ThenBlowUpTheWolves

Not true at all (other than the cream?). But you slather it in butter, let it melt, then add jam, honey or whatever. My youngest has peanut butter on his, which is novel but the boy is basically made of peanut butter.

We get McDonald's when we're on long drives, mostly for the kids since we supply ourselves with way too many road snacks. Maybe once a month we get a Chinese, but nothing else is really worth the fortune you pay for it these days. Meals out are once a year but the cost has gone from, "If we only get mains and water, we can get a £25 meal from this fancy restaurant," to easily £120 for us and two young kids. Sometimes I feel like we only take them out for dinner so they have the experience, not because it's in any way worth it. We wouldn't bother if it was just us, I don't think.

Had the shittest meal at Pizza Hut thinking it was a cheapo option. £60, rancid environment, many regrets. I complained about the toilets (floor to ceiling literally coated in grime, watermarks and rot) with a video and they offered me a £10 voucher, as if I'm ever eating there again. They ignored my response that it takes the piss.

You wouldn't, true, but they are British people from the British Isles. As Celts with shared Pretani ancestry, they have more right to call themselves British than the English.

It's not about language, the Celts share common ancestry. Seriously, find out about what you're arguing before you blindly argue it.

'Britain' doesn't exist. *Great* Britain is the larger of the two British Isles, the historical name of Ireland being Little Britain. Britannia being rooted from Pretani, which was the indigenous Celts' name for themselves. The British Isles effectively means 'Isles of the painted folk', which is not an oppressive name from outsiders. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the four nations.

British isn't English. Its root is pretani, which was the indigenous Celts' name for themselves. The English are the ones who shouldn't be considered British.

Are you trying to argue that the Irish aren't Celtic? Are you alright, mate?

They should. The British people are one of the very few indigenous people to have been named after their own name for themselves. Pretani, the painted folk or tattooed people, is a name the indigenous Celtic people used for themselves. The argument should really be whether the English have as much right to be British as the Celtic nations.

It doesn't mean 'the islands belonging to the British', it means the islands of the British people. British likely rooted in the Celtic word 'pretani'. Know what you're disagreeing with before you dismiss it, because it is the historical politics, not the terminology, that is actually the problem. Anyone from the Celtic nations can feel free to reclaim the concept of being a British person from the British Isles, Britannia, land of the painted people. It is *our* word, not a label put on us by oppressors.

Ireland is still an island in the *British* Isles. Anyone who lives in the British Isles is arguably British, just as we are in Europe and therefore European and everyone from Canada to Argentina is an American from the Americas. Emotionally, people find this idea offensive, but in terms of geography, it is accurate.

I meant that part in the geographical sense. Irish people are from The British Isles and therefore geographically British, just as The British Isles are part of Europe and therefore we are European. I've never met a Brit that identifies as European, but *technically* we are.

The British Isles is a geographical name, not a political name, both the island of Great Britain and the island of Ireland are in the archipelago called The British Isles, whether we/they like it or not. We're also all European, whether we like it or not. Granted, I find it galling when Americans say, "I love Europe," in response to hearing I'm British, but we are nevertheless geographical Europeans.

Baffling that you were downvoted for accurately explaining geography.

No, she's *also* the queen consort. She was referred to as the Queen Consort until the coronation, but now she is referred to as the Queen. Prince Philip wasn't ever king because kings outrank queens.

As a Scot, that's absolute bollocks. Technically everyone from the British Isles is British, but *definitely* if you're from the island of Great Britain, you're British. I can understand the political reasons Irish people may not want to be called British, even if it's geographically accurate.

That school is shit and most kids don't like it. It's just accepted that the education system hasn't changed for decades, that teachers still don't understand that rule breaking is a result of unmet needs and missing skills, not 'bad choices' and that parents are still not trusted to know their children best. 6 hours masking in school is not evidence of a child's personality or needs. Social groups of same-age children are fundamentally bad for social development. I very incorrectly assumed that SEND provision was better, too, but it is still the case (at least in the school my oldest attended) that a child who is smart and not disruptive doesn't have additional needs, even if parents are proactive about advocating for them. And then we have MPs blaming parents for children having toileting issues, as if parents don't want their children using the toilet and can't be bothered to teach them, when the reality is that the expectation for children to be developmentally able to manage their own hygiene by 4 is entirely dictated by the school start age, not by natural development. And best of all, parents like me who have no choice but to home educate are treated like loopy hippies who think we're better than teachers or child abusers hiding in anonymity, when actually we're taking pressure off the school system and should be better supported to do so! I didn't think when I had my first child 7 years ago that I'd feel this way, I thought he'd go to school and I'd go back into education and get a career. I am willingly sacrificing my own dreams to allow him to develop emotionally without being gripped by the daily trauma he faced having to conform to rules that punished him for how his brain worked. In 2025, he was deemed 'too smart to be autistic' by a teacher younger than me.

