Kids And Coping With ADHD

A New Facebook Group

2009-10-03T05:51:00.001+01:00

2009-06-25T10:18:00.002+01:00

This home education lark isn't getting any easier. Some days Kyle refuses point blank to do anything at all, and when he's in that mood absolutely nothing sways him. Threats don't work, rewards don't work, taking things away from him doesn't work, bribery doesn't work. It's really hard going on days like that.

Other days are better, he'll sit and watch documentaries on tv, do a few pages of English and Maths, then play some educational games on the pc.

Also having hellish problems with him not sleeping at night, he doesn't fall asleep until sometime between 2am and 3am on a good night, on a bad night he's up until 5am then sleeps until 11am!

Of course, being that I have to be constantly aware of what he's doing, it means I don't get a lot of sleep myself. I still have to be up at 7am to get Courtney all sorted and off to school, so every so often I feel totally burned out. We manage though, thankfully the bigger ones help me out every so often and watch Kyle so I can steal an hour or 2 of sleep in the afternoon. I don't think I could manage to function properly otherwise.

Anna

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Long Time No See

2009-05-31T11:25:00.002+01:00

Wow, it's been ages since I updated anything here. I'm so sorry about that. Lots of things have been going on what with the illness I had, trying to find suitable things for Kyle to do, trying to sort out the other kids, a few miscarriages etc. I think things got on top of me a bit for a while, and when I finally got well again I didn't seem to have time to sit on the pc much.

The latest news is that me and Hugh are not together any more, things didn't quite work out there, but the good news is that the kids have taken it very well, even Kyle has taken it exceptionally well, so all is good in that respect.

I'll get back to updating about Kyle and his ADHD a bit more often now, will just have to check back to see where I left off.

Not to forget, the name of that pen in my last post is YoroPen, and it's fabulous ;)

Anna

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My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Ten

2007-01-24T12:58:00.000Z

Ok, let's see if we can get back on track with the story of our life and dealing with ADHD.

The kids came home from France, and of course everything was all haywire and full of excitement and happiness about being home again, at least for a few days LOL

Kyle was as overactive as you can possibly imagine, and so hyped cos he was back home it was almost like having the old old Kyle back.

After a few days, all the excitement calmed down, and unbelievable as it was, Kyle calmed down too! I'd been a bit worried that my mother wouldn't give him his tablets regularly as she doesn't quite agree with it, but she had been and they seemed to now be working wonders.

Kyle was happy again, he was calm (as calm as any other 9 and a half year old boy, anyway LOL), and he was showing more of an interest in everything again.

His concentration levels soared to new heights, he could sit with his learning cd's on his PC for a good 20-30 minutes now, and was really starting to enjoy himself.

The most amazing change in him was that he suddenly started holding a pen and attempting to write a couple of words every now and again!

You might not think that's a great feat, but when you have a son who is almost 10 and can't write (or won't), or even hold ANY kind of writing utensil, you'll understand the greatness of it.

Kyle has never even coloured pictures in colouring books, that's how bad it was. Ok, he still doesn't, and it's very rare he'll try to write anything, but it happens every now and again. Of course, I jump on the chance EVERY chance I get and help him out as much as I can.

It's strange though. He's a fantastic little reader, and he'll type small stuff up on his PC if I help him with the spelling, but he has never ever liked holding anything that even resembles a pen or pencil.

I've tried just about every type you can imagine, but it's always been a no-go area.

I recently read about a new type of pen, one that's supposed to let people see what they're writing while they're writing, that I want to try. Seems some guy came up with the idea because his little girls had some problems and he wanted to help them.

Now if only I could remember the name of the pen...

Anna

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The Year Is Almost Over

2006-12-29T08:03:00.000Z

It's been a rough time, so not been back to post much. Had an unfortunate miscarriage and everything just felt rotten for a while, so I got busy with my internet stuff and got the new site TrafficGamers.com and even added a wordpress blog to it.

Keeping myself busy like this has helped me to not dwell too much on the 'happening'.

A good thing did come of it though. I added all of the games to Kyles computer and him and the others are having a blast playing them all. Imagine being a 10 year old (his birthday is on New Years Day) and having over 3000 games to play on your own pc with NO internet connection. He's in heaven LOL.

Ok, so he may not be in heaven right now, in fact, he's in France again with the others visiting his Gran for the Xmas and New Year. What a mistake that was on my behalf, I really shouldn't have let them go, life and xmas has been SO dull without them!

They won't be back until the 4th January, so still a while to go yet AND I'll be missing Kyles birthday for the first time in 10 years. He's not worried though, like he said on the phone; 'That's ok mum, it just means I get to have 2 birthday parties and double the presents!'

He really is a star :D

Anna

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My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Nine

2006-11-22T23:53:00.000Z

So we had the pescription and off we trotted to the local chemist to collect the tablets. We were both quite excited, as the doc had told us how it worked and we wanted to see if he was right.

He had said there were 2 layers in a Concerta tablet, one was a quick release ritalin coating that would get to work almost immediately, and the other was a slow release inner that would work throughout the day.

That meant 1 tablet per day, at least that's what he wanted us to start on, and said we could up it to 2 if it didn't seem to be working too well.

We got the tablets and Kyle couldn't wait to try it out. It was still early morning, so he got the tablet and....

Nope, it wasn't a miracle cure. He calmed down quite quickly, but not lots. Through the day he seemed a tiny tiny tiny bit calmer than he was without tablets, but it was barely noticeable.

We stuck with it, one tablet per day at 8am for the next couple of weeks. It still didn't seem to be kicking in much, so we decided that when he came back from his nans in France (he was going for 3 weeks), we'd up the dosage to 2 tablets per day instead.

All of the kids went to their nans, and although it was bliss to start with, I started getting bored after the first week and couldn't wait for them to come home. I was also really worried about how Kyle would cope with being away from home for so long when he'd just started on the concerta...

ADHD attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADD ADH ADHD tips ADHD links adhd parenting adhd advice adhd tips adhd kids adhd resources coping with adhd

My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Eight

2006-11-10T11:43:00.000Z

Time to get back to the story of Kyle, my little Star ;)

As I wrote before, when Kyle stopped taking Ritalin, he crashed right back to the way he was before ever starting medication, yet this time it felt worse. I know it only felt worse because we'd now seen a different, calmer, friendlier and happier side to my little boy.

We trundled on, and asked all kinds of people for tips and ideas, nothing much helped. We've always done a lot of activities to help keep him and the other kids occupied, heck, I even wrote a small book of the common activities we have here at home, so that wasn't what we needed help with. We just needed something that would take away his unhappiness, if even only a little.

A friend of mine in America mentioned Concerta. He said it had been fantastic for his daughter who had been almost exactly the same as Kyle and he recommended that we try it out. So we did a lot of researching on the net, and finally decided to ask our doctor about it. He was quite taken aback at first when he realized everything we knew about Concerta and he told us it wasn't 'really' available here in the UK due to how much it costs. Seemingly it's 7x more expensive than Ritalin.

Kyle said 'I don't care how much it costs you, you have to let me try it, because it might work and it might not'. LOL, did I ever mention how grown up he is in many ways?

The specialist agreed to letting us try the Concerta and sent us on our way with a prescription and a new appointment. Would the Concerta help any? There was only one way to find out...

Anna
p.s. If you'd like to check out the book I mentioned Click Here

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ADHD and After School Activities

2006-11-02T21:33:00.000Z

ADHD and after school activities

ADHD refers to attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder. Most children whosuffer from this disorder suffer from attention problems as well as hyperactivity. Parents of such children are well aware that inattention and hyperactivity continue throughout the day. Keeping such children busy after school hours can be as difficult as keeping them safe during the school day.

The first step while choosing the right after school activity for your child is to understand how ADHD affects him. Is your child interested in sports? Is he put off by the fierce competitiveness, or does he find it hard to get along with teammates? Does your child vocalize his feelings, or is communication a problem?

For a child suffering from ADHD, physical exercise is always beneficial. Exercise takes up the extra energy and helps to stimulate the brain. Team activities teach social skills and discipline. But, if your child shies away from team sports, you may want to look at activities like dancing, cycling, swimming or gymnastics. Martial arts not only teach techniques of self-defense but also teach self-control and patience.

