Thank you for your wonderful response. Unfortunately I live in France and they aren't into homeschooling and EL like Americans and such. They do have a few import products on Amazon from America, which is where all the good stuff is, but many things can't be shipped to France.

I do find some cheap things and convince my husband to lend me some money to buy some groceries and do end up coming home with EL things but I want his support because I don't feel like I can give much with the free resources I do have.

I use playdoh and marbles and all sorts of things but I want more advanced kits and curriculum to take half the burden off me in preparation.

There's not much I can find in France. I have decided to make a wishlist on Amazon but since they are imported, it costs a lot more, so many people are reluctant to buy things off there especially if it costs more to send then the actual price of the product itself.

What do you do with the cereal boxes if you don't mind me asking?

I do use starfall for free reading and that helps a lot but I want something more 'proper and complete' when it comes to teaching her how to read.

I think you are right, I will have to go through my house and see what I can find and organise my EL priorities. It's very hard to find English books where I am from and I want to teach her obviously in English.

Thanks again, you certainly made me feel like not giving up. It's not about the money, I guess he might think what's the point, she's only going to learn it all at school anyway. I will have too seriously ask him why he is so against it.

New neighbours have recently moved in. The 2 parents and 4 children aged 17, 15, 9, 8 with 3 boys and 1 girl with the girl being the youngest. The father works in the same company as my husband and since they were new to the area, my husband thought he'd make efforts for the family to feel welcomed and comfortable in the new City. They have been here for nearly 2 months now. I told him I prefer not to get too involved with them for many reasons especially if things were to turn sour it would be difficult since they work together (though not in the same department nor do they see each other often at work) but he didn't listen to me. I thought they were all really nice but I have some concerns on how to handle a problem that has come up. I have issues with the girl.

-She lies to me in my home and I catch her lying

-She makes herself welcome in our home ALL DAY and invites herself over without asking.

-The girl opened up the playdoh that was still in the plastic and I had kept on a high shelf in my office with the door closed since I never expected her to go in there so that she wouldn't find it and took it to another room and opened it to go and play with it and I was NOT happy

--My husband caught the girl going through our cupboards and all the rooms, especially our bedroom

-They have taught my daughter how to open the balcony doors and now she is always trying to escape every time she sees them so I always have to keep the shutters down (In my OWN home!)

-The two youngest were playing with my daughters playdoh and mixed ALL the 6 playdoh colours. when I told her she is not allowed to play with her playdoh anymore for mixing the colours, she blamed my daughter although I was supervising them the whole time and lied to her mother about it

-I have safety gates blocking the stairs since it's a 2 story house. My daughter can't open them yet nor climb over them hence why they are there. I tell them they aren't allowed to play upstairs since the girl wrecks havoc in my daughters room and is a pest. She repeatedly disrespects me by whispering in my daughters ear to let her play in her room. I see that she goes to open the safety gate and I say NO! So she goes back to the living room. Not long later, she tries again and again by whispering in her ears so they both walk off towards the gate to open it, I catch them and say NO! to my daughter even though I know it's her encouraging her. I decide to start vacuuming in the kitchen and closed the kitchen door to vacuum behind it. There is see through glass on the door, It's the type of glass where you see out but not in. I seen her run for the stairs and try open it through the glass door as soon as I turned the vacuum cleaner on and had shut the door. I heard her say to my daughter when she saw me coming out, 'no, we can't go upstairs' like it was my daughter who opened the gate. I had enough and then went next door to find my husband and I told him what happened so he talked to her mother. She told her mother that It was my daughter not her. I told her that it's not possible for my daughter to do that and even if it was, why worry, if she doesn't know how to open/climb the gate? She can't go up unless we let her and open it for her!

-She whispers something in my daughters ear, I turned my back and then I suddenly see my daughter pull her undies down and start jumping around, the girl is laughing then she says to my daughter 'pull your pants up!' when I look at them. I suspected she told her to do that but didn't say anything the first time because I wasn't sure. When she was allowed one time in her room, I saw that she had closed the door whilst I was in the room adjacent to her bedroom and I quickly run up and open the door and I find my daughter without her undies on again and her telling my daughter to pull them up. I became extremely suspicious because I was very certain that I heard her tell her to pull them down but told her to pull them up when she saw me. She did this 3 times total. I think she is doing it because she thinks it's funny but I don't know why she is trying to get my daughter into trouble if that could be another reason for it. I was very certain after this.

