The sketch that helped me understand my child

Wendy Bertagnole webinar about difficult sensory behaviour

I have to share this here. There are definitely other parents who also struggle with the same. I wish I had know about this much earlier. I have felt in my gut that there is more to the behaviour, and that it is not a lack of discipline or a lack of respect. The reason for the continuing melt-downs! The better we understand our child, the better she will be able to understand herself. The better we will also be able to work on the skills necessary to handle her world.

Turns out the meltdowns have an underlying base

Miss with dog

I feel so sad today. We have always struggled with the meltdowns, but we thought it would fizzle out! It's not so bad!


But after one particular blow-up about a muffin one morning, I phoned the school psychologist, and she has been seeing Miss at school.


We had our first feedback last night. She did the Rochard Psychology Test. What is underneath is much worse than we though. Obviously I am not going to share much about the details, as this is not my story.

First week at a new school

Little Miss first week of school, at a new school, has been daunting. We are glad we made the move, and there is a definite positive effect on both Mom and Dad's traffic commutes!

The challenges:

- The new environment is difficult to navigate for a direction-ally challenged kid. (Mom as well!)
- It's not as easy as asking kids to play with them. They already have their friends and groups of their own. They just say "No!" (Heartbreaking)
- We sent a child to school on Monday with stomach-ache which we thought was spastic colon (nerves), but had to go fetch her earlier. It turns out it is bladder infection because she keeps it in (not wanting to go because of dodgy toilets). I even walked past a younger girl with her dad yesterday who just had an accident. She told her dad she was keeping it in until he came to fetch her. It was 4pm in the afternoon already! (Shame!)
- There was a melt-down in class. We got a call! (Horrors)
- The activities that Little Miss is interested in, is overlapping. What do we keep, and what do we change?
- There was a general athletics meeting where Little Miss got sun burnt for the first time, and her nose are peeling. She was also spending half her time searching for me, although I could only be there at 1pm.  (Bad Mom-moment - I should have explained better about being there later...)

The positives:

- Little Miss (and her parents) do not have to sit for hours in the car going and coming from school.
- Little Miss got a playmate during lunch-breaks yesterday, but she does not know the girl's name. (Thumbs crossed)
- Little Miss has been doing handstands with one of the new boys at after-care, and yesterday afternoon there was a new "friend" that she bonded with in class after they both felt sick on Monday.
- Little Miss does not have any issues going to the tuck shop at school. She knows all the new rules! (*sigh* Trying each day to get a few cents from Mom and Dad)
- Little Miss can't stop talking about her new school. She is enjoying most of it! (Big THUMBS UP!)
- Little Miss likes her new teacher.
- I was asked to buy a special file for her yesterday that she can keep in her bag for homework. She enjoyed sorting and marking it yesterday, and was excited to use it today. (The power of the right stationery!)
- BETTER COMMUTE! (Easier, faster, cheaper!)


The positives outweighs the negatives!
The challenges are not necessarily a bad thing, and we will work on it this year!

How's your back-to-school going?

Back to a new school

Little Miss started in Grade 3 in a new school today. We have been contemplating the move for a couple of years. We drive past her new school each day, and it just did not make economic sense to continue driving through traffic and for longer hours each day for 5 more years.

It was a bit daunting for her, and she was worried about fitting in and finding new friends...
(Daunting for the parents as well, I must add!)

The parents were encouraged to come along with her, and we appreciated that we could accompany her until she was settled into her new class.

We picked her up earlier today as well from the aftercare as well, and she was her usual talkative self as well! It was a great day. She got lost a couple of times, but there's lots of great stories she told us.

The best! They warned the children not to leave their bags open as the chickens and peacocks scratches for food or lay their eggs in them! How awesome! To have chickens and peacocks and bunnies roaming around on the school yard!

O, and she told us repeatedly she did not have any homework. Until we discovered a couple of books that needed to be covered for tomorrow! The joys! NOT!


How was your first day back at school?

94.7 Kiddies Ride - a Spur Sports success

 

Little Miss said yes when asked if she wanted to take part in the 94.7 Kiddies ride. She was a bit apprehensive, and  worried what would happen if she do not win. But luckily they were all winners and all got a medal. (I know! I know! But for Little Miss it worked very well, and she could go past that anxious nature of hers!)

We found the 94.7 Kiddies Ride a very well organized event where we did not have to worry about any logistics! It was a smooth operation! All the kids (and adults) had fun! The adults were running along, or cheering from the sidelines. It was such a good day out and the weather played along!

Beautiful day for 94.7 Kiddies ride #CCKiddies @spursports #spursports pic.twitter.com/yIOaJDN7zh

— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) November 12, 2016

There are four divisions with the Kiddies Rides, and Little Miss was in the Lions group.

How cool is this photo from Dad's phone done by Google photos?

Selfie before the race

Waiting for the race to start

The Lions group had to go without the parents

Finish! #LittleMiss @telkom947cyclechallenge Kiddies Ride #cckiddies TX @spursports #spursports for the exercise and the fun!

A photo posted by Karen Du Toit (@karentoittoit) on Nov 12, 2016 at 12:45am PST

Spur sponsors and is involved in various sporting disciplines to promote an active lifestyle for parents and children.

Spur hosted us as part of this campaign. They paid for Little Miss' racing fees, and we got the famous Spur Burger afterwards!

Refueling with Spur after the race

We are planning to do the 94.7 Family Ride next year!  (Definitely!)

Thanks Spur Sports for the opportunity! We would not have known how much fun this is if you have not invited us!