If your child shows aversion to sport and shows inclination towards the fine arts, you may need to look at some other options. Acting classes are a wonderful form of creative exercise. It also provides the child with ample opportunity to develop his social skills. Music, art or dance can help the child to keep himself busy and entertained.

In case the child is not interested in any of the above, you may want him to join a Boy Scouts club or other community oriented clubs that take up social work. Cleaning a park, putting on a show, helping out in an old age home are various activities that may pique your child's interest.

Whatever form of activity you choose, make sure that you monitor your child's progress periodically. If you feel that there is no progress, you may need to change the activity. Anything that increases your child's self-esteem is good. You may enlist the help of the coach or teacher to assess your child's development.

There are certain activities that are detrimental to a child suffering from ADHD. Computer and video games are a definite NO. Since these games need no interaction, children will feel all the more isolated. These children also find it difficult to distinguish between the good and the bad messages. They may therefore show an inclination to stick to messages that are not needed. Games that need the child to sit and wait for his turn patiently tax his patience and will not be a success.

Although you would want these children to be as near to normal as possible, understanding their needs and limits will help you select the right after school activity - one that is fulfilling, tiring as well as challenging.

ADHD attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADD ADH ADHD tips ADHD links adhd parenting adhd advice adhd tips adhd kids adhd resources coping with adhd

5 Ways to Deal With ADHD

2006-10-14T13:30:00.000+01:00

With an increasing number of our youths suffering ADHD, stress syndromes, unemployment, depression, drug use, crime and higher rates of youth suicide than ever before, today’s parents and teachers are finding their roles more and more difficult.

According to renowned family relationships specialist, Marguerite Clancy, there are no overnight solutions for issues such as ADHD, but there are a few quick things struggling parents can do now to start dealing with it:

1) Get into a routine and stick to it (try to include fun times and laughter)

2) Set up a punching bag or get your child playing a sport

3) Be consistent with discipline and offer rewards where appropriate

4) Use positive language, keep directions short, maintain calm

5) Agree on consequences for behaviour together

“There are many options available to parents and carers. It is important to show love and respect, and to lead by example”, says Marguerite. “There are also many forms of therapy available to help that don’t rely on medication.” For example, she recommends Sandplay Therapy, which is a well established technique for enhancing emotional growth through play. She suggests parents encourage their child to use toys to represent things that are bothering them.

Dolls, action figurines, cars, balls, and even blocks can all be used to represent people, objects, and everyday situations that may be very hard for the child to put into words. “You’d be surprised what problems your child is experiencing – many of them would be things you’d never have even dreamt of”, says Marguerite. “By recognising the significance of imaginary play, you give your child a way to express themselves using a language they’re fluent in.”

According to Marguerite, parents can then talk about these problems with their child. Then if they’re still experiencing problems, they may want to try a punching bag or a sport. “With an easier way to communicate and an outlet for your child’s frustrations, you should find it far easier to figure out how to improve your situation.”

Glenn Murray heads advertising copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles.

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My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Seven

2006-09-24T11:17:00.000+01:00

After being on Ritalin for a few months, we were really happy with the effects it was was having on us as a family. Life was no longer filled with rage and frustration, but slowly it started getting back to that stage.

Kyle was taking Ritalin 2x a day, and although it worked great at first, we started noticing that the effects weren't really lasting for the full 4 hours between doses.

After about 5 months Kyle turned to me and said 'Mum, I think I should stop taking these tablets because they're good but they're not lasting long enough. If they're not lasting long enough, there's really no point in them, right?'

What can I say, he's a grown up kid in many ways ;) Anyway, I've always said that medication would be his choice and his alone, so we stopped using Ritalin. I was a bit worried about it, and it turned out I was right to be worried.

Kyle crashed right back to where he'd been before ever starting the Ritalin, but he was even worse!

Anna

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Coping with ADHD: Patience is a virtue...

2006-09-20T11:35:00.000+01:00

Patience and concentration are 2 things that Kyle has huge problems with due to his ADHD. It hard to find things that can hold on to his interest for longer than 5 minutes, but here's one thing he loves doing:

Mini Worm Farm:

Get a large clear plastic container, some soil, leaves, a little sand, and some bits of vegetables to create the farm. Dig up some earthworms. Fill the container with loose layers of soil and sand, beginning with soil and alternating the layers. Make the soil layers about 4x the size of the sand layers. Also make sure the top layer is soil. 4 or 5 layers should be enough. Drop some small bits of vegetables and leaves on top, and then put the worms in.

Add a lid of some sort, making sure it has air holes. Put the newly created worm farm in a cool dark place for a few days. The worms will tunnel down through the layers, and the kids can see just how good they are at churning up the soil. Please remember to let the worms go when the kids have finished with them.

Anna

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Be Good To You, You Deserve It!

2006-09-14T16:50:00.000+01:00

It's never easy dealing with ADHD, and it's not always possible to get some time to yourself. I know I had a helluva time before the older kids were old enough to cope with Kyle for an hour without me.

The times I yearned for just an hour to myself, for a bath, or to read or just to totally vegetate!

My mother lived far away from me, I had no other relatives or even close friends and I was a single parent. Times got really hard and totally frustrating. I even ended up with major depression problems myself but had to keep going, for the kids' sake.

Life became so much easier for me when we finally got closer to my mother and I could send Kyle to her place for a whole weekend every month. And then when the eldest started being able to handle him (sometimes) it got even easier.

I've been really lucky in finding myself a fantastic man (my fiance Hugh) who takes care of all the kids as if they were his own and now I get lots of time to myself compared to before. God knows I need it due to all the belly troubles I've been having.

Kyle being on Concerta now has made it even easier for people to be able to cope with his ADHD, although it's still not controlled enough to let him stay with my friends or anywhere apart from here at home or with his Gran where he feels most comfortable.

Of course, with his Gran now living in France, the visits will be few and far between.

The point in all this ramblng is: Do everything you can to get some time out for yourself as a parent dealing with ADHD. You need it. Recharge your batteries as often as you get the chance, even if it means sitting on the loo for an hour in total peace when the kids are sleeping. (Yes, I've done that too LOL).

Taking time out will help you to focus and concentrate and will ease a lot of frustrations. Be Good To You, You Deserve It!

Anna

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My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Six

2006-09-09T17:41:00.000+01:00

The doctor was really good. He told me all of our options, and in the end we settled on trying Kyle with Ritalin. Boy was I scared.

I'd heard so many bad things about it, and I knew I'd get a lot of flack from people for even thinking about trying it. But Kyle was so unhappy in himself that I was wiling to try almost anything to make his life better.

We started on the Ritalin about a week later, and whilst the changes weren't dramatic, there were definitely changes for the better.

Kyle was that little bit happier in himself. He also started concentrating for around 12 minutes at a time, whereas he was only able to concentrate for 4 minutes at the most before.

His memory was still bad, he still had no knowledge of consequences, and he was still the most active kid I've ever known. Rewards still didn't work, and neither did discipline, so we just didn't do it. We still had tantrums and everything still got broke.

None of that was important. What was important was Kyle's happiness. And he really was happier than before.

Anna

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Help Dr Mani save kids lives

2006-09-07T16:51:00.000+01:00

You will probably have noticed the Spread CHD Awareness over on the right at some point in time. I hope you've at least clicked through to read what it's all about. If it hadn't been for an experiment Dr. Mani was running I wouldn't have started this blog ;)

Anyway, I had a mail today from another intrnet marketing colleague about Dr. Mani and his Blog-A-Thon. I couldn't have written it better, sp oasting it here instead.

"My friend Dr.Mani is a heart surgeon who innovatively uses
online marketing to help kids born with heart defects.

On Saturday Sep.9th, in a very special event called the Heart
Kids Blogathon, he is blogging non-stop for 24 hours to raise
funds for the 'heart kids'.

The fundraiser is off with a bang, with over $3,700 donated
already. Every $2,500 raised means an additional operation
can be funded - so please try and help, in any way you can.

http://www.HeartKidsBlogathon.info

Also, don't forget to drop by and encourage him on the big
day! Make sure you visit his blog on September 9th -
the URL is

http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/blog/

Thanks So Much!

