Not having a smart phone...

Jane - yes I think that was the case with the panto (looking back) the girl probably hadn't even asked her parents if I could go. I can look at it logically now but as a small child who was already going through the mill, it left a scar. The parents could have been kinder about it. I know most kids go through this stuff, I am just looking for reasons why I hate being left out I think.

I often wonder what mental scars I am going to leave my children with. Ex was an alcoholic and I can see a few things in my daughter that make me a little sad. She insists that I haven't left her any awful legacies, but you never know. As for my own parents, I could be here all day. Once you are a parent, trying to be a good one, you do start to dust off all those memories you thought you had got rid of for ever.

Agreed jane. I'm the same. My daughter is not into her family much and I keep questioning whether it is because she was an only child, but she has only had one herself so she mustn't have minded it much. Everything she does which I am uneasy with I blame myself. Sometimes I have felt that she doesn't like me much She seems quite close to her friend's mum.

There will always be times when only your real mum will do, maybe just not as often as we would like.

wise words jane I just had a moment there!

Back to the phones, I am amazed at how many different ones there are and how many some of you seem to have.
According to the minimum income standard, everyone needs access to the internet, but if they have a mobile, they do not need a landline any more.
Is it possible to get access to the internet without a landline, says she, always having had a landline?

You can buy different packages that don't have to include a landline phone. TV plus mobile, say. There are packages for everything now. I presume you get a decent mobile reception where you live? I can only use my phone if I cross my lane and stand in a layby, the farmer next door stands there most morning shouting at his employees because even there the reception is poor!

As I said, I haven't had a landline since 2002. My internet is with Virgin. They are open to all sorts of negotiations.