Six years of child-related musings

Today is this blog's 6th birthday. This, astonishingly, is the 2739th post. I was looking through old posts around this time of year to remind you of by way of celebration and I found that writing about children was a bit of a theme.

In 2006, my 6th ever post, on Labour's answer to anti-social behaviour saw my first mention to a theme I've returned to many times since - that of the need for responsive parenting in the early days particularly.

2007 saw me asking To smack or not to smack. I'm sure you can guess that I'm firmly in the anti camp - and in fact it was David Laws' opposition to smacking that made me look at him without fear for the first time.

My daughter and her friends have all had their first HPV vaccination this week - and were not given any of the life saving information that girls in other schools will be getting. This is all thanks to the SNP Government exempting Catholic schools from the requirement to disseminate the literature. I am as appalled today by that decision today as I was when I wrote Teenagers, jabs and the Catholic Church in 2008.

A year later, it was Labour's ridiculous proposals to vet anyone who ever went anywhere near a child that got me furious. Keeping my child safe - an overanxious mum writes was eventually shortlisted for a BOTY,

I had a proud moment in 2010. As part of an exercise at school, Anna had to write to a CEO of a company on the destruction of the rainforest, challenging them to appreciate the beauty of an ocelot.

Last year, I turned my attention to an SNP Government consultation on children's services which didn't include asking for the opinion of one single child.

And last month, I was annoyed when I saw the way packs of magnetic words were marketed at girls and boys and told you all about it in post called "Treasure for boys, fluff for girls...in the 21st century."

I've enjoyed the last six years. I'm conscious that I've not had the time to write on as wide a range of subjects as I used to. That's my challenge for year 7 of this blogging lark.