Weird stuff people do to get their children through

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Tinkus-Pinkus
Posts: 143
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2013 4:22 pm

Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by Tinkus-Pinkus »

I thought I would start a thread so that people can log all the weird stuff that they or others have done in order to help their children through the 11 plus journey. Someone on thesis forum suggested I should read, May contain Nuts by John O'Farrell, it is hilarious, but rather too close to the mark. I am not a pushy parent REAlLY! But here are some of the OTT things that I have done to help my DD just to get the thread started.
- I fed her spirulina milkshakes for breakfast, which she calls witches brew
- I gave her cacao nibs as a snack during the exam, to accentuate her concentration.
- I made her forget about her 11 plus the week before by sending her on a sailing course.
- I signed up to IXL, so that she could totally uneccessarilly learn the year 6 and 7 curriculum in maths Duh!
- I spent a whole year making her look up any word that she didn't understand in the dictionary.
- I told her how important it is to have fun and how education isn't everything whilst she sat doing NVR/comprehension/cloze/maths etc on a Saturday morning whilst her friends were at drama classes in the run up to the test.

There are others, but have run out of time this morning. In retrospect, I am beginning to think that I definitely contain nuts, however I did not resort to pull ups in the test.
djy76
Posts: 131
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:29 pm

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by djy76 »

Following reading about the powers of Omega 3 my DS has had 3 tablets a day (recommended dose from H&B)
he calls them horse pills.

I don't think I can top your list though, I think the only other thing we did was no work the week before following a mock on the preceding Sunday, we are refering to that as the dress rehearsal - 'it will be alright on the night'!!!
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by Amber »

One does wonder how the omega thing has gone so viral; the only randomised controlled trial carried out in this country found that
Despite the wide range of cognitive and behavioural outcome measures employed, only three significant differences between groups were found after 16 weeks, one of which was in favour of the placebo condition.(Kirby et al, 2010)

Still, guess they are harmless, even if they give you fishy burps. The rest of that stuff is just plain weird, TP. :lol:
Hope you're enjoying the book- it was I who suggested it and I think it's due for a relaunch. John O' Farrell deserves to make as much money from it as the snake oil companies do from their potions!
anotherworriedmum
Posts: 289
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:04 pm

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by anotherworriedmum »

I made my son eat salmon daily the week before his exams!
silverysea
Posts: 1105
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:32 pm

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by silverysea »

The placebo effect is well documented anyway.

We have eaten a lot of fish the past couple of weeks-bought too much! Luckily the object of all this attention likes fish.

My attempts at positivity and pep talks have earned me pity and derision in equal measure in our house, so now I'll go back to my default setting of sarcastic irritable pessimism, with relief!
scary mum
Posts: 8841
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by scary mum »

Amber wrote:One does wonder how the omega thing has gone so viral; the only randomised controlled trial carried out in this country found that
Despite the wide range of cognitive and behavioural outcome measures employed, only three significant differences between groups were found after 16 weeks, one of which was in favour of the placebo condition.(Kirby et al, 2010)

Still, guess they are harmless, even if they give you fishy burps. The rest of that stuff is just plain weird, TP. :lol:
Hope you're enjoying the book- it was I who suggested it and I think it's due for a relaunch. John O' Farrell deserves to make as much money from it as the snake oil companies do from their potions!
Amber, you got there before me! A few years ago I fell for the Horizon (was it Horizon?) program about a particluar brand of fish oils. Then I read Ben Goldacre's Bad Science (a must for everyone) and stopped wasting my money. 2/3 of my DCs don't like fish very much, and I don't imagine it did them any harm, but I don't think imagine it helped them at school either :D .

Eta: I did give DS2 a banana on the way to school when he was doing his 11plus, but mainly as an excuse to get some extra food into him as he wasn't that keen on breakfast.
scary mum
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by southbucks3 »

I promised my son i would match the time he spent doing 11+ practice, being in goal. That was the dullest and most painful hour of the holidays, after 20 minutes i was ready to surrender, but he was having none of it!
Niffer
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue May 14, 2013 1:19 pm

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by Niffer »

I read this in a magazine a couple of weeks before the exam.

Got a lot to remember? Sniff rosemary. In new research when four drops of the essential oil were diffused into a room it increased alertness, improved concentration and boosted memory power by 60-75 per cent.

So off I went to Holland and Barrett and I am embarrassed to say my dd was made to do her work with the oil burning.
fairyelephant
Posts: 588
Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2012 9:59 am
Location: N London

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by fairyelephant »

I did resort to paying DS an hourly rate at one stage - didn't work!

The oddest thing I heard from a friend was parents giving their boys a can of red bull just before going into the QE Boys 11 plus in Barnet, 2 years ago. Would have thought that could be quite counter productive and get them jittery rather than on the ball!

The pull ups thing has to win the prize, surely?
countrymum
Posts: 686
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:16 am

Re: Weird stuff people do to get their children through

Post by countrymum »

We tried to do the no pasta rule - that didn't work she loves pasta - so do I! No one goes without pasta in this house :lol: Actually, truthfully I was a rubbish 11+ parent. Didn't start seriously thinking about preparation until Easter of the year she took the exams, nearer the exam dates she played out when she should have been at the table revising, I wasn't proactive in ensuring she was getting enough sleep, I fed her ample slices of cake and carbonated drinks...you get the idea!

She passed 4 exams so something must have been right - probably all the 'happy, relaxing endorphins' from munching on the cake :lol:
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