'You've got your hands full'

Tagged by Littlemummy.com and Dulwich Divorcee: Some stuff about me

Erica and Alice have passed the baton on this one, so here goes...

1. What are your current obsessions?

As ever lots of things. Family and work, work and family. That's about it really. Blog wise, I'm still reeling from our Disney experience, and am blown away by the work of Camilla Chafer and Keris Stainton so far on our new travel blog, Havealovelytime.com.

2. Which item of clothes do you wear most often?

Just anything black, black and more black. If you want to know why, look here.

How many eight-year-olds have a mobile phone?

THE first time I saw any of Emily and Melissa's friends with a mobile phone was at their eighth birthday party.

The two girls who brought them along didn't know how to make a call.

My daughters regularly ask for a phone as a present as a birthday or Christmas approaches. Now 10, they haven't got one yet.

The following is a post from Camilla Chafer on her blog about family-friendly gadgets and stuff, Technoglam. It has amazed me so I'm going to go away and find out more about the research, I'm wondering how big the poll was.

Camilla says she's also surprised by the figures and reports that 40 per cent of eight to 11-year-old girls are using a mobile phone every day, while 22 per cent of boys the same age are busy on their handsets.

I can't quite believe it - can you?

You've got your hands full on Facebook and Twitter - would you like to join our network?

BECKY has set up a blog network on Facebook for You've got your hands full. If you would like to join, then you can do so here.

This network is another way of bringing families with twins, triplets or more together, as well as other parents who have read and enjoyed this blog. It also helps spread the word about the blog.

You can also join a Facebook group for You've got your hands full here.

Schools admissions process 'badly letting down' multiple birth children - new campaign launched

TAMBA has launched a campaign to stop twins being sent to different schools - saying this traumatises children and places an enormous burden on the parents.

They are calling for the schools admission code to be changed to recognise the needs of families with twins, triplets or more. They are also calling for appeals committees to be given training to be made more aware of those needs.

Tamba says multiple birth families encounter a range of problems when applying for primary school places which appear to be exacerbated by maximum class size legislation.

Red tape forces more twins to go to different schools

I JUST don't get how this can happen. Another mum is protesting that her twins have been sent to different schools. Obviously she is supposed to split herself in half when it comes to taking them and picking them up.

And this time, the mum, Nina Phoenix, says it has caused the children to suffer in more ways than one.

Her daughter Summer Rose was accepted at one school while brother Lawrence couldn't get in.

You can read a fuller report in the Manchester Evening News.

Related posts: Mum campaigns for change in admissions process

Don't send our children to different schools

Should my girls go into different classes? Update: They never did...

DO you remember I blogged about wondering if Emily and Melissa going back into different classes would be the best thing for Year Five?

Well this update on my last update is to say they never did! Instead they got a letter, along with the rest of the class to tell them they would be in a new teacher's class next year. When I met this news by telling them that they were in fact going to be split up again, all hell let loose - well a few tears anyway.

They weren't at all fazed by being apart but they were inconsolable about missing their two closest friends, if one or other of them went their separate ways..erm to a different room a few feet away.

Should my girls go into different classes? Update: They are doing

THANK YOU to those of you who took the time to comment or vote to help me with my dilemma over whether I should ask for my daughters to go back into separate classes.

I decided they should in the end. It's certainly easier for me to have them in the same class - with the same homework and parents' evening appointments - but I do think it's best for them that they can be encouraged to thrive away from each other as much as possible.

They are happy either way, so there you go.

Poll: Should I ask my daughters' school to put them in different classes next year?

WHEN my daughters started school, there was no doubt in my mind they should be separated.

This was because I believe they need to be seen and act as individuals from day one. Some families may feel four is too young. We had rare moments where Emily cried a little from missing her sister, but overall they were more than fine, and have been ever since - together or apart.

Of course you have to do what is right for your own family and I would never knock anyone for the decision concerning their children as they know them better than anyone else.

Now, as Year Five is approaching, because of reasons too complicated to describe fully, but linked with the number of children at the school, they have been in the same class for the last school year.

NSPCC Your Family magazine: Focus on bullying

HOW can you nip bullying in the bud if your child is either the bully or the victim? Linda Jones reports. Read more.

* A lovely little boy helped me with this piece, telling me how he was being picked on at school. A massive thanks to him and his mum. They know who they are.

Multiple birth children 'excluded' from friendships?

HOW sad would that make you feel?
A mum of triplets confided today how upset she was that her boys were the subject of gossip at the school gates - in 'oh the poor mother' type comments.
And a fellow mum added that her children weren't included in other kids' games.