Normally I'm full of angst for the wee soul I'm reading for as they've had additional needs. ( Additional needs is what we are calling Special Needs these days. ) Now whether it's because the child I'm reading for isnt one of 'mine' or whether it's because when I was HLTAing that class, sometimes this child was extremely disruptive, badly behaved and displayed defiant, downright dumb insolence towards me...I felt zero sympathy when in the SPAG test yesterday they had no idea what a noun, verb, adjective or adverb was. All of the behaviours described above, they display for their current teachers too. The thing is, these behaviours are completely and utterly selective. Therefore a choice. No diagnosis for anything has ever happened. This is just a naughty child. So after the test yesterday, I asked the questions;
Me: " Do you want to do well in these tests?"
Child: " I want to."
Me: "Was that difficult?"
The answer was a solemn nod. I followed it up with,
"Do you wish you'd been listening in class and not been being sent out for your behaviour?" ( BEEN BEING??!! - ha ha oh the irony of a badly written blog post when discussing the English skills of an eleven year old! )
Guess what? A teeny little "yes" escaped from their mouth.
Of course then I softened towards them! Little Gits! Maths today! I'll be rooting for them !
I'm not sure what night it's on, but I have seen a TV Programme on Ch 4 or 5 advertised asking the question
Naughty Children? I will watch with interest. Where a child has a genuine Additional Need you can explain their unwanted behaviour - never use it as an excuse mind. Where a child doesn't, it's just a brat.
I know what my answer ALWAYS is. I do thoroughly blame the parents. Weak ineffective parenting is a thing. We run parenting courses. We offer support to the parents. The parents I love the most are the ones who accept their child is a swine and then bend over backwards to work in partnership in order to improve the situation. What rankles me the most - and long time readers of my blog may recall lots of times when I've been verbally and aggressively attacked by a parent defending their little shit who was caught doing wrong. BACKING UP THE CHILD IN FRONT OF AUTHORITY. Prison/Jeremy Kyle Fodder for future years. Those type of parents shouldn't even be allowed to breed. And typically they breed a lot. Not all of their offspring are lost causes. Always trying to look for the good I am!
Talking of good ones.... The Uni one had her last exam today and has therefore finished Uni. Gulp! The Sixth Former has his first A Level today. The mantra I've been saying for the last six months was given to me by my lovely friend Clare.
No one wishes they'd played on their X Box more.
So, I've been mantra ing, 'encouraging' and supportive. I've ignored a filthy bedroom somewhat, I've bitten my tongue when we've flounced out of the room. Yes, 18 year old boys can flounce. Sometimes me and his Dad, tremble as we relive the days of his Jekyll/Hyde sister! We agreed that the boy is worse at stropping! I'm not letting this go, folks, I'm biding my time! He'll be for it by June 18th! I think that's the last exam date!!
Ooooooh I've got a bit ranty and it wasn't where I'd planned to go at all with this post today!
Ahem...
I was just going to write a short post about my beef cobbler! That's not a euphemism by the way!
Recipe
Braising steak
Two oxo cubes
Onion
Boiling water
Marmite.
125gplain flour
50g fat
Tblspn baking powder
Salt & pepper
Milk to mix
Method
Run home from work at lunchtime, discover the beef you took out of the freezer needs two minutes defrosting in the microwave.
Slice the last onion you have, hoping it's not Manky when you peel it
Fry the onion in a wee slug of oil, in your trusty Le Cresuset cast iron casserole.
Run sink of hot water to wash up
Make a cheese n onion butty for lunch
Take beef out of microwave and cut into cubes
Wash hands and put kettle on to boil
Put beef in with onions and brown
Wash up ( dishwasher full of clean pots ) and wipe down sides.
Crumble two oxo in a mug, add boiling water, stir
Add to casserole
Fill same mug with boiling water to dissolve oxo sludge left and add half a knife blade of marmite and stir
Add to casserole and stir together.
Put in oven on quite high to get it going for five minutes
Wash hands, wipe down, eat butty
Go back to work
Run back in the house and turn oven down to Slow Cooker option.
( My slow cooker was buried under 'stuff')
Go back to work.
After work
Come home to mouth watering smell of slowly cooked beef. 
Cook with lid on for 20ish minutes then take lid off for 8ish minutes.
Yum!
Oh well, just saw the Sixth Former off with my dulcet tones ringing in his ears.
Coach, via the art of Face time, a friend through cobbler/scone/dumpling confusion.
Decide to cobble together some sort of carb loaded topping too.
Use trusty iPhone ( ignoring 450000 cookery books on shelf ) for quick cobbler recipe.
Rub fat into flour, season, mix to dough with milk
Cut out using egg cup because you can't be bothered to go in cupboard to find correct cutter.
Add a touch of boiling water to beef then plop mini cobbles on top.
Cook with lid on for 20ish minutes then take lid off for 8ish minutes.
What we had were mini pillows of soft fluffiness which had a lovely crunchy top; the photo does not do it justice!
Serve with new potatoes and veg.
Oh well, just saw the Sixth Former off with my dulcet tones ringing in his ears.
Do you have your ID?
Do you have your pens/pencils/rulers/etc?
Do you know your seat number?
Do you know your candidate number?
Good luck and do your best.
Do not miss out any questions.
Time yourself properly.
Read all the instructions.
Have a good day and watch the roads.
I'm fretting for him already!
The Sun is shining, washer's on for me to peg out at lunchtime.
What will you be doing at lunchtime?
Love from
Rachel *ranty pants* Radiostar
Xxx
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