New regulations are now in force stating that all children under 12 must use the appropriate child restraint for their age and height. Penalties include a fixed £30 penalty notice, up to a £500 fine and  possibly internal injuries for your child.

It is also worth noting that not only do I only use car seats brought new by myself, I have also recently changed my car to ensure that the airbag can be switched off allowing young babies to remain in my sight whilst in the car but also offering less risk to all ages.

THE LATEST IDEA, generated by the current 4 year olds in my care, is that not only would they like to be able to read and write fully and competently by Christmas 07, they would also like to know the words for everyday items in many languages. These include French, Spanish, German and Italian. Fortunately for me they are happy just to be able to say these words, and are happy to wait until they are 6 to master the reading and writing of a second language. THE PLAN - myself and the 3 year olds will be making name cards to stick around the playroom, toilet and porch area, detailing the various options, whilst the 4 year olds are at school. As both the 3 and 4 year olds have large vocabularies, I think we may need lots of paper. THE SOLUTION - hopefully once they realise the difficulty in learning one language fully, they may give me  little more time to help them master their ambitions!