Eric Louviere"

I really hope you get the chance to help Dr Mani out with this.
Thanks

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My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Five

2006-09-07T11:18:00.000+01:00

In the meantime I'd been reading these posts by parents and I started reading up on defiance disorder, ADD, ADHD, compulsive disorders. All sorts of things.
I took ideas from each and every one and implemented them with Kyle. It was all I could do because I still didn't know EXACTLY what he was suffering with.

Some things worked, some didn't. Some made things seem better, and yet others just made things worse.

I finally received a letter saying he could be seen by a child psychiatrist! I was scared, but I was so happy! I would at least KNOW what it was and what I could do about it to help make Kyle's life easier for him.

We hadn't been in the doctor’s office for more than 10 minutes when he said 'I'm sorry, there is no doubt in my mind that Kyle has overly moderate ADHD'.

I broke down and cried.

I had always had my suspicions, but to have them confirmed was like a kick in the gut.

Anna

My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Four

2006-09-05T15:50:00.000+01:00

At the age of 7, Kyle's headmistress at school called me and demanded that I collect Kyle immediately, as he had bitten another child. No questions or explanations. Just 'Come and get your child because we refuse to have naughty behaviour like that in our school'.

I went and got him, and told her he wouldn't be back. I decided to home educate him. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. What if I couldn't do it? What if I wasn't good enough? What if it made him worse? What if he hated me for it?

I was amazingly surprised. Kyle LOVED being at home. He revelled in the one-on-one attention he got. He had always refused to write, and still refused. But his reading came on in leaps and bounds. When he turned 8 he was reading the same stuff as Kelsey, and she was 11! He was as good as Chris on computers, and Chris was 14!

When I took him out of school I started researching everything I could about home education, and came across a whole mound of information posted various places on the internet by people who seemed to have children extremely similar to Kyle.

All along I kept pushing to get a referral for him to be seen by a specialist. All I wanted was to know what I was 'working with'. Was it something simple? Was it something hard to deal with? Would he need medication? Was it really all down to me? Was I to blame somehow?

Anna

My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Three

2006-09-04T12:57:00.000+01:00

At the age of 4, Kyle started mainstream school. The teachers were as patient as they could be with him, and made sure that whenever they went on trips one of them ALWAYS held his hand. They learnt that from an episode when they lost him. He'd just done his normal thing and wandered off.

Kyle could never sit still in school, and he just couldn't concentrate on anything for more than a couple of minutes at a time. When he was almost 5, we moved to a different town and he changed schools. I took him to the doctors and they told me he was definitely hyperactive.

I took all sweets, e-colours and additives out of his diet and he calmed down a bit. But that was when I noticed that there was something else not quite as it should be. He was calmer, but he had no attention span to speak of, and his concentration levels were almost nil.

The teachers had a helluva time with him, and he had a rotten time with them. I kept telling them that there was something not quite 'connecting' with Kyle, but they wouldn't listen. It was always put down to 'normal' hyperactivity.

Kyle had always been fascinated with flames and fire, and we always had to hide any lighters we had. When he was almost 6 he managed to find one, and at 11pm one night, I could smell smoke. I ran up the stairs to find that he'd burnt a hole in his mattress, his chair, his duvet AND his pillow. That was when I finally broke down. I held him close and wept my heart out.

Kyle cuddled me back, but seemed so totally adjacent. As if he wasn't really feeling that I was upset. He watched TV as he cuddled me, while I was sobbing and hulking.

I knew then that something was definitely wrong. I'd noticed his lack of 'feelings' before, but not as clearly as this. I asked him why he'd done it, why he did things like this all of the time. His reply was; 'The words aren't typing right in my head.'!!

I took him to the doctors the next day and begged for a referral to see a specialist. The doctor turned around and told me it was a discipline issue! I explained, as nicely as I could, that I had 3 other children and Kyle was 'different'. At the age of 6, a lot of the things he did were still 2-year-old things, yet other things were 10-year-old things.

The doctor blew me off totally. I felt as if I was a criminal for even suggesting that there was something not quite connecting in Kyle's head. Even when I aired my suspicions with my mother, I got the same reaction. It was all in my head and it was all my fault. There was nothing wrong with Kyle that a little (or a lot of) discipline wouldn’t sort out.

Believe me, we had tried everything. Rewards, discipline, positive attitudes, ignoring the bad things. None of it worked. And life carried on just as difficult as it always had been. The older kids stopped bringing their friends to the house as Kyle would often get physically violent with them. The house was a total wreck. All our furniture was trashed. We had holes punched in walls, doors slammed and screams echoing throughout the day and night.

Anna

My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part Two

2006-09-03T13:27:00.000+01:00

Kyle was a great “escape artist” and could get out of anything. Windows, locked doors, you name it. We’d turn our heads away for 5 minutes and he was gone. Pretty scary when an 8 month old is walking in the middle of a road, believe me.

He was an early walker and talker. Was constantly babbling on and running around. The only thing was, he STILL wanted to do things he wasn’t physically ready for, and that was the hardest part for us all to deal with. He’d continue getting frustrated, but now he’d bite and throw more stuff around.

Poor Chris and Kelsey were always getting bruised by him. But they handled it well, and loved Kyle to pieces.

Kyle was constantly active, seemed like he just COULDN’T sit still, no matter what.

We moved to Wales when Kyle was 2 and a half. I enrolled him in nursery, thinking that it might help wear him out. I was wrong. It just got him more frustrated, he didn’t get on very well with the other kids and after 4 months I took him out again.

We started to settle down in Wales, and got used to not being able to have anything nice in the house. Any nice furniture we had got wrecked within a couple of months, carpets that were in the house when we moved in had to be taken up due to him still making cakes.

When Kyle was 3 and a half, I had Courtney. Kyle was always very protective of Courtney, and she idolised him right from the start. Unfortunately this meant that she’d copy everything he did. People used to say “How can you cope with such naughty children?” and “Why do you let your kids run riot like that?”

Trying to explain to them was mostly like talking to a brick wall. Kyle was hyperactive, I knew that much, and Courtney liked to copy, and that was all there was to it. Or so I thought...

Anna

My Star Kyle. (Life with ADHD) Part One

2006-09-02T16:08:00.000+01:00

The pregnancy with Kyle was just like any other, with morning sickness and iron deficiency. The bump grew and the sickness subsided. It felt good. He was born on New Years Day. It was an amazingly fast birth. From the very first twinge until it was all over and done with only took 1 hour and 20 minutes.

10 centimetres dilation in less than an hour is hard work, made worse by the fact that when Kyle finally decide to show his face, that’s exactly what he DID do. He came face first, and got stuck! There he was, looking at the world for 20 minutes, while a huge nurse came and lay herself across me to try to push him out.

He was so stuck that they couldn’t put forceps on him, and being that it was his face, they couldn’t use the suction cap neither!

Finally, his whole head emerged, then his left arm. He immediately put his thumb in his mouth, the way he’s always had it every time we saw him on the scan. He was such a welcome addition to the family, and what a beauty he was!

Kyle was a handful right from the start. He was mostly a happy baby, but at times he would seem to get so frustrated at just about anything. It was like HE wanted to do things, but his body wasn’t ready for it.

He would lie on the floor, and you could SEE he wanted to move and get on with life, but at 6 weeks what baby can do that? So he’d slam his head on the floor and scream.

Then, when he first started moving around the floor, he would roll as most babies do. Only thing is, he wanted to crawl! Of course, his body wasn’t physically ready for that, and in frustration he would roll over to the table and smack his head on the table leg. It got so bad at one stage that he had to wear a bicycle helmet.

At 6 months, Kyle would sit in his little bouncy chair and play happily for about 5 minutes. Then he would take whatever he was playing with and aim for Chris or Kelsey, his elder siblings. Even when they ran he’d manage to aim so well that they’d end up with a bump on their head.

When Kyle was old enough to crawl, and then walk we ALWAYS had to watch him, 24 hours a day. He would get into the most unbelievable situations and he absolutely LOVED making a mess with anything he could find.

I lost count of how many times there were “cakes” on the carpet, consisting of flour, eggs, ketchup, hair-gel, milk toilet paper. Actually just about anything he could get his hands on went into making his cakes.

