More from the Norland nannie

Another thing that struck me... This woman commented about how many children today are picky eaters. This she put down to us giving small kids options. She said children should have their food put in front of them without discussion, but if there was something they didn't like, they should only be given a small amount of that. Adults should set a good example by eating everything on their plate.

This made me remember an incident. When my eldest grandson was small, I asked him if he wanted carrots (or whatever). Busy with his play (no, I shouldn't have interrupted him) he didn't respond. I insisted, "Josh, do you want carrots? Say 'yes or no'."

He looked up at me and sweetly said, "Yes or no".

That, dear readers, surely sums it up.

A Norland Nannie's advice

Recently the Guardian newspaper published an article/memoir by a woman who'd been a Norland nannie all her life. This British nannie training was instituted a bit before the middle of last century and she told of how the first thing they learned to do was to polish those coach-built high perambulators until they shone spotless!

A couple of things were interesting to me. Firstly, that the training insisted a child should never be spanked... certainly a concept way ahead of its time. Then she wrote about how a child could be disciplined. Inappropriate behaviour could be met by sending the child to his or her room (not merely to sit on the stairs) to think about what had happened. Then, when they were ready, they'd come downstairs to apologize. The apology given, they were then given a kiss and a hug to express approval and to show that they were loved.

It was this last step that brought an 'aha' for me, so I wanted to share it with you.