@pippa but also ask them where the drugs and  alcohol came from. It certainly wasn’t a problem until we came along and introduced the aboriginals to it.

Definitely team Mia here. I am all about efficiency too. I was the one breast feeding, and would mostly just lie on my side with my babies in bed while they fed so it was super easy. No need for burping, and diaper only changed if it was a poo, so I barely had to wake up myself at night anyway. It just seemed really petty to me to make my husband get up at the same time just for the sake of it. I would far prefer that he was well rested so that he could let me have a lie in and keep the house from falling down around us the next day. He has always carried far more of the mental load than I have anyway, so it was a pretty fair deal. Add on to the fact that he also had a very stressful job to go to the next day, unlike me. We had a large mortgage, so dragging himself in exhausted each day because he had been up half the night didn’t seem smart for anyone if he wished to keep that job and the roof over our heads. It was just a no brainer. We are a team, so it wasn’t just all about me.

It is not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing. Statistically those on lower incomes send their kids to school earlier, for very practical ( and understandable)  reasons. Maybe you need to see a therapist if you cannot understand the difference between fact and opinion@rega46 

@Paul actually you very much DO NOT want to be in a private hospital if things go wrong. I have nursed in both public and private hospitals in Australia and overseas for 25 years, and I can tell you that large public teaching hospitals are by far the safest places to be. If your child is born with any sort of semi serious complication, you had better hope that the staff have the foresight to transport that child straight to a public hospital. Health care is one thing in Australia, where paying more does not necessarily mean you will get more. Yes you will get a prettier room, and maybe a glass of champagne too. I would give that up any day though, in order to have a safe and positive experience for both myself and my child.

Thank you so much for writing this. My 19 year old daughter had an organ transplant as a baby, and is immuno compromised due to the daily anti rejection medications she must take for the rest of her life. From the outside she looks and acts like any other young and vibrant university student. The fact is that getting COVID could be quite devastating for her though, despite being fully vaccinated. I too cringe every time that the media casually dismisses those dying as ‘having an underlying condition’, as if that is somehow perfectly acceptable. 

My bestie has had chronic Lyme disease for the past ten years, and says that she has really enjoyed the pandemic in many ways, as she is suddenly not home alone all day as in the past. Suddenly everyone is stuck at home just like her, so have more time for phone chats and general catch ups. Hubby works from home, and the kids are mostly doing university on line from home too. So much more is available on line as a result too, so she feels like she has more access to the rest of the world now.

My 16 year old sprays his hair once every couple of months, and the colour looks great. He is a natural blonde though, who has just started to darken recently with puberty. It has taken his hair which was starting to become a bit mousy, and made it  look like more of a natural beach blonde again. I think it probably works better on short hair though.