In the end we stopped having carpets, it wasn’t worth the hassle.

Stay tuned for part 2..

Anna

A turning point?

2006-08-31T12:45:00.000+01:00

Today is amazing! In fact, it's been an amazing time since the kids came home from France. The Concerta seem to be REALLY helping Kyle, in all aspects, but today has just got to be the most amazing day we've had so far!

Kyle is running around the house with a tape measure, a notepad and A PEN!!

He's measuring EVERYTHING and actually WRITING his finds and measurements into the notepad!

What can I say? Kyle NEVER writes. Hell, he never even holds a pen! Yet he's doing this totally of his own accord. I tell ya, either the Concerta is working miracles or the aliens have taken away 'my' Kyle and replaced him with some strange kid LOL

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say for now. And to everybody out there: Don't EVER give up on your kids, no matter how difficult it may seem there IS always hope :)

Anna

Who IS this kid??

2006-08-19T10:43:00.000+01:00

Wow, what can I say? They came back on Tuesday and there STILL hasn't been any major tantrums! Kyle only missed his Concerta tablets twice throughout the whole 3 weeks he was gone, and believe me, that's an achievement in itself for my mother LOL.

But seriously, I've been waiting for the bomb to go off and for the screams and fights and all the throwing things around but.... It hasn't happened yet!

Is it the Concerta? Is it just the calm before the storm? I have no idea, but in all Kyle's 9 and a half years we've NEVER gone 2 consecutive days without at least 1 major blow-up.

Heck, the kid is even wearing clothes without a great big fight about it. He wears pyjamas for bed (which he never usually does), then when he gets up in the morning he puts his trousers on. Ok, so it's only trousers and nothing else, but man, that is SO different to having him running around 'au naturell' LOL.

IF this is all down to the Concerta then OMG I wish we'd known about it sooner.

Anna

Counting the days...

2006-08-12T19:47:00.000+01:00

Time has gone so slowly for me without the kids here. It's been good though, I've had time to spend on myself and Hugh, and also time to write another ebook. I haven't been feeling too good lately, so the break is really what I needed. but Oh My God! It's SO quiet and boring without them! Thank god 3 of them come home on Tuesday. LOL, I can picture it now, they'll all be SO happy to be home, they'll give me hugs and kisses, they'll chatter non-stop about the holiday, they'll have food, they'll settle down to watch tv and then BAM! They'll start to quibble and wind each other up. Hahahaha, kids are just great, eh?

Actually, I was sitting re-reading the article about Schools and Education that I posted here previously. The author is right. School IS too old fashioned and stuck in it's ways. At least it is here in the UK, I think possibly even more so than over in the USA. School here still goes by a lot of the old Victorian rules and principles (apart from now they're not allowed to hit the kids).

Although it's hard work for me to home educate Kyle, and it means putting my own things on the shelf (as discussed in comments with 'angel'), it's what I CHOOSE to do. Heck, these kids are going to be looking after us in our old age, don't they deserve the best we can do for them now?

Oh, by the way, I've also started a new blog. One where I'll be writing more about parenting rather than about living with ADHD. Nothing much there yet, just one or 2 posts, but feel free to check it out: http://real-life-parenting.blogspot.com/ and if YOU have a blog related to parenting, drop me a line and I'll add your link to mine ;)

Anna

'School' by Dr Wysong

2006-07-29T21:14:00.000+01:00

Ok, it's getting a tad boring here now, almost too quiet without the kids. They've only been gone for 5 days and I'm missing them terribly, can you imagine what I'll be like in another weeks time?? hahaha

So anyway, what with home educating Kyle and stuff I tend to look for a lot of articles regarding that area. Found this one today, I hope you enjoy it

Anna

'School' by Dr Wysong

Traditional school coursework does not usually make smarter or better people. Everyone needs the basic three R skills, but to a young person detail beyond that is pretty much a waste of student’s and teacher’s time as well as tax dollars. School serves as a convenient babysitter and helps to socialize children, but history, economics, physics and algebra minutia doesn’t do much more than superficially acquaint kids with some terms.

Learning that is important to living comes primarily from what is experienced. For example, love and concern from a teacher, fear of a bully and infatuation for a classmate all create indelible lessons remembered for a lifetime. On the other hand, the only lesson most kids take away after learning the Pythagorean Theorem and the date of the battle of Gettysburg is that learning isn’t fun and is a waste of time.

The sooner a person can get out of school, the better the chances for useful learning. Personal initiative, individual study, successes, mistakes, fear and pride out in the real world are the best teachers. These two volumes encapsulate the issues we face in real life and have taken me ______chapters and almost a thousand pages to cover in abbreviated form. The fact that essentially none of this material is covered in formal schooling is a testament to the failure of modern education.

Without sufficient life experience (which creates little hooks in the mind to which details can attach), or a specific need to apply information, learning just by rote goes into short-term memory (long enough to pass a test) and is then essentially lost. As mental calisthenics coursework is fine. As training for life it is woefully inadequate. Children are taught how to read (barely) but they are left unable to distinguish what is worth reading. It teaches about things, not reasons. It gives the false idea that life is scripted such that if specific do’s and don’ts are followed--papers are written and tests aced--that success will surely follow.

If in doubt about the utility of modern education ask employers whether new graduates (other than from trade schools) bring to the workplace anything other than tools they don’t know how to use. If an employer can find an employee who is motivated, eager to learn and a self-starter (all rarities), that is about the most that can be hoped for. From there the employer is faced with all the costs of training…and pay to the employee while doing it. In the meantime schools take a big chunk out of tax dollars and teachers get good salaries and great benefits. But the students they turn out are in no way ready to hit the ground running once they find a job. Nevertheless, educators – with their absurd lecture, note-take, regurgitate pedantic – mislead students into believing that they are receiving real training that can immediately command high wages and benefits. This not only does a disservice to the student but forces employers to repair the damage and bring new graduates back down to earth.

Understandably students spending years burdened by mountains of memorization are exhausted by academic demands and feel entitled to a reward, even though they intuitively know that the majority of what they have memorized is worthless. The result is a workplace filled with overpaid, under-skilled employees. Many see their stint with education as a price paid, a reason for entitlement and a burdensome part of their personal history, not an active and engaging part of their future.

Schools should effectively and thoroughly teach the basics that everyone needs to function well in society. Very general courses should be taught in all the disciplines to give students a broad overview of what knowledge holds and to equip them for a degree of self-sufficiency – like balancing a checkbook, avoiding credit card debt and high interest, writing a clear letter, preparing meals, fixing a plugged sink, sewing, checking the car oil and air tire pressure, changing the furnace filter and so on.

This could be accomplished easily within 6-8 years of school, but beginning at an older age since too much of education is wasted on the young. School days should be shortened and not begin in the early morning when growing bodies and minds should be sleeping. By compressing school-time, teachers would be forced to hit the high points that students are more likely to retain.

Specific training for specific careers should follow these 6-8 years with lots of hands-on practical experience and emphasis on problem solving. Before a student is released into the workforce they should be able to accomplish a job with competence. As things presently are, most degrees do not signify useful skills other than book reading and test taking.

Also, interspersed in the school curriculum should be coursework in intellectually challenging topics such as philosophy, science, religion, marriage, family, metaphysics, politics, sociology, ethics, logic and all the other fields of controversy in which everyone should make a lifelong study and contribution. Such topics should be taught using basic concepts and by encouraging synthesis, original thinking and hands-on learning, not with a dull memorization format.

Most of all, students should learn that mental growth is an ongoing endeavor and a basic human requirement for happiness. Continuous intellectual growth is necessary to make oneself interesting to others, to properly function in society, and to contribute to improving the world. Education does not end with a degree, it is a lifelong process.
Unfortunately, rather than school stimulating a desire for learning it can leave a bitter after taste that discourages intellectual growth.

Teachers should be accomplished in the real-world field they are teaching and be accountable at all times. Tenure is a crazy idea as is most socialism. If there is any occupation that should be under pressure to achieve performance standards at all times, it is teaching. Instead, unlike any other career, mere time can lock in a bad teacher for a lifetime. The best formula for souring young minds on education is to force incompetent and unlikable teachers on them. Education is not about teachers and their security, it’s about properly training young minds and motivating the intellect of the next generation.

