'Me time'

I suppose we should be grateful they didn't make her wear a nappy for the photo-shoot...

Neither not either.

Could be worse. You never know, she might even admire her mother for it. It's not a choice I would have made but who am I to criticise someone else's perfectly valid choices?

Actually, I never shed a tear when mine started playgroup/nursery/school. Either did they. Beats me why people get so emotional about something they've had yonks to prepare for and which is inevitable anyway. I think it's all nonsense.

I have no problem with the article itself, just the photos.

Don't you think the child's parents would have a copy of the DM just to see the article in print, thatbags? She won't mind now, but that photo will probably come back to haunt her in later life.

She has also broadcast positive feelings about her child, and it seems to me that's it's not the child herself that is seen as a problem, but full-time motherhood. The woman wants to get back to work is all.

I don't suppose the child can read yet and I bet the parents don't buy the DM. How likely is it that the other kids will see it?

I wonder what the children's father thinks of the mother's publicity? Perhaps he doesn't mind if it brings in some dosh

For me, the problem is that she has broadcast her negative feelings about her child in a national newspaper. I would imagine that this little girl is the one who needs some 'me' time!

What's the difference between putting a four year old in a day nursery so you can go back to work and putting her in a school which, from what the mother says, sounds very accommodating?

A few of the comments in the paper are screeching about the nappies but the child only wears them at night. Ten per cent of ten year olds still wet the bed so the proportion of four year olds who are still not dry at night will be much higher.

I noticed it is a fee-paying school so the talk of needing to go back to work for money doesn't really cut the mustard with me, especially as I presume the other three are in fee-paying schools as well.

But my main reaction is, what's the problem? Loads of four year olds are in full-time day care while their oarents work. This one just happens to be called a school.

It's not just going to school though is it. She dumps the poor little mite into the playground at 8.30am and leaves her standing alone then doesn't bother to collect her until 5pm. No wonder the child is exhausted. Then she tells the world that she still wears nappies and has a dummy.....well that's ammunition for the playground bully.

Petallus I have no doubt that this piece was written in order to agitate, but to use an innocent child in order to do so, to make money through airing it in a tabloid, certainly warrants it being taken seriously.

And she's not a very good writer.

Children are not all the same. One size doesn't fit all. I can remember my Mum saying, in later years, that she couldn't wait for me to start school and that I was really ready at the age of 41/2 but had to wait until I was well over 5. This poor little might is obviously not ready and certainly not for all the extra stuff like the after school clubs! 8.30 - 5.00 ! Unbelievable! It's longer than some people's working day. Perhaps there will be another article soon headed' only joking!'

Finally managed to read it and now I'm

Totally agree with some of the comments beneath the article.

Not only allowing photos of the poor child, but agreeing to have her posing in her school uniform sucking a dummy.....!

I can't seem to find the article, when I click on the link I get a page of photos

If she wanted to spend time with her elder children maybe she should have only had a couple of children and not paid for a private education for them [that way she wouldn't have needed to carry on working; how much does it cost to privately educate 4 children these days?]. Probably thinks that she's being clever by penning such a controversial article but I'd rather hope it means she'll be out of a job in the near future. What a cow .

I expect many of us can recall at times feeling exhausted and exasperated by the demands of looking after young children - and I certainly wouldn't blame anyone for needing a little "me time". But I would have thought that, after having three children, this person would be aware of what parenting involves - and "me time" is usually in short supply. If this person had felt it unduly demanding of her time and energy (and could not enlist more help from the father who doesn't appear to be mentioned in the article), it might have been better to have limited her family, rather than make a conscious decision to add to it.

This little girl has just turned four, is still in nappies and needs the comfort of a dummy. Some children may be ready for full-time school at this age but it seems that this little girl isn't.

Let's hope this child never reads the article when she is older. Apart from it being, I think, rather hurtful it will provide her with ready-made ammunition (which it may be difficult for her parents to defend themselves against) for any wayward teenage behaviour.

I'm amazed anyone is taking this article seriously. It is obviously intentionally provocative.

Having said that, I do understand how women can become desperate for some time to themselves. Not only that but four is old enough to go to school. My grandson started school when he was four and six weeks old, because his birthday was in July. Many women put their children into creches when they are babies don't they?

I don't have children so maybe shouldn't be commenting on this thread but I know my friends have always treasured every tiring moment they had with their children before they started school. They would be worn out in the evenings but always said they wouldn't change a thing.

I would occasionally take the children off for an afternoon to give Mum a break but when I returned them Mum always gave them a great big hug and told them how much she missed them!

Friend of my DD has a little girl who at nearly 4 is still in nappies all the time, Mum says it is because when my DGS was born she wanted to be a baby too, mmmmm, here they go to Maternal at 2 1/2 if you want them to, then school at 6, leaving at 18. seems to work very well.
I am just so shocked at this woman even putting up photographs of the poor wee mite, hope the child grows up ok then tells her Mother to get lost.

Why does this woman have children?

She sounds totally selfish and self centred.

Why is her Daughter still wearing a nappy at night? Because her mother is too lazy to teach her to be dry at night? Can't stand the thought of the odd wet bed?
As for the dummy!.. She is 4 years old!

The mother just sounds like a lazy cannot be bothered with her kids development Mum!

This woman is always writing shock horror stories for the DM, I think they keep half a dozen of them in a hole in the ground somewhere and yank them out every so often and demand them to write a suitable story. It then enables them to yank her out a little bit later to write another story about how bitchy other mothers are about her and ostracise her bcause she is so 'honest' about her feelings for her daughter.

Never mind Nemesis will find her when her poor ignored neglected daughter becomes a rebellious and truly uncontrollable teenager.

Frankly, after this story I think Social Services should be on her doorstep.

I have no words to describe my feelings about this woman.....well I do but I think they may break Gransnet rules.

Did she think we would empathise with her ? She has kept the child a baby and now that it suits her she wants her in full time education. Unbelievable.