When you become the safe person again We’ve reached that transitional phase where my child has finished school for the summer holidays and is now at home. They’re a little older now and are about to move up to secondary school. They’re in a very supportive school, and generally life at home is, within reason, […]
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When capacity runs out It’s the end of term, and I’ve been thinking a lot about capacity. Why is it that, just when so many of our children are already running on empty, the summer term becomes the busiest time of the year? The routine changes almost daily. Sports days. School plays. Visitors. Special activities.
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The joke wasn’t really about the spider This week I’ve been reflecting on something that happened years ago. I was talking to another parent recently about something that had happened at school for their child, and it resurfaced an old memory for me. At the time, my child was barely managing school. Attendance was patchy.
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When the sofa slips away I saw Kristy Forbes write something recently that really stayed with me. She was talking about that moment at the end of the day when you are so close to finally sitting down. So close to rest. Your body can almost feel the bed, or the sofa, or the shower.
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Coping is not the same as thriving This week, one of my children needed collecting early from school. Not refusing. Not in crisis. Just overwhelmed, and unable to keep going for one more afternoon. So I found myself juggling a school collection with trying to work, while managing a whining puppy and hoping the neighbours
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It’s been a strange week We landed back in the UK and the heatwave was long gone. I don’t think it’s stopped raining since we got home. I have to admit our holiday didn’t entirely go to plan, which is not unusual for families like ours. We adapt and overcome. We understand fluctuating capacity. We
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The thing we don’t say out loud about the school holidays It’s the half term holiday in the UK, and this can look very different in families like ours. I know there’ll be parents reading this who have spent the last few days barely leaving the house. Because everywhere is too busy. Too loud. Too
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Holding it together when you’re falling apart I wasn’t sure whether to write this. It’s a bit of a strange one today, and there are so many emotions. My very elderly dog – a 15 year old Serbian Hound, the most beautiful soul – is at the end of his life. Right now, as I
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The things we quietly let go of I drove past my local church the other day, and it stirred up a memory for me that I think I’d buried. Many years ago, when my children were very small, I used to try to take them to church. It had been such an important part of
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The impact on siblings of raising a PDA child I want to talk about something that often sits quietly in the background for many of us, but carries a huge emotional weight. The impact that a volatile home life can have on a sibling, when you’re raising a neurodivergent child, especially a child with a
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