These are all nice ideas, but education is not going to change anytime soon. It is too institutionalized, governmentized, unionized and tenurized. It likes itself the way it is, very comfortable and secure for all who feed from it. Never mind whether students, the workplace and society are really benefiting from it or not.

It’s not like there is some grand conspiracy to keep education boring, irrelevant and expensive. It’s just that those who write curricula and who teach know no better and find it easiest to stay in the same groove in which they were taught. Love of children and wanting to teach are certainly important, but not enough. Students who go through high school, then college, then grad school to become teachers are still students. Students teach others how to be students, not what life is really about or how to succeed in it.

It should be a prerequisite that before any politician presumes to run society that they have had at least a decade of proven success in the real world at real jobs. Similarly, a teacher entrusted with the future of the world (children), must have lived out in the real world and proven their ability to be successful at it. Particularly should this be so at the high school and college levels. Instead, too often students or those who were incapable or nonproductive in the workplace find a home in a teaching position. We must change the aphorism: Those who can, do, those who cannot, teach. It should be: Those who can, teach; those who cannot should go do something else. One on-line university that caters to those discouraged by traditional schooling has the right idea. Their advertising for professors says, “If you haven’t done it during the daytime, you can’t teach it at night!”

Speaking of the Internet, that may be the spearhead for a solution to education because it creates a realistic alternative to the traditional classroom format. Education will not change from within because it is too comfortable with itself like all embedded institutions get to be. The free market of Internet choices may create the pressure all institutions really pay attention to—economics. That will force the system to either become relevant and efficient or die a quiet death as their tuition resources dry up.

Parents are not above blame or absolved from educational responsibilities just because kids can be pushed off to school and taxes are paid. We should not surrender our children to an incompetent system. Home schooling or ‘unschooling’ (an actual movement you can search out on the Internet) are options every parent should explore. At the least, children should be engaged when they get home from school. They learn best by experience and example so parents who are themselves thinking people and are able to put what is being taught in school into context and to discuss and live intelligently the matters touched upon in these two volumes are the best teachers children can hope for.

For further reading, or for more information about, Dr Wysong and the Wysong Corporation please visit www.wysong.net or write to wysong@wysong.net. For resources on healthier foods for people including snacks, and breakfast cereals please visit www.cerealwysong.com.

A Sleepless Night

2006-07-25T11:26:00.000+01:00

God, am I tired or what??

I'm a night owl and don't go to bed until around 2-3am normally. Ever since I had Kyle I've never been able to go to bed early, or even stay in bed long for that matter, always had to keep an eye on what he's doing.

Anyway, I knew there was no way I could risk sleeping last night after finally getting ALL the kids (including Chris' best mate) around 11pm. If I had, I just wouldn't have gotten up in time for their taxi picking them up at 5.30am this morning.

So instead, I sat working on my website and my new salespage for an ebook I'm in the middle of writing. Hugh (my fiance) sat and watched TV and chatted about anything and everything just to make sure he stayed awake with me to keep me company. Gotta love him! :~D

We sat up ALL night, and thank goodness we did, cos the taxi turned up 30 minutes early! LOL

Poor kids were still in bed so it was a matter of 'Get up, get dressed, get GONE!' hahahaha.

Oh well, saved a lot of the normal morning tantrums and yelling and everything and after they left we went to sleep for a couple of hours. It was heaven, lemme tell ya!

So that's it then, they've gone to France and are gonna be gone for the next 3 weeks...

What to do with the time, eh?

Anna

Tablets, Tablets Everywhere!

2006-07-24T19:06:00.000+01:00

Man, I swear you'd think we were all a bunch of junkies in this house LOL

I had to go to the docs today to get repeat prescriptions before the kids go on holiday tomorrow.

Bad enough I had to get Prozac for Chris and Concerta for Kyle, but I'd also run out of ALL of my tablets that I'm on for my belly troubles.

It's quite embarrassing to go in to the chemists to pick up 5 different types of tablets at once (yep, I take no less than 3 kinds of tablets for this stupid belly of mine) LOL.

I did get an appointment at hospital for my colonoscopy for next month, only they gave me the appointment in a hospital that I can't get to hahahaha. Had to get that changed to a closer hospital (one that's only 2 hours away instead), but unfortunately that's going to take another 3 months at least.

Gotta love the NHS :D

Aww, can't complain though, at least we get that stuff free, not like our American friends who have to pay for EVERYTHING health related. That must surely suck!

Anyway, got some web-work to do and a bit more packing for the kids and THEN I have to try to get them to bed early (it's already 7.15pm) so they're awake when the taxi comes to pick them up at 5.30am in the morning.

Wish me luck!

Anna

I'm Crying

2006-07-23T18:26:00.000+01:00

I just visited another blog and read the most heart-wrenching poem of my life. View it here:
http://angelathome.blogspot.com/2006/06/wow.html (rightclick to open in new window)

I'm crying because it is SO true. Living with an ADHD child IS very exhausting but also very rewarding. I'm not in a fit state to say any more, so go on, scoot over and read the poem for yourself and let me know what you think.

Anna

School's Out! Kids Are Leaving.

2006-07-23T16:09:00.000+01:00

Gosh, doesn't time fly by sometimes? Seems it was only a month ago it was christmas and yet the summer holidays have already started!

This year is going to be different to any other year I've had with the kids, because they're all going to visit their nan in France for 3 weeks on Tuesday.

I say 3 weeks, Kelsey, Kyle and Courtney are coming back then, but Chris and his best mate Vince are staying for 5 weeks. They get back about a week before they start college.

Chris is in a depression again and back on prozac, it is helping him lots and at least he sees that it's helping him this time. (Seems depression runs in the family here).

Kyle is getting better on Concerta, calming down a bit and not as aggressive as he normally is. He's still not sleeping much, but we can handle that when we don't have as many 'tantrums' to deal with.

Courtney, bless her, is already bored and counting the days until her 6th birthday which is the day after they start back at school LOL

Kelsey is having a blast with her friends and really making the most of the weather with trips to the beach and riding around on her bike etc. She's going to miss them lots while she's in France, but her school report says she's making fantastic practical use of her visits to France, so that's a good thing, right? ;)

Anna
Summer Is Here! Keep The Kids Happy And Occupied!

A Visit From The LEA

2006-07-13T23:30:00.000+01:00

Today we had a visit from the Local Education Authority. They came to see how Kyle is getting on with his home education... Finally!

They were here last year, after Kyle had been home educated for a year and a half and said they'd b back in 6 months time. I've called them on multiple occassions but never heard back from them until today, a whole YEAR after their first visit!

Anyway, they're happy with the education I'm providing, and reckon I'm an extremely patient woman. (Kyle showed them exactly how bad he can be LOL).

I've asked them for info on getting a laptop for Kyle, cos even now at the age of 9, he STILL won't write, no matter what. Funnily enough, he works fine on a pc....

They told me to email them and ask for a referral to the Behavioural Department. That means getting the B.D. to come out and check up on Kyle to see if they agree that a laptop will do him good. Fingers crossed that they'll come out soon and decide that a laptop is something he needs, as then I'll get it funded instead of having to pay for one myself.

Home education gets really expensive when you have to buy in all sorts of things constantly, so it would really help us if we could get that funded by the government.

Wish us luck!

Anna
32 Ways To Keep The Kids Occupied

School's out! Beat the Boredom

2006-07-11T21:03:00.000+01:00

School's out! Beat the Boredom
By Anna-Marie Stewart

It's every kids dream. School is finally out for the summer. They can do whatever they want now. Get up late, play on games consoles lots, go out on their bikes, hang around with their friends or maybe even go abroad for a week or 2.

Unfortunately after the initial first couple of weeks, time tends to start dragging for the kids and they start to get bored. Bored kids often lead to irate parents and bad feelings all round with everybody ultimately wishing for the holidays to end.

There are lots of things you can do to help beat the boredom and enjoy the holidays with your kids. One of our favourites (I have 4 kids) is nature walks.

Nature walks are one of the most inexpensive boredom busters ever created. All you need is energy and wide-open eyes. Of course, you can make the whole walk a lot more interesting by having something specific to look for.

