. It's a very difficult issue. We have one set of neighbours where I've issues the kids with "if they're bleeding out on the doorstep don't open the door" instructions. It's terrible, but I mean it. Personal safety first. If you directed him to a public place nearby then you acted kindly and safely.