May I apologise for my typing error in my previous post; of course the line is "thou's ower lang in thy bed". It does, nevertheless, refer to the speedy grown of the infant, rather than its, or anyone else's, idleness. The other line, mentioned by Tattie Bogle, "the lad winnat work and the lass winnat learn", refers to older siblings, the older brother being reluctant to go to work and the older sister being equally ambivalent to her lessons, because of the distractions of the cute baby. Tootler's assumption that I was trying to "...wind us up..." is incorrect; I was merely trying to help out with a query by clarifying some County Durham and Tyneside phrases with which people may not be familiar. I'm sorry that my, obviously poor, attempt at humour gave offence to anyone - it certainly wasn't my intention.