Luckily for townsfolk and city people, nature isn’t just about being out in the country. Wherever there are trees, there’s going to be birds. Where there’s grass growing, flowers and weeds grow etc.

Borrow a book about wild flowers, birds or animals from your local library and refer to it every time the kids see something of interest. Take along a notepad and pencil for each of the kids to write down what they saw on the walk.

Take along a camera ready for any fun or special moments and snap away. If you have a digital camera take that instead. When you get home teach the kids how to upload the pictures and get a free blog account at http://www.blogger.com where they can then keep an online journal of their summer activities.

Don't worry if the weather is bad, kids actually tend to enjoy themselves more in bad weather than when it's too hot. Just get out there and do it!

===============Resource Box===========
Discover how a mom with four unruly kids avoided
a breakdown with this surprise discovery! 12-page
guide reveals 32 ways to keep your kids occupied,
happy and focused. It’s a parent’s dream come true!
http://annamarketing.com/FTS/32Ways.htm
-------------------------------------------------

This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included. (c) 2006 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved

Concerta: Good And Bad

2006-07-08T10:08:00.000+01:00

This Tuesday gone we started using Concerta and OMG! what a difference!! I've seen good points and bad points so far, but the good definitely out-weighs the bad.

Well it's been less than a week, but so far the bad points have been

1. He sleeps less
2. He's a lot more 'jumpy' than before, gets a fright easily etc.
3. He doesn't eat much during the day

Just some of the good points:

1. He can concentrate much better on things
2. He can play out with friends without major tantrums and fights and without smashing things up when someone says something he doesn't like
3. He's more loving
4. He's showing some compassion
5. He's MUCH much happier

Kyle never has slept much, but we were at the stage where we could put him to bed at 9 and he'd be sleeping by 11, then getting up at around 5-5.30.

Right now, and I hope it's only temporary, he doesn't sleep until 1-2am, then he's up again at 5. It's more like the way he was before Ritalin, only then he would sleep an hour longer LOL

It's really not too bad though, as before we used to always have to watch him, and if he was awake we HAD to be awake as he got bored easily and would trash the house, or empty the fridge contents into a nice pile on the floor, flood the bathroom etc.

This past week when he can't sleep at night and when he wakes up early in the morning he sits quietly and watches tv for a while and actually comes and tells us when he's getting bored.

This is a MAJOR change and it's making things so much easier.

Anna

Summer Is Here! Keep The Kids Happy And Occupied!

Concerta? Feedback appreciated...

2006-07-01T13:03:00.000+01:00

Well, we went to see Kyles specialist on Tuesday and this time we took Chris (16) with us. I'm glad we did, as the doctor asked his opinion on the whole thing and Chris was very honest and blunt about it. The doc appreciated his honesty and said 'I trust your mums opinion, but it's good for us to hear how ADHD affects others in the family too'

Kyle was in top form all the time we were there, messing about with the hospital bed, running around the little room, asking a gazillion questions and not letting people talk LOL, hard work, but also good to know that the doc saw him 'in action' so to speak.

We asked about Concerta because in Kyles word 'Ritalin doesn't last long enough'. The doc seemed shocked that I even knew about Concerta (thanks Rich) and said that they don't usually pescribe it due to the cost, but seeing as I knew about it already he would. LOL, that's the National Health Service for you.

Seemingly Concerta is 7x as epensive as Ritalin, so no wonder they don't willingly blab about it, eh? Anyway, with Concerta Kyle will only have to take one tablet per day as it has some kind of slow release thing to it, which is a good thing. at least it makes it easier than taking 2 tablets per day for him.

He's looking forward to it, and hoping it will help him concentrate like Ritalin did (so that's 15 minutes instead of 2 LOL) as he knows that when he gets to concentrate on one thing at a time he's much happier within himself.

Only drawback was that we have to wait about a week cos the specialist/hospital wants the GP to pescribe it for him instead of them doing it due to the costs... sheesh.

So, any feeback on the use of Concerta is greatly appreciated so get commenting :)

Anna
32 Ways To Keep Your Kids Occupied

ADHD Can Make You Strong

2006-06-21T02:24:00.000+01:00

What a day it's been! I had to go to hospital for an endescopy and was really panicking about it. I'm such a baby when it comes to things like that, foreign objects have no place in my mouth in my opinion so throat spray was out of the question and needles terrify me. I knew I would probably end up being sedated so sorted out a babysitter for Kyle and got myself ready to go.

Of course, I forgot how bad Kyle can be without meds, which resulted in me not being able to leave him with the babysitter after all.

Instead he had to come with us to hospital, and we all know how boring hospitals can be right? Well, my fiance and Kyle stayed in the kids waiting room whilst I went to the endescopy unit. Unfortunately a 2.45pm appointment (or any appointment for that matter) just doesn't happen on time.

I'd psyched myself up ready for the sedation but after an hour of waiting I just knew there was no way on earth I could go for that option and hope that my fiance, Hugh, would still be sane by the time I was ready to go home.

What happened? I got brave and managed with the throat spray! I never imagined I would, and now I have a new-found faith in myself. I AM much stronger than I thought I was. Woohoo!!

I'm glad I managed it cos by the time I eventually got out of there Kyle was bored out of his brain and Hugh was tearing at his own hair LOL, luckily enough he was still sane ;)

Anna

Top 5 Lists According To Kyle

2006-06-20T11:07:00.000+01:00

This morning we've been working on memory and concentration. An easy way to do that was to get Kyle involved in this post. I asked him to list his top 5 educational programs, his top 5 cartoons and his top 5 passtimes, here's what he came up with:

Top 5 Educational TV Programs
These are all available daily on Discovery Kids

1) Mystery Hunters
2) Croc Files
3) Invention SOS
4) Gross
5) Zoinks How It's Made

Top 5 Cartoons
Top 4 available daily on Nicktoons, number 5 available daily on Boomerang

1) Spongebob Squarepants
2) Fairly Odd Parents
3) Jimmy Neutron
4) Rugrats
5) Tom and Jerry

Top 5 Passtimes

1) Playing Console Games
2) Going To The Beach In ANY Weather
3) Going To The Park
4) Investigating The How And Why Of EVERYTHING
5) Exploring Everywhere

Not a bad little list, although I'm not too keen on his top passtime LOL.

Anna

Routines Help Us To Cope Better

2006-06-19T23:13:00.000+01:00

Just sitting here and thinking over the things I've learned from dealing with ADHD on a daily basis. One of the most important lessons was all about routines. Now if you have any ADHD experience at all you will know that routines can help immensely, but you will also know that the person needing the routines absolutely hates rules! Doesn't exactly make it easier huh? For us, with Kyle being home-educated, it seems to be easier to handle routines than when he was in mainstream education.

At school there were always rigid rules to follow along with the routines, which didn't bode well for Kyle. In fact he totally hated it and played up constantly which is one of the main reasons we took him out of mainstream school. We try not to make too many strict rules, but instead concentrate on sticking with the routines. It has definitely helped us lots.

Looking back on the 2 years (or is it 3? I've lost count!) of educating him at home I can see that he has been having much more fun than he ever did before. Ok, so he still doesn't write, but I'm sure he could if he wanted to. He can write on the pc if he has to, but there's no way on earth he'll even contemplate holding a pen.

When he left school he was a year behind his classmates in reading, yet now he reads at least as well as his 16 year old brother, and almost as well as myself! He's now started learning French. His nan moved to France this year and he's already been there a couple of times with her, both before she moved and for the Easter holidays after she had moved.

One of our routines includes the games console. He gets x amount of time on it, depending on which day it is. The rule there is he now has to play the games using the French language and/or the French subtitle options. It's working too. I know because he keeps speaking to me with French comments and accents hahahaha.

Another of our routines includes TV. He gets to watch tv for x amount of time, depending on days again, but the rule is that half of that time has to be spent on educational programs.

We do exactly the same with the pc. However much time he spends on it is divided between playing games and learning. What he doesn't realize is that most of his time on the pc is actually about him learning as he has to search for sites himself when he wants to play games, and most of the games he plays have some element of education in them.

