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?
Whether we’re talking about our marriage relationship or relationships with friends, acquaintances or someone we’ve just met, I believe we have mastered the art of monologue and have no real idea how to have a genuinely sincere conversation. Here are ideas to help us to learn the “art of conversation” rather than the monotonous monologue we’re used to enduring or offering.
The time quarantined with 8 children, including five teenagers and one child with profound special needs, has been intense. Prior to the worldwide pandemic, my husband Ryan and I successfully prioritized self-care. We understand how fragile our mental health can become in stressful circumstances, having each experienced bouts of overwhelm, PTSD, and anxiety. May is Mental Health Awareness month. Here are ten routines we have incorporated to preserve the integrity of our well-being that may be helpful to others as well.
We all have times when we feel we’re not heard, loved, noticed, cared for, or appreciated by our spouse. In the world of caring for one with special needs, caregivers are often going, caring, and serving with little rest or reserve for one another. That is dangerous. Here are some things to consider to protect your most important relationship, your marriage.
When guest blogger Jess Ronne and her husband met, they were both widowed with seven children between them, including Jess’s son with special needs. Through their nine years together, Ryan and Jess have learned a few important skills—life hacks, some might say—while navigating the complicated terrain of special needs parenting in a blended family. Here are seven practical ways they’ve been able to make it a successful endeavor (most the time).
Sometimes words flow out of our mouths and we wish we could grab them and take them back. Other times our thoughts come out as words that aren’t really helpful and beneficial. In marriage and in parenting, our words can land hard on little hearts—and our hearts—if we’re not careful. Let’s consider a few ways we can repackage and recycle our words (and thus our actions) into ways that are helpful, beneficial, and life-giving.
