Category Archives: Family Life

Clothes For Children Who Have Challenges With Sensory Processing

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I just went to a course this past week (yes, another one! ‘Tis the time of year!) regarding autism and sensory processing disorders.

For those of you who missed the posts I have done in the past regarding children with challenges in sensory modulation, indicators of sensory modulation typically include extreme inflexibility, resistance to activities, difficulty in transitioning in activities, poor behavior, over or under reaction to the environment, perseverating behaviors, a lack of inner drive or motivation, avoidance behaviors and difficulty focusing attention.

One thing that many children who have difficulty with sensory modulation find challenging is finding clothes they can feel good in.  Dressing can be the most difficult point of the day for a child challenged by sensory issues and their parents.  Continue reading →

Great Weekend Links!

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My sweet toddler is under the weather and so am I; I hope all of you are faring healthy out there!  Working on stocking stuffers and gifts?

I found a few links I wanted to share with you this weekend that I thought were well- worth a read and a look:  Continue reading →

Link To Your Favorite Etsy Sellers Here!

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Please link to your favorite Etsy Sellers here!  I have families from all walks of life and many different countries who read this blog.  Many of them are contemplating adding more handmade or small-seller gifts to their holiday celebrations for the very first time (and as we all know, sometimes this can be the first step toward also making some gifts next year!)

 

However,  these readers have no idea where to start on Etsy.  Therefore,  I would love for you all, my dear readers, to post links to the sellers you love on Etsy and what you have bought this year or in the past.

 

Okay, let the linking begin, and thank you for helping other families move toward handmade!

 

Many blessings, what fun!

Carrie

Children Who Dislike Everything

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I was going through some papers this weekend and came across an article by Michael Howard that I had printed out called, “Educating the Feeling-will in the Kindergarten” and this quote just popped out at me:

“The defining characteristic of feeling will is the capacity to live deeply into the inner quality of something outside us, knowing and feeling it as if we are within it or it is within us. In the early childhood years a healthy child is naturally inclined to drink in the inner mood and qualities of places and persons.  It is one of the tragedies of our times that the ways of the world, including the life of the family and school, can dull rather than foster this natural soul attachment.  Tragically, many young children come to kindergarten with a sense-nerve disposition already strongly developed.  Their thinking has become prematurely intellectual and abstract, and their feeling life inclines toward strong personal like or dislike.”

I have been seeing so many tiny children yet with so many big opinions.  Have you been seeing this as well?  Continue reading →

Making Holiday Gifts

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In our family, I love when the shopping part of the few things to buy is done and we can focus on making some handmade gifts!  Don’t you love that too?

Here is what we are making….. Continue reading →

Guest Post: How To Help Families Challenged By Childhood Cancer

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In this holiday season, I hope we do not forget the families that are facing bittersweet moments…you all are in my heart and on my mind.  This is an article by a friend a pray for daily, and I hope it will help anyone wishing to help families who are facing childhood cancer or other chronic diseases.

My friend writes:

I am the mother of a child with cancer. Long ago, my walk to work would take me past our local child cancer support office and I would think of the parents who made use of the service, wondering how those poor families managed in such terrible circumstances. Then we became one of those ‘poor families’. Our lovely and lively young daughter, Hope, was diagnosed with a rare and difficult-to-cure cancer just after her second birthday. Our family life changed in a flash and we were thrown into a new world that we did not ask to be part of, that no parent should ever know of.

Time passed and we eventually found our feet amongst the confusion of worries, intense treatment and new faces. We coped. And then, two years later and just a few short months after finishing treatment, Hope’s cancer relapsed and we were once again thrown into that murky place of despair. For our daughter, a relapse means her cancer cannot be cured and she is now in palliative treatment, treading a careful balance between length and quality of life.

I am the mother of a child with terminal cancer. People sometimes tell us they don’t know how we manage, and I have nothing to respond with except to say that when things are going well, we just live. We try not to think too far into the future and we spend time enjoying our children. But there are other times when all we can do is simply get through the next few minutes, the next hour, the next day. We don’t ‘manage’ at all.