Every time I see her whisper in my daughters ear, my daughter is either taking her undies off or goes straight for the stairs so it's pretty obvious she is trying to encourage her to do these things.

I told my husband she is no longer welcome in our home nor is she allowed to play with our daughter outside. I want to confront the mother but the child will deny it for sure. My mum thinks I shouldn't confront them just avoid them and drop hints and they will get the point. I prefer to be direct because she could tell her to pull her undies off at school since my daughter may be attending the school, who knows. We are friends with the parents, well my husband, I'm just polite even though I think they aren't the best of parents and would never leave my kid there. Should I confront the mother without proof? Why do you think she would behave like this when she is 8 and my child is 3?

My husband thinks it's great that I ''teach'' my 3 year old but when it comes to buying a curriculum or buying any learning materials to help support my EL goals, he refuses to have any interest in that. He doesn't want to financially provide for anything and he doesn't want to involve himself in any of the activities we do together but he does compliment her on her drawings and knowledge so far. I understand he doesn't want to be involved and I don't want to feel like I'm forcing him but it's hard when you don't have any support from your partner. I'm a SAHM, not entirely by choice and he even complains about how much ink cartridge I use and won't buy that frequently. I do use free curriculum stuff online but everything requires so much printing. I wish I could purchase abcmouse but he refuses that to. I use contact paper instead of a laminator since he doesn't like buying ink cartridge often nor want to buy laminating pouches but it's not like he doesn't have the money to support the materials of EL, he just doesn't support it altogether. What can I do? Is it possible to still do EL with very little resources and money?

I don't see how having tattoos makes someone irresponsible and/or bad. My tattoo is very easy to hide, especially if I have my hair down. I dress appropriately but trendy as I do take pride in my appearance. It's mostly skinny = taking drugs or must have an eating disorder that really bothers me the most.

9/10 I take it as a compliment when people talk about my body because I am a healthy skinny, slim is better to put it. Most people it's envy whilst some it's harsh. Some people walk up to me and ask me if I actually eat...and ask If I am anorexic. My other neighbour is a real anorexic. Horrible to look at and It does hurt when people say I look like that. I look nowhere near as bad as an anorexic.

There is not one single bone on my body that is visible. If I was anorexic I wouldn't be able to menstruate and have a child. That I find offensive and rude. My daughter is very short and skinny, not too bad but skinny compared to most girls her age I know - genetics. People assume I don't feed her.

I admit, this guy ONCE let his kids hang around long enough (half hour) for my child to play with them and he did let them come over a few times and he knew I had a tattoo then so I don't understand somethings about him. Also, where I live, Arabs have a very bad rep and I just so happen to have Lebanese heritage and I do stand out with my dark features but I do not look Arab. Being Arab is othing to be ashamed of either.

And I don't understand why he feels more comfortable having my husband around them (out of his view) instead of me when my husband could be a pedophile! (he isn't, just a point I'm trying to make as to why I also feel offended) It just shows me that he has a very mixed up head. It could be as I live in a conservative town who is not used to foreigners as well, many people comment on

So then a parent with the perfect 'image' shouldn't let their child hang around a child who has an overweight parent (with a tattoo) as that might be a bad role model even if that parent is overweight from genetics or who has a parent that is gay or is black or deaf or speaks a foreign language. Look at Angelina Jolie and David Beckham, I would let my child hang around their kids.

Isn't this "over protectiveness" a little dangerous for the mind as well as hypocritical? What is his harsh judgements teaching his children? All skinny people must be on drugs and skinny people are bad people. People who listen to rap must be in a gang, they are bad people. Heavy metal lovers must be axe murders, they must all be bad people.

We all have faults with our natural appearance and we have a right to be who we want to be. All he has said to me was bonjour and that means he knows my character as a person and as a parent? A lot of people don't accept the fact that not everyone is the same and thinks the same. Shouldn't parents be more concerned about protecting their children from 'real' danger? Most 'bad' people look normal. He sees how I am with his children and my own - we live next door.

I also have a thought that maybe he is a bit racist but not too sure on that. To describe him bluntly, he is a complete pr*ck, absolutely rude. I don't think people should judge others just on their appearance. My tattoo means a lot too me and I am proud to have had it done. I love my body but it's not from taking speed or having a crazy lifestyle nor am I anorexic, my family are like twigs, I just happen to look more like a broom. I'm not THAT skinny. My dad is covered in tattooes but absolutely regrets every single one of them and really hates tattooes and he had them done 40+ years ago. They are there for life. I am guilty of judging too quick but that is based on their character, not their appearance. I've had the same problem when having to deal with other people's kids for them, that drives me nuts. One thing is for certain, we have very different parenting beliefs and I certainly don't agree with the way most French people raise their kids in France, so prefer to not talk about this topic with him. My daughter is always very well behaved so I know it's not her. My husband says because of their age, it's no great loss that they can't be friends but I'm worried about when she starts school this year. People are way too conservative where I am. I don't want my daughter to be ashamed of me either.