I don't understand it, either, and I often note signs of stress (panting, particularly) that owners and random people trying to stroke them ignore. My last dog would be shaking and pacing every evening for weeks once the fireworks started. My current dog doesn't give a shit about fireworks but he still finds crowded spaces stressful and when he's jumping at people who give him attention, I don't see that as him being super friendly, just very overstimulated since he's unable to stay calm when someone speaks to him. I sometimes take him for car rides with me, particularly at the moment because he's got IBD and the stress of loneliness is sometimes worse for him than being left in the car for a few minutes, but I don't take him to busy places and I particularly don't take him into shops, which I'm seeing more and more. A young couple had their dog in Waterstone's the other day, that's just mental to me. I would never even think of taking a dog into a bookshop.

I do always look in the window of this one house that has a cat tree in the window. I don't really like owning cats, but I do like how peacefully they observe the world.

I don't, it sheds a harsh light on the reality of my lack of money for decor choices.

If your dining table is in front of a window, shutting the curtains makes dinner feel really grim. Just being able to see outdoors stops you feeling like you live in a little box all winter. I don't like feeling like we live in a fishbowl, so I do shut the curtains at night, but that's because our living room is on that side of the house now. I've lived in houses where the only sensible place for the dining table is in front of a massive street-facing window and we've just had to be fishbowl people.

Like they're vomiting into their hand.

Might want to invest in a bread maker (or make it by hand if you have the time!), will save you a lot of money!

Same here and it's that boule shape that only I have the patience to cut so after the crust has softened I often find it's been brutally mutilated by the mister.

Cost is obviously the thing that would stop me, but yes, I'd love a weekend bread delivery of nice bread or pastries.

I am an enthusiastic Halloween decorator but I don't buy plastic tat other than LED candles and the kind of witchy fabric often labelled 'creepy fabric', which are both cheaper online than in supermarkets. Everything else is charity shop finds, random trinkets from Temu/ebay and a lot of gathered material from dog walks (feathers, branches, berries, pine cones, etc.) and some pumpkins from a local farm shop. I just really don't like the American-style plastic-coated garden and cackling skeletons, I don't feel it's as appropriately British as the holiday should be treated. I don't have anything against people buying the plastic tat if it means they're recognising a 2,000-year-old tradition, I just don't want it on my doorstep, but I do notice most people just get pumpkins so I think there could be just a disdain for the tat in question that doesn't really make it worth it for shops to keep stocking Halloween products even halfway through October.

Halloween has been a UK holiday for 2,000 years. It's become quite Americanised, but guising is a Scottish tradition.

In what universe does a roast dinner for 6 people cost *£60*?! Or more, I assume, because it's being framed as a contribution. Better be a posh fucking roast.

>if you tell someone they have a nice garden, how do they know whether you mean their flower beds or their whole lawn? You'd say, "Lawn looks nice," if you meant the lawn. If you say the garden is nice, you don't mean the boring bits everyone has.

I'm sorry, are you 'jokingly' suggesting that OP should sexually assault a child?

Poor kid doesn't need discipline, he needs someone to give a shit about him.

I don't buy that the kids you see misbehaving are mostly poorly parented, that's very easy for people whose children are well regulated to judge other parents for. We are still so shitty at identifying neurodiversity and autism is likely more common than statistics show because getting a diagnosis is a nightmare, particularly when your child doesn't 'seem autistic'. My kids *do* know what the boundaries are, they do intellectually know how to behave, but the reason they love and respect us is because they know we know that their 'bad behaviour' when we're out is panic and sensory overwhelm from the stress of having to be in shared spaces with strangers, lound noises, bright lights and uncontrollable factors. And I do see that same behaviour in other people's children that I previously would have mentally rolled my eyes at before, I recognise it because I've had this experience of slowly realising my child is autistic and had to reshape my understanding of my role in their lives. Traditional parenting simply doesn't work with children who have additional needs. My role as their parent is to be a calm and emotionally stable person for them to lean fully on and feel safe to panic in front of. Now, if a child, autistic or otherwise, does something that is distressing to you, by all means be annoyed, but otherwise don't be so fast to judge other people when you really have no idea what they're experiencing. For some people, the middle ground is what you think looks like permissive parenting, you just don't understand what parenting other people's children involves and frankly you won't unless you experience it first hand.

I'll definitely try this miracle cure when my PDAer next panics and starts running around giggling in public. Evidently I can simply reason with the child and he will obey, like the good little clone he should be.

Shit, I never thought of *just telling* these tiny, emotionally fragile, physically dependant but mentally independent humans to just 'behave'! Maybe I should also ask them not to wake me up at 5am or drop toys down the back of the sofa or change their taste in food every day or ever be dirty or smelly or loud or obnoxious or sad or angry or have any thoughts at all! Where has this advice been my entire parenting life?!

As a mum to two autistic kids with PDA, any day nobody has been punched is a good day and I really don't give a shit if they're a nuisance to witness because if they're running around laughing it's probably a panic state and I'm far more concerned about getting them through whatever thing we have to do to get them somewhere they feel safe again. And I'm not saying *every* child doing what you've mentioned is autistic but I'm willing to bet more are than you think. I definitely notice it more now I have that awareness about my own kids. The way we parent autistic kids has changed *a lot* (sometimes it is too permissive but mostly it's picking your battles). What hasn't changed is the general public's understanding of masking behaviours. My kids on a good day are adorable little angels who charm everyone they meet. On bad days it might look like they're just yelling at me and being rude and giggling and running off, but inside they are in fight/flight while trying to mask in public. I see people judging us, I just know my children's needs so don't really care. Basically, you don't know it's just shitty parenting, mkay?

