If you have the space, get them pod style or therapy style swings - the ones you can really nestle into. My kids love them, using them to read, pretend to be circus people, swing intensively and so on. We have gone through many swings, they get used all day every day on our verandah. The outside swing not as much due to weather or mosquitoes. Second idea is stuff to do up a room. I got my son for his 11th bday the whole space thing from IKEA (bought online) - the curtains, bedspread, sheets, wall decorations and plushies. I got my husband to take him to a friend's house then did up the whole room, it was a great surprise. I tend to buy xmas and bday at the same time for mine whose bday is so close to xmas.

I don't have any practical solutions but do want to give my sympathy. I went to the psych with my child this year and tried to get her to back me up on internet limits. Nope. Was told in front of child that she was intellectually about 19 so therefore we had to back off and give her internet freedom. Well, she is gifted, but she's 12 and has no life experience. I don't think she's googling porn (I know she isn't - I have qustodio on her device), but I want fewer hours before bedtime so she sleeps! I feel like some of the psychs just don't have the experience in this field. A friend of mine whose child also has both ADHD and Autism was told to allow her son on instagram so that he could be part of the social scene. As you can imagine it ended up with major bullying because he could not understand the social nuances. You are in an even more stressful situation in the USA because guns are accessible. My kids make jokes about guns as 'dark humour', but of course over here they've never even seen one and probably never will. I feel for you and I really hope you find someone to listen to you.

I don't think it's 'kids these days' - I was the same in my 20s. Had no aspirations to buy a house, was quite sure work would fall my way forever and I'd write the great Australian novel and be rich. By 30 I owned nothing, not a car, not a bike lol! Everyone is different - my 2 sisters were married and babies in early 20s - but I wasn't ready for anything till 30s. I did however have my degree and lots of varied experience in my field (and very low living costs, not drinking/smoking/having expensive tastes). I am going to do whatever I can to ensure my kids have a marketable degree of some sort in something they're interested in. But if they're like me, they might job hop and do all sorts of weird things in their 20s. If they have to return home a few times, well we've got the back shed they can live in if necessary!

You can do an undergrad (3 years) in any discipline and then do the 2 years Speech Path masters degree at Charles Sturt - so you could start with a science degree and see how you go - after 3 years you could decide whether to do Speech or Vet science.

It's the same in my area - it's unusual to go to uni, almost every boy leaves to do an apprenticeship and a lot of the girls end up in hospitality. Do give uni a go, though, don't let HECS put you off. I did my master's online and it was great fun. So much better than in person. And if you're planning to do special education, most of the cost is covered by the government anyway. You can even start with one or two subjects.

I know we can get free RATs at the library here in NSW. I think you can get them in SA if you have a health care card (and apparently you don't need to show proof?) But I agree, as soon as they're free or low cost I start to worry they're not actually working. When my friend's family had covid, they used their own ones - came up straight away - and then the free ones from the school - didn't show up at all.

I got the Brooklyn wrap dress. My mum was like, oh you should buy a couple in different colours . . . then I told her how much they are (around $150 but double that really now that the Aussie dollar is so low).

I also downloaded 8 new books on my Kobo to take on our trip and they were all pretty good, so that was a major 'hit'. I was glad to see my husband enjoying the books I bought for him, so I guess that's an extra 'gift' for me for Christmas.

I wish people would go back to using RAT tests before gatherings. My nephew tested the evening after our pre-xmas gathering and was positive. This is a week ago and none of us caught it, thankfully - my elderly parents haven't had covid yet. I did look up some things about the chances of catching covid, but there's a huge element of 'luck' about it. Most of the time a person won't spread it but then certain people will spread it to huge numbers of people, and there's no knowing who or when or why. Obviously indoors and loud talking/singing/coughing is worse, but there's a massive element of chance. I don't mean using RATs every day. But for big gatherings? I have allowed my daughter to go to a few sleepovers since Covid but have asked the host to do a RAT in advance. I feel like they think I'm a nutcase though.

Why upset with you? You didn't do it, your son did. I hope everything is a bit better today.

I'm so sorry you were expected to cook Christmas dinner for company when you're still so unwell. I really wish someone had rethought that. My Christmas dinner also was a fail. Fortunately it was just the 4 of us so no big deal. I will say, I love honeycomb and would definitely serve that with walnuts and cheese - prob not in big chunks by itself though!

