It's a dying trade due to the rise in electric cars. I don't know that I'd encourage anyone to be a mechanic. Very physically taxing too. I don't know that I'd call it family-friendly, but working in the restaurant industry certainly isn't (late nights, weekends etc). I hear that people don't get paid vacations so much in the USA anyway so maybe running your own business would be more family-friendly; you can close the doors when you choose. But it's certainly not 9-5, five days a week. Often seven days a week, often long hours. And as I've said before, it can be very hard on the body. What happens when your back gives out?

Yes, we're in a bizarre situation (worldwide?) where wages are lower than they should be, while inflation is high. It should be a situation where workers get the wages and rights they demand, and yet it isn't happening. So many industries have had strikes in Australia - trains, aged care workers, nurses, teachers, early childhood workers - but it hasn't made any difference.

I feel like extra reading time is just so valuable, even if they're only able to follow the pictures. Having a range of books (esp cool books about Pokemon, Star Wars etc) shows that reading is so much more than just decoding. If the child is unlikely to sit quickly flicking through a book, I agree threading cards are a great idea.

I'd drive him to school, but I'm in Australia, so less likely to be sued/shot by someone. In fact, I've had this situation before, where a random girl missed her bus and needed to get to school, so she put out her thumb to hitch a lift. Obviously she was a bit older, but I took her to school and made sure to tell her that hitch-hiking wasn't a safe option (as if she listened to me!)

Yes, it was amazing what a huge break lockdown was for us, and a lot of other people mentioned it too. We'd been doing early morning swimming lessons then and we never went back to it.

This happened to my brother in law. They needed to investigate. I would go to the appointment and explain; it wouldn't be the first time.

Covid numbers down across Australia as the winter wave finishes, but with school holidays moving everyone around and floods and rain keeping people indoors, there'll be another surge. Apparently BA 2.75 is rising in NSW and that's a super infectious variant. Of course, the govt has decided to remove all masking on public transport just as more people are likely to use it over the holidays . . .

Thanks, Robin. So, I just finished The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. It was one of those "If you liked The Goblin Emperor" recommends. I would agree with that, to a certain extent. There's magic and the gods are real. It's positive, there's a lot of relaxing bureaucracy stuff where the main character fixes things or sorts things or puts annoying aristocrats in their place. It's about relationships, but not romance. And it's about, hugely, colonialism and racism. Which is funny to read after reading Babel last week. Very different, as it's all happy and not "the only way to solve colonialism is through violence". On the other hand, Kuang (who wrote Babel) is an Asian woman who went to Oxford and wrote an Asian character at Oxford. Whereas Goddard seems to be a white Canadian woman using details about the Pacific Islander culture and language in order to create her fantasy world. It made me a bit uncomfortable (considering the backlash about the Moana film, and that had a lot of Islander input). Apart from that, lots of re-reading - read the "Chalion" trilogy by Lois McMaster Bujold once again (prob the 2nd time this year?) and a few other bits and pieces.

Finished an excellent book, but I think this is about the time that Robin switches over to a new thread, so I will wait!

That sounds cool . . so does the zoo class!

Good news about monkeypox in Australia: Monkeypox outbreak 'turned around' in Victoria with no new cases for weeks - ABC News

My kids do scouts, a music class, and a kickboxing class. I encourage outschool (online) classes; one child is doing a social class once a week, the other picks and chooses as he likes. We try to take them swimming once a week, and walking (bushwalking or similar) once a week. What about you guys?

There was, and is still, a backlash against firefighters in Australia since the big fires in 2019/2020. A sense that they made it worse, or they didn't do enough. I see the same thing with the HCW. The initial outpouring of support, that emotion, turns to bitterness when they can't save everyone. Oh, the same with teachers. There was such gratitude towards teachers when parents had to school from home. That has definitely turned around and there's a huge anti-teacher sentiment. Some of it is probably orchestrated deliberately by various groups. But some of it is human nature - wanting all or nothing. Either the firefighters save every house and life, or they're worthless. Same with HCW. I agree it's a massive cause for concern going into the future. Sure, people have the right to refuse medication/vaccination for themselves. But when they're promoting these things, and raising their children in these ways, it isn't about themselves at all. It's incredibly dangerous.

Three. Doesn't go to preschool or anything.

My poor nephew who was hospitalised about a month after covid is really sick again (vomiting, fevers). Really hope they're able to get on top of it all. It's so shocking. I wonder how long it will take the average person to relate these deaths to covid, however? It still feels so invisible to most people.

I didn't. I just dabbed it on with a cotton bud or similar, onto each blister. It wasn't an overnight cure, but it did work. The more frequently you put it on the better, I think; I tried to remember to do it twice a day.

Tea-tree oil is the answer. My child had it badly until I very consistently used tea-tree oil. Then they cleared up quickly.

Good overview of flu vs covid in Australia. Keep in mind we had very high flu numbers this year, partly due to increased testing.

No, that guy died before the pandemic.

The oldest man in Australia, who was living on his own till the end of last year, has died of covid at the age of 110. 😞

I'm reading this twitter thread - it practically outlines a wonderful course on tea thru history and culture - if you've got a tea-loving kid, it'd be a great topic to research! Dr. Rebecca Gibson on Twitter: "Sometimes I am amazed by my life. Next semester, I am teaching a course on the anthropology of tea. We're going to learn about tea ceremonies, and try different types of tea, and devise our own tea ceremony with our own meanings, and it's going to be the coziest class ever." / Twitter

Wow, amazing to think Charlotte's Web is out of copyright now.

Can you get them to download Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher? I am pretty sure it's on the Gutenberg project. It's basically an American Montessori story (little girl is respected and taught to do things for herself and is therefore happy).

My husband recently went to emergency for kidney stones. When they did the scan there (on the same day), they could see he had stuff all through his kidney and would need surgery. He could lose his kidney. (Of course, is that enough impetus to make the specialist appt? It has taken months for him to do anything!) Anyway, I don't think you can just wait for stones to pass - they won't, if they're embedded and they can cause serious damage, even sepsis.

The scam over here is more 'medical reasons' for things - the anti-vaxxers all know which Dr you go to who will sign off on that. There was one woman who has now been arrested for signing masses of certificates and charging $$$ for it. But there's probably more out there.