I've begun to notice that, she craves attention and demands constant attention from anyone or anything, even the vacuum cleaner and is doing annoying things to get a reaction. My husband has decided not to invite anyone in his family to her birthday, he wants it to be just the 3 of us. I noticed he really doesn't want to bother with anyone in his family anymore and appears happy to spend his time with just the 3 of us. I don't bring up this topic anymore with him because I know it must hurt him some way to think that nobody really bothers with him or his daughter.

I found out from my daughters play mates that their father doesn't like them (6 & 8 years) playing with my 3 (soon) year old because he doesn't like the way I look. I noticed he calls the girls inside once he realizes it's me supervising them but if it is my husband, no problems. My husband isn't around often to be the one to supervise.

He must have the impression that I must be into drugs and live a "party" lifestyle because I have a huge tattoo on my back, nothing offensive, I like heavy metal, hardstyle & rock music as well as being quite skinny (he's assuming I'm skinny from taking drugs rather than genetics). I'm anti-drugs, sure I love my red label but that's like once a year I drink.

My daughter cries when the father gives some lame excuses for the girls to come inside and he is quite rude about it. He is my neigbour. What is it with people and tattooes = bad people?

You are the one in charge, if you don't learn to say no and limit his time, you can really begin to have a problem not just now but later on in his life. My husbands parents often left their children to play around for many hours on the computer or alone. My husband spent many hours on the computer as a child and still does but I've really put my foot down.

His parents never did anything to stop it and all he ever seems motivated for is computer games, to the point where he was neglecting our daughter as he preferred XBOX/computer games and we fought often about it. I would ask him if he could change the baby or to give her a bath and he would say ok. Hour later, i'd still be waiting, it was like this frequently. First thing he did in the morning, go straight for the XBOX.

I once asked him to give our daughter a bath but he said If I could do it as he was tired, he mustn't have been too tired as he was playing GTA on the XBOX looking as energetic as ever.

I don't want you to think that I am attacking you as a parent or saying this is how your son will turn out.

His sister is quite overweight and all she seems to do is spend all her days on the computer playing computer games. She is overweight because her parents don't know how to say no to her and she is 21 years old with her parents financially supporting her as she is a student. She does play rugby but she sits in front of the TV or in front of the computer every free time she gets. My husband is dependent on TV to make him fall asleep.

My parents always kept the computer games locked in their room, they had a lock on the door. They always locked the junk food in their room because I loved junk food too much. They put a computer timer on the computer and once our hour was up, not just for computer games etc but our computer use in general, we had to get off. I hardly watch TV and I don't like computer games but I do enjoy some games on the XBOX once in a blue moon. When I finished with the Nintendo, it would go straight in their room.

When my mum said no, it meant NO! She made sure we didn't go over our junk food "allowance" or computer time "allowance".

My daughter is nearly 3 so me and my husband have to think about what we are going to do for her birthday and if we should just make it for the 3 of us or invite family too and what we should do in general.

Here is the thing. Nobody goes out of their way for us but we are EXPECTED to go out of our way for them for their birthdays and even my husbands family, they won't come to us but when they do, it's never to "see" my daughter, it's when they want to drop something off for my husband.

My husband has 4 aunties and uncles and each has 2 children except for one has just an only child. None of them bother with my husband for his birthday, scalling or sending him sms just to get news, or even just inviting us over their place to see our daughter or their nephew/cousins, we only see them at gatherings 4-5 times a year depending and they barely acknowledge my husband and daughter and only bothered twice with my daughter because "they had too".

With my husbands immediate family, one of his sister's never bothers with my daughter or my husband and my husband said that he always has to call her to give news about his life AND to always call her to get news on her life. Only has come to our place 2, when we moved, to see our new apartments respectively.

My husbands father has only bothered to see my daughter 3-4 times in 7 months and when he comes to our place, it is either really late, an excuse to leave as he has to have dinner, or when he comes during the day (day/night it's rare anyway) he leaves after like 2-5 minutes and barely acknowledges my daughter like an excuse to bolt out the door.