I bought myself 4 gifts that I'm really pleased with - a Wooland dress as per a previous thread - and I love it, really love it. A full-face snorkel, which I was able to use on our trip and it's great. So easy and you can see so much. I also got a fitbit and headphones, haven't tried them yet. From my extended family (we do secret santa), my husband and I got a hamper with nice things like home-made biscuits and other edible treats. A great consumable gift! I got a few other things, a puzzle from my son, coasters from my daughter, some trousers and a diary from my husband. Best gift was skipping the extended family get together and just having a very relaxed Christmas by ourselves where we just read books or played games all day. It was pouring rain so we didn't even feel guilty about not going anywhere or doing anything! What about you - what did you get for Christmas? Do you also buy yourself your own gifts? (That is my solution after years of either nothing or stuff I didn't like at all from my husband.)

How is your daughter going? I know so many people with covid now. Thankfully we have finished all our pre-xmas parties and we're going away so no more gatherings. Had a family thing yday and no one wanted to eat outside, the weather was fine, too. Crazy.

Now it's on Disney plus, is everyone able to watch Dr Who? We already had Disney plus so had no issues, but it used to be free to air so that's a bit sad. I watched the first which felt a bit clunky, skimmed through the second, lots of running about, and really enjoyed the third. I had never seen the series that that particular doctor and Donna Noble were in, so it was all new and I was really impressed by how tough the Donna Noble character was, I can see why she's a favourite companion. I feel a bit disappointed that that's that for the female Dr Who, I really liked her, but the new bloke looks like he'll be lots of fun. Are you able to see it - and what did you think?

I'm so sorry. I would definitely buy the cookies. Not being able to tell anyone irl about your husband must be incredibly stressful. I hope you get some good news soon.

I agree - get him to give to the other brother. Eventually you'll see him to do the handover. It isn't good for your husband to have to do the drive when he could have Covid - and you need looking after!

Well I guess the actor will be in a suit like on the cover of the books. And who knows, maybe a robotic voice? I don't know! I can't imagine a TV series. We don't have apple tv anyway so I'll probably just see the trailer.

Never heard of BFE and I can't work out what your "E" is? In Australia, if you mean middle of nowhere, you'd say "Back of Bourke". Actually there are probably profane versions I don't know about. I don't think it's wrong for you to tell them what the BFE stands for though, if they're using it without knowing - you've done them a service, really. If they don't like it, they can use a differen acronym.

apparently they're going to make a TV series about it. The main character is supposed to be non-binary or more literally have no gender at all, because it's kind of a robot. But despite that, I've always 'read' the character as female (probably because the author has a female name, and the books are written in first person). But they're casting a male actor . . . definitely not what I had imagined! Apple TV+ to Adapt Martha Wells’ Murderbot; Alexander Skarsgård Set to Star | Tor.com

The one gift my mother in law loved, really loved, was a book about herself through a company called Storyworth. They would email her a question once a month (and you could edit which questions so they are appropriate) and she would answer them. You can edit the response and add photos, and then they will print it out as a book. You get a pdf to check over before it prints, which is great so you can send it off to other relatives. I can't emphasise how much she loved it! She showed it off to everyone. Other than that, I vote for a lovely soft blanket. I would not get the digital frame. I've seen a number of elderly people get them and they just get pushed aside. Personally with my mother in law we tried not to get give too much 'stuff' as we knew it wouldn't be long before it got returned to us. She was in aged care at that point.

I do now . . . bought and wrapped a bunch of presents for all the kids in the friends party we were going to this weekend - but it has now been cancelled, and we won't see anyone for ages after xmas as we'll be away, so - i'm thinking I'll hold onto them for their upcoming bdays instead.

I went for a 5k walk with my friend on Monday (outdoors) - she's tested positive today after seeing someone with Covid prob on Sat or Sun (can't remember which day). Her family members haven't tested positive. Do you think it's likely I would catch it from her from that walk? Saw another person today who explained he was masked because his wife has Covid. There is definitely a big uptick locally. And we have so much going on for the next few days. It's mostly outdoors, but still.

I always recommend Lori Pickert's Project Based Homeschooling book - so helpful esp for families with gifted kids, and esp autodidacts. Basically how you as the parent can help them develop the skills for exploring and sharing their own interests. My daughter is 12 and was almost entirely self-led this year. Not only exploring special interests (ancient Babylonian mythology and its link to Greek mythology), but also forming a group of other homeschoolers who worked on a massive project involving coding, animation and voice acting. Basic maths fell to the wayside, but I had her tested and it was still way ahead of her age so I've let that concern go. I guess this year has been all about trusting her and that can be a hard thing for parents.

Do you do homemade cookies or similar? I get little gifts from my local customers and those sort of things are lovely. A little treat with a heart-felt card is special.

Yes to the electricity adapter, although you can often buy that at the airport. The only other thing I can think of is that the USA is much cheaper for a lot of things, so if there's anything she might need for study that she can bring rather than buy there, that will save money - eg textbooks.