Father of Daughters #51 Stop trying to make Clemmie happen

[Axatogrind]

It's the assumption that the default position is that there will always be drunken parties and events (and that your partner - it doesn't entertain the idea that you might not have a partner - is a bit of an unsupportive twit who'll get wasted and not want to leave). Enough of a default position to merit its own double-page spread when other activities where you may not want people to know (work? fitness/sports? other children? caring responsibilities?) aren't even mentioned. If you choose to keep a pregnancy secret and are looking for some good tips, it isn't only about whether you're drinking alcohol at parties or not.

Also, lol at 10 years' experience (with three maternity leaves and only working 1 shift a week for at least part of it) being enough to write a book. Guess what? I have over ten years' "experience and knowledge" in this area, and I'm not aware of a single one of these lightweight, fast-tracked celeb-collab type books that didn't employ the services of a ghost writer.

ETA: FML for inferring she was a celeb, but you folks know what I meant

 

[Megatron1298]

Well at least we know what she thinks is important now. Leather jackets and hiding the pregnancy in the first 12 weeks… I did read the book when I was first pregnant but I can’t remember if she actually talks about interventions and possible outcomes of anything but a straight forward birth

 

[blurstoftimes]

My offering to Tattle on this World Book Day.....

View attachment 1099789

i quite literally cannot believe this absolute tit got published…being an influencer in 2017: what a time to be alive!

 

[Instashamous]

That double page spread could be summarised in one sentence: If your friends/family are big enough dicks to immediately jump to the conclusion that if you’re not drinking and you’ve gained some weight that you’re pregnant and make a deal of it in public- bin them off immediately.

 

[EddieBeds]

I have genuinely never seen so much shite and pointless advice over 2 pages. How about this, if you’re suffering with pregnancy, tell your friends/family you’re not feeling great and can’t attend but your other half will (if they want). How about just go nobody cares if you’re drinking alcohol or not or if you appear to have put on weight, if they do then they aren’t mates and need putting in the bin. If you’re bothered about not drinking then you need a head wobble, you do want to give birth to a healthy baby right? How about this, don’t be a lying twit, people hate it when you lie to them. If you don’t want to tell people until after the 12 week scan then just don’t go, then you don’t have to lie. It’s not even 12 weeks really, unless you’re having desperate for baby sex (and if that’s the case it’s more likely you’ll be extra cautious about putting your baby at risk and won’t give a flying fk what people say/think) it’s likely you won’t know or have confirmed your pregnancy for the first 3-6 weeks so now we are down to 6-9 weeks. Even if you were Mr & Mrs popular and had events planned every weekend then it’s only 6-9 events to bin off. Get over it, what’s more important to you a healthy baby or being at an event and being miserable and lying to your nearest and dearest?
Years ago we were going to a friends wife’s 30 (he married a younger model) her birthday is NYE, it was a house party and we were going with our 3 kids and our friends were staying at ours with their not yet 1 year old. We’d booked taxis mostly for simplicity but also to allow the adults to have a drink. When our friends arrived at ours, the wife announced that she wasn’t feeling great and she’d drive. I knew straight away she was pregnant so caught her on her own asked her and she admitted, so I said, either I’ll drive too, we’ll use the kids as an excuse and then if you’re feeling tired we can leave and come back here get the kids to bed and you can either get some kip or we can sit up and have a nice chin wag and a cuppa, or we can just not go, I’m not that bothered about going, we can send the men with my kids and you me and baby can stay here. We stayed home (we didn’t like the young wife much anyway ) we had a great night, I got to have cuddles with baby and she got to sit comfortably with her feet up and her joggers on and we had a much needed catch up without our husbands and kids interrupting. We were in bed at 10 and box fresh the next day. My friend just needed some support and not to feel under pressure. When you’re pregnant people are completely understanding about you not attending events, even if you tell them after the 12 week scan. No need to go to a whole load of trouble turning yourself inside out there will be other events, there won’t necessarily be other pregnancies. Jesus sorry for that epic bore

ETA - snap Axa


You know what I think, most kids don’t care and it’s more about the parents being competitive. I’d defo be in your camp, I forgot loads too, it wasn’t such a massive thing when mine were little, they could do things like take their favourite teddy in rather than dress up as (insert Disney princess that has nothing to do with books) or just bring in their fave book. Even this is wrong imo, what about those kids who don’t have books? The emphasis should be about books, that day at school, nothing more. It would take so little to stop schools making kids dress up for wbd - we’ve had years of exposure about kids not having enough to eat at home so free school meals and breakfast clubs are a massive thing and we are putting this sort of pressure on parents? It’s parents like FoD and his “creativity” that start this bloody competition. It makes me sad for the kids who don’t have books let alone the resources to buy/make outfits.

I really can not this enough!

Also completely agree re: World Book Day - it just feels like another bragging opportunity. Last year the nursery said for the kids to go in their pjs which took the pressure off having to sort a costume. They also have a chosen book they read together in nursery/class during the week so no one has to take a book in.