So there you have it, just some of our routines: games consoles, tv and pc. All working together they make sure he has fun and gets educated in various ways. Of course, the home education consists of tons more than just that, but they are the things we start our day with (not neccessarily in that order) as soon as breakfast is over and the others are in school. Will post more about that next time.

Anna
32 Ways To Keep Kids Occupied

How to Avoid Tantrums in Kids of All Ages

2006-06-19T21:14:00.000+01:00

How to Avoid Tantrums in Kids of All Ages
By Anna-Marie Stewart

Let’s face it, kids will be kids and they can’t possibly always be happy with every single decision that is made for them. Even from a very young age a child realizes that he/she is, in fact, a REAL person, with feelings, thoughts and emotions. This often leads to them wanting to do things their own way, making their own choices, or just not wanting to do as they’re told.

Here’s a scenario: your child is sitting happily playing with building bricks, or maybe playing on a games console, totally engulfed in his or her own world, and it’s time for dinner. You ask your child to drop what they’re doing there and then, to tidy up quickly, to leave their ‘happy place’ and come eat. Your child refuses to do as asked, wondering within why on earth you’re being mean and spoiling their fun.

You, on the other hand may think the child is being naughty or obstinate. You remove the toys/games abruptly and the volcano erupts! Your child is throwing a full-blown tantrum!

Now, let’s re-create the scenario: As before, your child is sitting happily playing and you’re about to start making dinner. You give the child fair warning that playtime will be ending soon, in say 5-10 minutes, and that they will then need to put their things away so that they can help you make dinner.

Stick to your time-frame and get the things put away (help if you’re needed), and involve your child in the dinner-making. Depending on your child’s age this could be anything from wiping the table to boiling potatoes or even carving the meat. (Ok, so we may not have huge set meals every day, but you get the idea).

Wow! You just avoided a MAJOR tantrum! Your child is involved and happy, you are happy and non-stressed! Well Done You!

You can do this sort of thing with just about any scenario. Turn it around from something negative i.e. removing child from ‘happy place’ and replacing in ‘upset place’, to moving child from one happy place to another. You just have to make sure that your child knows beforehand that something other than what they are doing at the moment will soon be happening.

Let your child get involved and make sure you tell him/her how much you appreciate their help and co-operation. This way you will avoid the horrid confusion that ultimately leads to those dreadful tantrums.
===============Resource Box===========
Discover how a mom with four unruly kids avoided a
breakdown with this surprise discovery! 12-page guide
reveals 32 ways to keep your kids occupied, happy
and focused. It’s a parent’s dream come true!
http://annamarketing.com/FTS/32Ways.htm
-------------------------------------------------
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included. (c) 2006 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved

Company Helps The Time Go By

2006-06-17T20:05:00.000+01:00

And yet another lovely day is drawing to an end. It's bedtime for the kids here, and they've been out all day again so both Kyle and Courtney should sleep extremely well. Especially as my friend brought 5 of her 6 kids up to play with them.

Of course, the older ones were out and about in town. Mostly window shopping with 'wishlists' as long as your arm by the time they got back hahahaha.

The days can get long at times, especially for Kyle as he loses interest in so many things so quickly. It was great to have my friends kids here today though, really helped him having tons of things to think about to stop him getting bored.

He doesn't usually mingle too well with 'groups' but we've hung around almost daily with Marian and her kids for the past 2 years and he finally seems to be getting the hang of it :)

Today we took a leaf out of my own book (quite literally from this one: 32 Ways To Keep The Kids Occupied) and organised a 'Treasure Hunt' which was fun for all of us and actually kept us all happy and busy for a while.

We didn't really do much else, but we let them play ball, and splash about in the pool a bit. Oh yeah, and they ran around the garden like a bunch of madmen for a while hahahahaha. I'll be willing to bet it's not just my own kids who are tired tonight ;~)

Took a couple of pics again, this time when they were being Ninjas and Swordsmen etc. Amazing imaginations these kids have, they didn't even have any 'weapons' or anything to play with. Quite thankfully too, as rough as they played I can imagine with anything in their hands they could have possibly done each other some damage LOL.

Here's Kyle, Simon and Adam playing Ninjas. Look at their stances! Something tells me they watch too much tv or play too many console games LOL.

How do you get kids to be quite on hot, sunny days? That's right, feed em ice lollies :~D

Oh yeah, and it works just as well on grown ups too :~D

I do have a few more good pics of the boys playing, but I need to edit them for size etc before I can upload them to the blog. Will see if I can get round to doing that some day soon. Right now I'm off to sit with a well-deserved cuppa!

Anna

Another Glorious Day Of Sunshine

2006-06-16T21:34:00.000+01:00

We've certainly been blessed with the weather again so far this year. Almost even better than last year, which is just totally amazing as we rarely see a lot of hot sunny days where we live. We definitely try our best to make the most of it though, because there's no telling how long it's going to last. We grill out in the back garden lots, eat tons of salads, use the gazebos when the kids need shade, and play around in the paddling pool if it warms up enough ;)

We did have the pool in the front garden at first, but it totally wrecked the lawn so we put it in the back garden. Unfortunately the back is extremely uneven, so it didn't quite work as well as planned, and ended up a tad lop-sided LOL.

The only non-fun part about the heat is that Kyle tends to get over-heated and hot and bothered, so we have to constantly think up new ways to combat that. Usually it has to do with water, and this year we made up a new 'game': We hang the hosepipe on the washing line and set it to shower! hahaha, the kids LOVE running through the water whenever it gets too hot for them, and the grass gets a greatly needed drink at the same time ;~)

We took a few pics in the back garden today of Kyle and his puppy Sherbert (she's a 6 month old crossbreed, Alsatian and Rottweiler and totally dippy LOL) enjoying the weather. Sherbert even joined Kyle in the pool which was just hilarious for us onlookers :~D

Here's Kyle after running through the water from the hosepipe for the first time today. I'm guessing by the look in his face that it was a tad cold LOL

In this picture Kyle is finally warming up again after being totally soaked, and as you can probably tell by the huge grin he's feeling great!

Sherbert had just been for a walk with Christophers friends and came back hot and botherered but ran to say Hi to Kyle as soon as she got home. These two are just about inseparable.

This final pic is of Sherberts first time ever in the pool. As you can see, I wasn't lying about it being a bit lop-sided hahahahaha

Wel, that's it for this time. Kyle is now in bed and hopefully dreaming of all the fun he's had today. He was pretty worn out so hopefully he'll sleep past 6am in the morning ;)

Until next time....

Anna

Another Year With ADHD

2006-06-16T01:18:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I last posted, mainly due to me being unwell, but also as I've been extremely busy at home. Kyle has had a tough year, and with that it's been rubbing off on the rest of the family.

He was doing good on Ritalin, it seemed to be helping him concentrate more, but it never lasted more than a couple of hours. He decided he wanted to come off the Ritalin as in his words 'it doesn't last long enough', and he wanted to see what it would be like to not use it. His choice, by all means, so that's what happened. He came off Ritalin and went back to being the way he was before (as outlined in my booklet My Star Kyle which you can find links to here on my blog).

He's now decided that when we go to see the specialist next time he's going to ask if he can re-try Ritalin, or maybe something different. Boy is he grown up for his 9 years or what??

I've said all along that it will always be his choice which route we take, as long as it makes things better for him and he feels happier within himself, then I'm happy too.

In the meantime we'll keep trying our hardest (both of us) to concentrate on his home education as much as we can without making it too boring and too much hard work. Luckily it's summer again and we have lots of nice days so we can go out and 'do learning the fun way without pens and paper' as he says ;)

Until next time, feel free to check out my latest ebook which is perfect for the summer holidays when kids tend to get bored:

32 Ways To Keep The Kids Occupied http://annamarketing.com/FTS/32Ways.htm

Will post again soon
Anna

Cardigan Food Festival

2005-08-12T11:15:00.000+01:00

The past few days have been 'lazy' days, we haven't really done much of anything apart from chill out as much as possible..LOL

Yesterday we walked into town for the Cardigan Food Festival. It's not a fantastic day out, but at least it gets us out of the house for a couple of hours.

