Category: Parenting

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Cotton Wool or Common Sense

Have you read any “When I was a kid …” memes lately? I have. And I must admit, I get a little annoyed at them. The ones that basically state, ‘When I was X, we did Y and came out OK’.

These memes tap deeply into the idea that people, particularly this generation of children, are a ‘cotton wool’ generation – too protected for their own good. In many ways, I think it’s also a deep reaction against what is seen as too much protection, too much worry, and an overemphasis on safety. 

So I thought I’d have a more detailed look at the whole idea. Continue reading “Cotton Wool or Common Sense”

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Gifted and 2E Parenting

Gifted and 2e Parenting, yellowreadis.com Image: Bubbles on white background

Parenting Gifted and 2e kids, much like parenting in general, but only more-so, for me has been a journey into the unknown.

When C was a baby, I bought all the parenting books, and listened to the advice of the maternal and child health nurses. I spent hours trying to get him to nap during the day – as was developmentally appropriate. The advice just didn’t work, so I eventually muddled through, and it was only later that I discovered that gifted kids are wired differently, and have different developmental milestones.
Continue reading “Gifted and 2E Parenting”

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Are we really that far from ‘normal’?

It’s been an interesting few weeks. We finally got a diagnosis for C, only to discover that the diagnosis had been sitting in the ‘books’ for at least one year. A monumental stuff-up with the hospital administration meant all correspondence was going to the wrong doctor…

…but it’s OK now. I’m OK with that, I think. The diagnosis was not unexpected either – Cerebral Palsy. After all, the specialist who’s been treating him is a world-class medical researcher into CP. But still, it is … interesting.

We now have another set of letters to add to the list of medical conditions C has been accumulating.

And yet, and yet. My heart still wants to say, ‘We’re not that far from normal, are we?’
Continue reading “Are we really that far from ‘normal’?”

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Cleaning and Strewing

It’s been a busy week here at homeschool central. Not because we’ve had an extraordinary week – though we’ve done a lot of fun stuff. But because I have been tackling the avalanche – or in other words, cleaning. It’s been a long, slow process of stripping cupboards and boxes and shelves, and gloriously throwing away old bills, and receipts from before I was born (exactly how did that bit of flotsam survive 5 moves?). But I am finally seeing some results. How many bags of rubbish were removed? 5+ Maybe? I’m not sure. And that’s not including the bags of clothes and other items that went or are going to charity. But today I’m going to talk about my pantry.
Continue reading “Cleaning and Strewing”