It is in these times that we feel most blessed to have the love and support of a great group of family and friends. Continue reading →

Another Question From The Field: Balance In Homemaking

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This question came in awhile ago and I have been pondering it since in the back of my mind.  I was not certain I had anything valuable to add;   some things ”just are”
in life, but then I did think of something I wanted to say (uh, and it turned out to be way more than I expected, so you may need a cup of tea! LOL)   Here is the original comment/question:

Here is a very honest admission for you: I get no satisfaction of out homekeeping and I am quite certain that I never will :) I *can* do all the things: cook delicious meals every day, ferment, and mill my own flour, I can sew and knit and paint, I can keep the home clean and in reasonable order. But when that is all I do, I can feel my soul slowly dying! I go through seasons of pulling myself together and even enjoying my tasks, and then falling apart, throwing in a towel, because after all, what’s the point? Yes, this is a lovely way to live, to have a cozy home and good food, but I.am.miserable. I’ve been told all manner of things: I’m lazy, I need to change my attitude, I need to get therapy to deal with some deep-seated resentment and blah-blah-blah. I feel that the truth is simpler than that. I am someone who is extremely extroverted, requires massive amounts of regular intellectual stimulation, and a great deal of variety in life :) There must be a way to find some kind of balance. I realize that my children are young (2, 4.5, and one on the way), I am quite realistic about the care, time and effort they require at this stage of life. But I just can’t give up my sanity and my very essence to keeping the home.
Thoughts? thanks!

That is really hard and I think so many of us as mothers can identify with the feelings expressed in this comment.  It can be so hard to do all the things we might think need to be associated with homemaking and parenting, to make things “right”.  Maybe there is also a bit of perfectionism hidden within many of us – if we don’t do all these things, then our children will not do well.  This can make things seem burdensome or a chore instead of light and lovely.  And, it all can be such a big burden – why do I have to be The Queen of My Home? Can’t someone else do it?  I just want to take the day off!  There are days I feel that way as well. Continue reading →

Part Three of “Feeding, Growth and The Brain”

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We are going to wrap up this chapter by taking a quick peek at the other nutrients mentioned:

Magnesium – is intricately involved in working with calcium and phosphorus. A deficiency in magnesium can manifest as over-anxiety, irritability, labile emotions, craving for sweets and alcohol, and stiffness of fine motor movements.   Kelp, fresh green peas, whole grains, nuts and seeds are sources.  See page 117 of the chapter for more information. Continue reading →

Plans For The First Week of Advent

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Some of you have asked for very simple plans regarding Advent.  I thought I would share the very simple things my family and I are doing each week.  Some things are geared toward the youngest members of the family, and some are not.   You can just pick and choose and take what resonates with you out of this as a good match for your family!

Throughout Advent, I will be using this book for my own meditation:http://www.amazon.com/Monastery-Journey-Christmas-Victor-Antoine-DAvila-Latourrette/dp/0764820818   and for the children we will read the Gospel portion of the day’s lectionary out loud.  I am also working through the Book of Isaiah on my own.

I think the main thing to keep in mind is that Advent is a time to slow down, and just enjoy each other, to pray, to fast, to repent, to prepare – so if having a list like the following pressures you or makes you feel not happy inside, then don’t do it or  again, pick and choose for your own family what is best.

These are some of my ideas for this week; we may not do them all at all! Continue reading →

An Attitude of Gratitude

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It is Thanksgiving today in the United States.  Instead of ringing in Thanksgiving in my nice cozy bed, I find myself awake and contemplating gratitude.  How can I bring an attitude of gratitude to my family and my home today and every day?

I was thinking about words…sometimes in the heat of the moment, in a time of tension or even just in a time of minor irritation, words come out that no one really means.  Adults apologize, and yet those words can enter the soul and wound.  I have met many emotionally wounded people in this past month and so much of it caused by words…I was thinking today how I would like to step up the vigilance I place on the words I choose and use.  This thought of being present with a smile, a nod, a reassuring pat, of not offering advice unless asked, the thought of always having an encouraging word to say…and showing my gratitude through the words I do choose.

You are wonderful.  I love you.

You are terrific.

Thank you.

I couldn’t do this without you!

I love this moment with you.

I am thankful to have you in my life.

I was thinking about showing gratitude through warmth…the emotional warmth that comes from being loved. Continue reading →