They were bullied by staff, who also twisted things. They'd go backstage and say, "They said this about you, is that true?" to rile them up so they could get those explosive, storming out shouting reactions. Ex-staff have been very open about it since, they were also being treated like dirt by the production and felt like it was their only chance to get into the industry.

Their accommodation was paid for, but a lot of them were going on for DNA tests or to resolve what they felt were otherwise unresolvable dramas in their lives. They were also bullied and cajoled into it by the casting staff, who have since admitted that it was very difficult to get people to appear on the show.

He didn't see them as people, nor did most of the people watching. They were 'just' chavs, right?

And everyone involved in the show's creation knew that, but the audience didn't and Jeremy Kyle always presented the results as irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing.

That he's still got a job is astounding. Seems like he got let off because he claimed he had an anxiety disorder after his show was cancelled and nobody wants to dare hold him accountable for his actions.

It'd be great if you were single or in a 2-income household. We were feeling pretty comfortable when I was freelancing and my husband was on £42k, but he's dropped down to £40k and I had to quit work to look after our son and then our dog was diagnosed with IBD and is on fancy food and £300 of medication every month. And we're not buying stuff on credit, my car is 21 years old, we all buy second-hand clothes, we home cook 90% of our meals, etc. Things just cost a lot at the moment.

I can't remember anything about the last person with hand tattoos I saw. A while ago, a young lad with actively bleeding knuckles served me in Halfords and I still want to know what happened.

My 7-year-old calls me and his dad 'mate', I think it's brilliant.

None of those are expected for me. I tend to order a lot of things at once from places like Vinted so you only have a delivery estimate. Even when I do get a delivery day, often parcels arrive early. As for the rest, people I'm close to do just drop round sometimes for something quick, it's not always planned. If it's dropping off clothes, they can leave them on the doorstep if I don't answer. Sometimes my sister is just coming to check if she left something at my house but it's not that important, she was just passing by. My friend/neighbour, well, she lives two doors down so we do both just run round quickly for smaller things. These aren't planned visits, they're just, "While I'm nearby," drop ins.

For the majority of people, it's at least occasionally something worthwhile.

I think it more depends where you live. There have definitely been places I've lived where I wouldn't have opened the door to strangers, but I do where I live now because it's a safe area and the worst thing it's likely to be is some scammer trying to claim I owe them for cleaning my windows against my wishes, in which case I'd just shut the door in their face. I also weirdly feel better armed with a child in my arms. It changes my identity within the conversation. I'm not a woman on my own in the middle of the day, I'm a tired mum with no time for anyone's shit.

I wouldn't answer the door at 9:30pm, but if you answer to Jehovah's Witnesses and tell them not to come back, they have to (according to their own rules) mark down that your house shouldn't be visited again for a year or so. This tactic also seems to work on doorstep Mormons, rare as they are in the UK. TV license people, that is fair enough, but thankfully they're like vampires and can't come in unless you invite them in, so are fairly easy to ward off. I do think it's important to learn to just say, "No, thank you," or, "Go away." You are in *your* house, you have every right to be there and to open your door whenever you want to. They are intruders on your privacy, so tell them to leave and don't let yourself be convinced it's in any way rude.

Times it's been worthwhile for me: * Parcel delivery - this is 90% of door knocks * My neighbour/friend bringing me baked goods * My opposite neighbour letting me know we'd left our car door open while herding the children * My neighbour's kids asking for their toys back * My sister visiting for various things * Other friends dropping off their kids' outgrown clothes * A neighbour from a few doors down asking if we know who's been feeding his cat. While this may not seem worthwhile, I now know his very friendly cat is called Bentley.

I'm going to need to see your stats. See, the law has determined 7am-11am is an acceptable time to make reasonable noise (note 'reasonable'), which I'm sure is actually based on statistics and not, "I don't get up until mid-morning and nobody else should either." My kiss have a varied life and lots of different forms of entertainment both indoors and outdoors, thank you for your concern! :) I'm also on great terms with all the neighbours who are likely to hear my kids, it's nice they feel free to enjoy summer evenings in their gardens too. It's also nice when all the kids are out playing over the fences, keeps them busy during the holidays and gives the parents a lie in on the weekend. Funny what you assume about people when you base everything on your own narrow assumptions.

Um, yes? 7am is hardly the crack of dawn most of the year and comparing kids playing in the garden at a reasonable hour for humans to be awake to doing DIY at 3am is obviously ludicrous. I just think you need to stop thinking the world revolves around you. The quiet hours end at 7am because most people start their day at 7 and if all the people starting their cars, buses, bin lorries, delivery vans, kids going to school/nursery, etc. don't wake you up, I doubt a child playing is going to ruin your life. Nice baiting attempt with the bad parent comment, too, gave me a good titter!