Single hen

[BeckyBoo]

Morning (?) in case anyones interested here's a link to this years blog - OH kids and I have got two girls staying with us for a month from Belarus - its where 70% of the radiation fell after Cher"Ooops, word censored!"yl 20 years ago. The country has been left in a poor state, it's now ex-Russia, no one wants to trade with a country that glows in the dark and they have a dictator who is adamant that only 53 people died from Cher"Ooops, word censored!"yl. Anyway, scientists reckon that a month in this country with good food, fresh air and clean water can add up to 2 years to their life expectancy. We did it last year and we're into week one of doing it again this year. It's hectic, but bloomin good fun and it's great for our kids too, to learn that not everyone lives like we do.

 

here's the link

 

http://mrsbertie.vox.com/

 

Mrs Bertie

[Couperwife]

wow, mrs B, how did you get into this?

 

its amazing...

 

I would love to do something like this, but we have no children, surely people will think its weird....?

[BeckyBoo]

Not at all, there's quite a few host families whose kids have either left home, or they're now grandparents, or they have no kids. I personally think its harder if you don't have kids as mine are great at breaking the ice, but the kids that come over are really lovely, and so far, really well behaved! Much better than mine! I found out about it whilst (too much information coming up!) sitting on the loo reading the Parish magazine!

It's such a great thing to do - makes you stop doing the housework and make time to play! There will be a link (local branch) near to you, you can check out our local link on www.ccll.co.uk - that takes you to the main charity website. As you may be able to tell, I'm a bit behind with the diary this year!

 

Mrs B

[starboyhull]

Thats such a great thing to do, I will have a look at the website.....On a slightly sepearate note we was at a pride event and a local council was there and we are ust waiting for fostering information........

 

Helping the kids you are though Mrs Bertie must be something else, they must really enjoy it......

[BeckyBoo]

ooooh fostering, that's brave! I'd like to do that but I think my kids would have to be older, and I'd have to be less knackered! Hope you get on alright - it's a hideously long process to get accepted isn't it?

[starboyhull]

Sorry, I dont want to take over from your thread.......

 

We have a few forms to fill in and police checks( we already have them as licensees) and a home visit, to make sure we have a good secure home.....You have to have been with your partner / husband / wife for at least 2 years......We have 7 clocked up now, so we are okay on that......So for us it should just be paper work and the council we aproached are happy to "poach" us, we are Hull City Council and this was Lincolnshire council, which I think would be better for us as the kids would be from a fare way away, so no problem with parents etc........We said we would only be interested in weekend at the moment, as non parents I dont think it would be fair on the child / children to take them full time as we dont have the experience........Its a daunting prospect but we have a nice home, plenty of animals to show them how to care for....... I was very scared at the thought at first as its something Andy has wanted to do for a long time, but I think it would be good for us and the kids that deserately need help.....

[BeckyBoo]

definitely. Weekends only might mean you get mainly respite care cases at first which might be a good way in. Kids who either care for a parent or are cared for and either they or their carers need a break. Fostering can be quite harrowing - a woman at mother and toddler group fostered a brother and half sister from when they were 18 months and about 3 weeks, then she handd them over for adoption when they were 3 years and about 18 months, very very hard. The couple adopting were lovely apparently but how hard must that be - she must have been a really really special kind of person to manage that. Then you get the other end where the kids are so out of control, or so damaged by poor parenting, or sometimes NO parenting. You might not always see the difference you make straight away, or not even for years, but the difference is always there. Showing them that there is a different way to live, that there can be calm in their chaotic lives. Good luck to you, I think fosterers are completely unsung heroes. You must let us know how you get on, specially when you get your first child or children (hope that doesn't seem too ghoulishly like staring at other peoples misfortune!)

 

Mrs B

[Egluntyne]

What a wonderful thing you are doing Mrs Bertie.

 

It must be so rewarding (and exhausting too no doubt).

 

Good luck with your application Karl.

 

A friend of mine has fostered for years. She ended up adopting 4 of them so be warned!

 

She now just does emergency fostering and gets woken up by social services in the middle of the night to take children in as an emergency.

 

It takes a very special kind of person.......

[craftyhunnypie]

Hi - I think anyone who fosters or adopts is a truly amazing special person, who I truly admire. We've had all the info on fostering, but have never taken it further. We do have room in our house, but one room has been convertd to an office and the other room is mainly used for storage - it would take a lot of sorting to fit a bed in there! It's all a bit scary for us. We both love children & I have been a nanny & an Au pair in Austria, but when we go out & see children running riot, screaming their heads off, playing up and getting away with murder...I have to admit it I really get quite cross at the parents. A lot these days don't know how to handle them.

I feel , even tho I haven't got children, I could do a far better job than most. You get frowned upon too by a lot of people for NOT having children, people don't understand, they just assume you don't want any & are wierd. You get left out of a lot of things. Do you find this Couperwife??

 

People never ask you to babysit, coz well what would I know about children?

But I'd actually love to babysit - I like playing dollies, cars, action figures, reading stories etc. So maybe I should do something like Mrs Bertie?

 

It sounds fantastic what you are doing! We did think about taking in a German exchange student, with me speaking german - it would be good.

But where do they sleep-----in our caravan?

 

Good on you Mrs Bertie!

 

Emma.x

[Guest]

 

People never ask you to babysit, coz well what would I know about children?

But I'd actually love to babysit - I like playing dollies, cars, action figures, reading stories etc. So maybe I should do something like Mrs Bertie?

 

I don't see why not having children wouldn't mean you were a great babysitter - none of my babysitters have children because they are all young (and oddly all boys!) You would make a better job of it than me for sure, you like playing and reading to them. I like playing on my computer.

 

So when can you come and babysit???

[chelsea]

I feel , even tho I haven't got children, I could do a far better job than most. You get frowned upon too by a lot of people for NOT having children, people don't understand, they just assume you don't want any & are wierd. You get left out of a lot of things. Do you find this Couperwife??

 

 

 

Emma.x

 

I completely agree with this Emma. Just because we are in our thirties and without kids people always say to me " Oh you didnt want kids then?" which I think is SO rude!! , they dont know the circumstances, heartache, situation behind closed doors - so why say it! Also at 34 im still young enough to have children!!

 

Another thing that bugs me is when you see ex girlfriends of your husband or old school friends you no longer associate with that have kids and they almost seem like they are boasting "hey weirdo with no kids look at my children" !!

 

We have a large circle of friends - all with children, I have 2 adorable nephews and ALL my friends agree we are the best with their kids. We LOVE children and have also looked into fostering.

[chelsea]

Oh and Mrs Bertie well done to you for helping out the Cher"Ooops, word censored!"yl children, I saw it once on a episode of "Airline" and it looked like it did the children a world of good.

[BeckyBoo]

cheers m'dear, I was 32 before I had my first, and when I had my third there were 6 of us in the office pregnant at the same time, every single one was over 30, 4 of them it was there first and one was 41. I was nowhere near ready for kids til I was in my thirties (still not! )

[chelsea]

just reading your blog, sounds like the girls are having a great time!