His youngest sister and his mother, do make the most efforts but even they are the same. They only come to "see/give" their son/brother something and that is it but they do stay a little longer than 5 minutes. But them to visit is not often at all, maybe once a month. They don't really pay attention to our daughter when they are at our house but they do if there is other "family" around to boast about how loving they are.

We used to go to their house regularly but we stopped going now, unless a birthday or something really necessary, because I said I wanted to see how much they would bother with my daughter now that we don't go over there and guess what, they barely bother. They only bother with our daughter if we come to them at their house and when all of the extended family is together at gatherings at different places, they act like my daughter is the most precious thing in their life.

My husband said once it's because we don't have any grass and another time he has said it's because they feel like they are not wanted in our home and that is not true because I told him that I wanted them to make efforts to come to us but I feel like they don't come to us because my husband can be dead company (boring) and I don't really talk to them much because I have nothing to say to them and vice versa. We both think family gatherings are boring but we make efforts. We don't attend all the gatherings anymore, only if that person has ever bothered with us.

We are expected to go to and waste our money on petrol for people who don't bother with us and now they are not to happy because we rarely see them now. They are very scabby at xmas and for birthdays and they never call for my daughter, it's always for their son. They will only buy things when my husband asks for something. When we asked for them to babysit or for them to come with us somewhere, they were "busy" or had to "study" and they don't want to babysit at our place, we don't let them take our daughter to their place because of incidences with their dogs but they asked to babysit/come to them somewhere like the beach etc when we are "busy" they get offended when we don't come, it's like we are expected to drop everything for them but with nothing in return.

I'll be honest and say that I get along with his family for the sake of my husband/family but I feel like they only care about our daughter when it's on their terms, I'll be nice to them and vice versa but I feel like they don't like my daughter because I am her mother or something else. I expect my daughter to start learning and asking questions about her "family" when she starts kindergarten. My family across the other side of the world bothers more with my husband and kid and they hate my husband! His family know how I feel.

How do you handle family like this one? Would you bother? I want to leave it up to my husband to deal with this one because everything I say always gets blown out of proportion.

My daughter learnt the alphabet at 18 months. I bought her a leapfrog toy that you put on the fridge that you make words with and says the alphabet sounds and sings the alphabet.

I also bought foam alphabet letters (biggish ones) and bought a large piece of cardboard and printed off and pasted the letters of the alphabet onto the cardboard so she learnt to match her foam letters to the letters on the alphabet mat, I would ask her what letter she was holding and she would answer me correctly.

I bought magnetic letters and numbers and printed off cvc words and written numbers (eight, nine etc) she had to match the magnetic letters to the laminated word card.

She is really clever with these letter matching things. She knows entire uppercase and lowercase letters and all of their sounds and now focusing on sight words. I also sung the alphabet song phonetically as well as the usual way and she can sing it both ways.

Massivepaininthebutt but she is a wonderful paininthebutt to have in my life. Try and look at it as one word.

Kimba15 that is a great response. Our intentions are to move to UK or Australia (prefer America but immigration = super strict or impossible) hopefully one day. She will learn to read, write and do maths in both languages at school and the first 2 years of Kindergarten will be completely in French then that's when we need to make the choice. I think my hubby is considering her studying in English now.

No there isn't this opportunity given so that is why I'm not sure. She will receive extensive training in the second language but not quite the same.

this is just for the kindergarten schedule and kindergarten is for 3 years in 3 different cycles. Once she starts primary school we have to decide if we want English taught as the first language and French as the second and only French taught for a certain amount of hours a week or vice versa. Then in HS she will study to sit for either the French, British or American exams depending on which language program she chose. It's hard to explain it properly but once she starts Primary school she won't be repeating everything like she had to do in Kindergarten. So I don't know which language to pick as her first language! Since we don't even know where we will be in 20 years time but French is not really that useful compared to English though it is still an important language and we don't know if we will always be living in France.

My daughter is bilingual. She learnt mummy and daddy around that age more or less and not much else really. She didn't talk much until around 17 months of age but I think it might have been due to lack of interaction with others. I live in France and people are often surprised at how well she speaks but since I'm a SAHM I've had plenty of time to teach her songs and vocabulary when going out and about. She is nearly 3 and oh how much I miss the days when she couldn't talk!!!! Now she is very advanced in speech and she drives me absolutely crazy and I wish she came with a mute button sometimes so I can get some decent sleep.I wouldn't be worrying.