I feel like I can't do right by my kids at the moment. Yesterday Olivia got goaded by one of her classmates til she finally snapped and shouted at him to shut up about it. He told the teacher in a whiny voice - and her response was to send Cassia to sit outside the classroom, without any work, for an hour. She missed an exercise, and was then unable to work on it for homework.

I tried to go find out what the story was, because I thought she must have done more than she made out to have done - but I don't think it was, and the teacher wasn't really open to talk about it. I just ran out of things to say in the face of her being ok with that - punishing Olivia for something I'm not sure she can always be in control of.

She's getting deeply negative about school again, she looks depressed about it. I feel so like we're all failing her, but I don't know what to do about it.

Now I'm going out to an Asberger's talk - Cassia's granny was all keen to go a few months ago, but now she's bowed out - and I don't have an alternative babysitter to her anyway. She wants the kids to go down to her, even though I won't be back til 9.30. Bodhi will be wrecked and Olivia just wants to stay home with a hot water bottle. But I have to drag them out because I'm trying to do the right thing.

I just tried to make the pancakes healthier but they didn't taste nice... it's hard to win.