FOD really encapsulates how much of parenting can be made to feel like a ducking competition to show your child has the best XYZ. Like you said most kids couldn’t care less. I’m sure it’s always been the case but maybe just more visible with social media?

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I really can not this enough!

Also completely agree re: World Book Day - it just feels like another bragging opportunity. Last year the nursery said for the kids to go in their pjs which took the pressure off having to sort a costume. They also have a chosen book they read together in nursery/class during the week so no one has to take a book in.

FOD really encapsulates how much of parenting can be made to feel like a ducking competition to show your child has the best XYZ. Like you said most kids couldn’t care less. I’m sure it’s always been the case but maybe just more visible with social media?

Agreed with you and DM. 1 in 4 children are living below the breadline so it’s pretty crappy of schools to put this expectation on parents, for a lot of kids it’ll be a miserable day of othering at best, at worst it’ll make them think books/reading is something for other kids not them. It’s completely needless, I’ve heard of schools doing things where they decorate a potato as their fav character from a book or they have a day of book related lessons instead. SO much better and actually instills a love of reading in them rather than this tit.

 

[Affiliatemebaby]

Totally agree: this stuff isn’t actually about books, is it? It’s just a giant dress up day. My child is autistic and has spent all week anxious about it. So noticeable how relaxed they are this morning now it’s over. How about just making it an own clothes day and doing book activities in school? The years that our school has made it a pyjama day have been amazing.

 

[FrannyGallops]

I bloody hated the dress up days when my kids were in primary. I just couldn’t be arsed with it, but I’m surprised it’s still going on and they’re putting pressure on parents to send them in costume with everything else going on and rising bills. My kids were also at school before the advent of parent whatsapp groups and school Twitter accounts so there was always that element of ‘oh duck’ when you got to school and realised all the other kids were in costume and you’d missed the memo.

It’s just a day for the usual suspects to show off and anyone with kids will know the type I mean. (usually the ones who are on first name terms with the Head). Also, for all the talk at my school about just throwing something together from what you already had at home, they always paraded the ones who looked like they’d just stepped off the set of Harry Potter.

 

[Axatogrind]

Agree with all that's been said about WBD. You can't promote inclusivity on one hand and then on the other have a dress up competition event which sharply shows which parents have the most money and/or the most time on their hands. People have been saying this for years so I don't know why it continues in its present form, especially when it does nothing much to encourage reading. Good on schools that have seen the problems and moved on.

Simon still hasn't sponsored the young girl he said he'd sponsor, and he's had no new donations since the 17 people who sponsored him on day one.

17 out of 885,333 = 0.0019%

Around one out of every 52,000.

 

[Mustard]

Glen’s mumma is on her way back from Holetown, Barbados. She’s been posting about it in her Insta account.

 

[ExhaustedDad]

advent of parent whatsapp groups and school Twitter accounts so there was always that element of ‘oh duck’ when you got to school and realised all the other kids were in costume and you’d missed the memo.

My wife told me the dads want to set up a WhatsApp group. I told my wife to tell them politely ‘get to duck’ and carried on with what I was doing.

 

[bluekoala]

Glen’s mumma is on her way back from Holetown, Barbados. She’s been posting about it in her Insta account.

What’s her account?

 

[Mustard]

What’s her account?

She’s private now.

 

[Coffee-Addict]

House of Hooper - not sure if he is begging for flooring or a builder .

 

[Cariad]

House of Hooper - not sure if he is begging for flooring or a builder .

And a decorator/ interior designer for twin's bedroom as apparently they've outgrown the current hideously expensive wallpaper and soft furnishings

 

[Spiesandliea]

Am I being thick but why would you put flooring on top of the original wooden floor? Of course they’ll be a lip down to the original wooden floors, just take the new flooring out of the bedrooms and have it all level

Ggggrr I hate him so much

 

[Axatogrind]

Neither refreshing the twins' room nor a tricky upstairs flooring job were on his to-do list for 2022. Maybe we should be adding to that list as well.

Also none of the grid post captions are written in his style of writing. We see you Clemmie!

Have they seriously lived with those flooring 'lips' all that time, rather than treating it all as one job in the first place? That would have driven me up the wall

 

[Coffee-Addict]

Neither refreshing the twins' room nor a tricky upstairs flooring job were on his to-do list for 2022. Maybe we should be adding to that list as well.

Also none of the grid post captions are written in his style of writing. We see you Clemmie!

Have they seriously lived with those flooring 'lips' all that time, rather than treating it all as one job in the first place? That would have driven me up the wall

I thought the same too - that was nothing like fodneys style . She really loves her sense of style doesnt she , my granny had the same style as her

 

[OhMyWord]

I thought they were going to stop showing the girls’ rooms. 3 separate posts with 7 photos total isn’t exactly what one would consider “privacy.”

 

[LuBiLu]

I thought they were going to stop showing the girls’ rooms. 3 separate posts with 7 photos total isn’t exactly what one would consider “privacy.”

Didn't they say once they would never show the girls bedrooms at all?

Sly would probably show his mangina for a freebie.