Are you scrounging for thankfulness this holiday season? Holidays can be a challenge for those walking through hard days. Perhaps you feel like you've been handed the short-end of the stick; your child is struggling, you’re exhausted and it seems like everybody else has life with a bit more gravy. It’s easy to focus on our circumstances, take stock of what we have and where we are and end up feeling completely void of thankfulness. Is there a cure for this?
I first suspected I had ADHD as a teenager, but finding the right professional to take me seriously was much harder than I expected. Previous attempts only ended in frustration and tears.
Enjoying the holidays with a food allergy sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? After all, eating together is an integral component of the holiday season. I looked forward to making our traditional holiday foods until I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy in 2012. What was to enjoy about the holidays when the foods associated with it were off limits to me?
It was a short, ten-minute drive from the hotel to the residential facility. I maintained composure while I navigated the busy public roads, and then residential streets. I had a whole range of emotions racing through my body, mind and spirit as we pulled into the campus. This was not just a pleasure drive or a routine errand, this was a significant milestone in the life of my son and our family.
While Halloween is a fun time of year for many children, it can be a really difficult time for some, including many children with additional/special needs. For them it can be a confusing, anxiety-inducing, or even utterly terrifying time. But it doesn’t have to be like that. If we stop for a moment to think about the things they might find hard and how to put things in place to help them, children with special needs can safely join in the fun, too. So what are some of the things about Halloween that children with additional needs can find hard?
Parenting a child with additional needs or disabilities can be hectic, a bit overwhelming too, with so much to juggle, so much unpredictability and so many battles to fight, especially in these difficult times. So when precious moments come along, it is important to cherish them, enjoy them, to squeeze every single drop of joy out of them, a bit like we did with a very special moment a while ago.
You used to have motivation to do all the things, to tackle the challenges, to meet the needs, to love others well in a peaceful way. Now you feel sad, angry, grumpy, tense, or unmotivated. So, what is going on? What has changed? Why are you struggling? I’m seeing it strongly right now in the general population with the Coronavirus stay-at-home orders. Why?
We are living in an unprecedented time of history. COVID-19 is a silent, insidious enemy that lurks around every corner. How do we, as parents of children with disabilities, not only face but confront the fear all around us? Here are ten scriptural weapons we can use to defeat the enemy. We can, and must, teach at least some of them to our children, who are dealing with their own heightened anxiety.
For many special needs kids, they are more comfortable not socializing. I am concerned, as our social distancing and quarantine goes on for months, it will be difficult for many kids to transition back to socializing with more people, besides in the comfort of our own homes. Here are three things you can start now, to help your child not be too anxious or nervous to leave home, once we start getting back to ‘normal.’
It is week number whatever since COVID-19 began. The cutesy Facebook posts highlighting everyone’s Pinterest projects are starting to fade. The smiles are starting to looking more strained as parents are wondering how much longer they will have to be the counselors/craft room directors at “Camp Corona.” Are parents at risk of “burn out?”
