The things we don’t say out loud This week, I wanted to talk about something we don’t say out loud very often. The thing we can feel shame around. The thing we worry other people – people who don’t live this life – simply won’t understand. The thing we often soften or rename, because even […]
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January has been a slog – here’s what’s helping me Has January felt like a bit of a slog to you? You’re not alone. I was really hoping that once Christmas was over, things would calm down and I’d finally find some time for me. But with families like ours, it rarely works out that
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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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Holding it all together when the world starts again Two weeks off for Christmas and New Year and I actually found myself looking forward to getting back to something resembling a normal routine. The break was lovely, it really was, but it was also over-stimulating, demanding, full of co-regulation, noise, emotional energy, big feelings, crossed
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Not everyone looks forward to Christmas – and that’s ok Not everyone says this out loud. Because they’re afraid of being judged. Afraid of what it might make people think about their child. Or about their parenting. But many neurodivergent families feel it deeply. Christmas is a time of huge expectation. It’s sold as magical,
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They don’t melt down. They just fade. This time of year has a way of shining a light on things we usually manage to hold together. It’s always been very clear with my PDAer when school was too much. The sensory overload – too loud, too smelly, too bright, too many unpredictable children brushing past.
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When you’re trying so hard to carry a life no one understands When I look back at the very early days of trying to get school and professionals to understand what was going on, I can can see how hard I was working just to hold everything together. I was constantly explaining, anticipating, firefighting, trying
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When School Rewards Create More Stress Than Support This week I want to talk about something that has come up again and again in conversations with parents of PDA children – and has shown up loudly in the past few days with families I know. It’s the topic of rewards. Points. Stickers. Charts. Climbing ladders.
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The things the world never sees Over the years, I’ve met many families whose children mask. Some of their stories will stay with me forever. One mum told me her daughter was known at school as the perfect pupil – polite, kind, no trouble at all. But the moment she got home, she’d go on
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