The festival is held down by the riverside. There are various food stalls with Welsh 'tasters'. Of course, the prices are extortionate for the foods and crafts, so most people just wander around tasting everything until they're full up.. hahaha

I took a few pics, some from up on the castle wall, some of the festival itself and some of the parade. Kelsey took part in the parade this year and she really had a blast.

This is Kelsey in her hand-made villagers costume for the parade. The costumes were made on the riverside by everybody who was taking part in the parade.

Kelsey had to help carry the eel. There was a button she had to keep pressing to make it open and close it's mouth and she ended up getting a blister on her finger from it hahahaha

This is the veiw of River Teifi from the east wall of the castle. It's a gorgeous view, just a shame that it was a bit cloudy so you don't get to see how beautiful it really can look.

This is the huge fisherman from the parade. He's enormous! And always fun to see, unless you're a little kid, then he's just plain scary ;~)

This picture shows what you can see of Cardigan Bay from the west wall of the castle. The beach is all the way over on the other end of the picture. The stalls you see were full of Welsh food and crafts.

Anna

By The Riverside

2005-08-02T17:22:00.000+01:00

Today was a good day. Kelsey, Kyle and me took 2 of the dogs, Taz and Missy, for a nice long walk for a couple of hours. We walked up to St. Dogmaels from Cardigan to go look at the old abbey ruins. It's always been one of our favourite places. I was kicking myself because I'd forgotten to take my digital camera with me.

After hanging out at the abbey for a while, we walked through the woodlands to get to the river that flows from there back through to Cardigan. Kelsey then piped up "MUM! I just remembered, the phone you bought me yesterday has a camera on it! We can take pictures with that!" No sooner was it said than done, and here are 2 of the pics we took:

They turned out pretty good considering we'd never tried to take pics with a mobile phone before, don't you think?

We did take a few more, but I was in a rush, so this is all you get to see for now ;~)

We spent a good few hours out walking in the sunshine today, so as you can tell we are definitely making the most of the summer weather this year :~)

Anna

A First Time For Everything

2005-08-02T04:01:00.000+01:00

This week is totally different to any week I've known for the past 5 years. Chris AND Courtney have gone to stay with their nan for the whole week. I have never been away from Courtney for that length of time before, and it's a bit scary. After all, she's my "baby".. lol. There's no doubt in my mind that she'll be absolutely fine, and she's probably grateful for the break away from our own little madhouse hehehe.

While we've been having a little bit of peace here at home, Kyle, Kelsey and me have been taking the time to enjoy each others company. Today we went to the cinema to watch Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. Johnny Depp plays a pretty good part, and the kids really enjoyed the film. Me? I had a hard time keeping myself awake through the whole thing ;~)

This evening we went to a chinese restaurant for a meal. Kyle scoffed his face as much as he could and really enjoyed it. Unbelievably, he actually SAT at the table, and even used his knife and fork.

Today was a total first for Kyle, and a great big milestone for us. We've never been able to take him to either the cinema nor restaurants before without having to get up and leave. Today we did both, and we all had a fabulous time. As they say, there's a first time for everything ;~)

Anna

The first week of the holidays

2005-07-27T11:05:00.000+01:00

Thank goodness the bad weather from the weekend has gone. Strange how we always seem to have a couple of brilliant weeks just before the start of the holidays, yet the first few days of the holidays are always rainy... LOL

The kids are loving long lie-ins in the mornings and staying up late at night. I must admit, I'm enjoying that too ;~)

Chris is being great with Courtney for me, taking her to the Wildlife Park for walks and to the play park to go on the swings and slides. Wearing her out totally, which frees up some time for me.

Kelsey is helping around the house, she knows she has to if she wants to go swimming.. hehehe

The public swimming pool here lets the kids in free during the summer holidays, so that's a good deal, and makes our summer just that little bit cheaper.

Kyle is at his nans, earning money for new PS2 and Nintendo games. He "helps" her around the house, and she gives him his pocket money. He isn't aware that she'd give him the money even if he didn't help her LOL.

Anna

Summer Holidays

2005-07-22T09:32:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy week, but a bit peaceful compared to how the next 6 weeks are going to be. The older kids broke up for their summer holidays yesterday, and although we WILL have lots of fun, there's going to be lots of tantrums and tears too.

Kyle enjoys the company of his siblings... up to a point. And when that point is reached, that's when all hell breaks loose LOL

I laugh now, but I'm truly dreading it. He's not a very sociable person, but on the bright side, we now have 6 weeks to do some intense "socializing skills" work ;~)

For the first time in any of my kids lives I've finally put a lock on my bedroom door. I bought a new bed this week, and it's the first really nice thing I've dared to get for myself in many years so I'm NOT taking any chances. LOL, especially now when there's going to be a lot of conflicts in the house ;~)

The kids had their new beds 3 weeks ago, lovely silver metal ones, and Kyle's already managed to bend his. He'd decided he wanted to see if he COULD do it.

In a way, I'm glad he's on ritalin and concentrating that little tiny bit more than before. The bad thing is that he tends to concentrate on the things he shouldn't be doing hahahaha.

Ah well, such is life, huh? With any luck we'll have lots of great weather during the holidays so that we can be out and about as much as possible instead of being stuck in the house. Don't get me wrong, being in the house has it's positive side sometimes. We don't get the "What a naughty child!" looks from people, and Kyle gets to watch the Care Bears.

You may think he's too old for that program, but seriously, if you have a child with attention deficiency hyperactive disorder I would highly recommend you get them involved with the Care Bears. Every program has a little "moral" to it, and Kyle definitely shows a tad more compassion and understanding after watching them.

I wrote a new book. It's a short and concise self-help book that I've called "Focus: The Key To Success". It covers 3 things that we all need: focus, self-confidence and self-discipline. Being the parent of a child with ADHD helped me write the book, as to make our lives better for us I HAVE to have those 3 things in my own life.

Hopefully the book will help a lot of other people, and also buy me some new furniture in the process ;~)

Anna

My Star Kyle. The First 8 Years

2005-07-11T12:15:00.000+01:00

I've sat a few times and thought about putting our story into words. I ended up doing just that today. A very short and condensed version, but real nontheless.

It was so easy to write it, but reading it actually made me cry. I showed it to a friend and he said: "I had no idea what you've went through for so long, and what kids like Kyle go through."

That tells me more than anything that I did the right thing in writing it all down.

It's a pdf document, so if you want to save it rightclick on the link or the picture and choose "save as".

MyStarKyle.pdf

Many thanks to Gene Barry of http://www.quickgraphics4u.com and http://www.graphics4marketers.com for a brilliant ebook cover.

Anna

Something Fun

2005-07-11T09:56:00.000+01:00

With Kyle having such a short attention and concentration span, I'm constantly thinking up new things to try to keep him occupied. I know that if I don't then every bit of shampoo and bubble bath tends to disappear, or kitchens get flooded, or worse still, he wanders off.

One of the things we have been doing this summer is making (and playing with) "ribbon sticks". Out of all the things we've come up with, this one really seems to grab his attention and he'll play for AGES. You might find it worth trying sometime.

Ribbon Sticks

For this you need nothing more than some strips of wide ribbon and some bamboo sticks. A few 4ft sticks will do. Snap them in half and tie a length of ribbon to one end. Make the ribbon length no longer than what the kids can handle.

Let the kids loose with the sticks and tell them to try to make shapes, circles, and snakes etc just like the gymnasts do on T.V.

Anna

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Links

2005-07-10T21:42:00.000+01:00

Having no kids today gave me time to collect a few of the website links of the places I've visited often in my quest to learn more about ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

I've added them to the sidebar of this page. If you know of any other useful places, please do let me know so that I can link to them. There's a lot of information out there, we just have to make it available to everybody.

If you've had any experience with any support groups or websites, feel free to share your stories with me. I'd love to hear them.

Anna

Time For Myself

2005-07-09T15:50:00.000+01:00

I am one of the lucky ones. Not everybody gets a "stress-break" away from the kids, and that can be hard. Believe me when I say it's even harder for parents of a child with ADHD. Ok, I get a break nowadays, but there was a time when I never got a break so I do know how important it is to make time for yourself as a parent.

See, with our other kids, we're always protective, and we worry about them lots, but with our ADHD children those feelings are intensified. Why? Because of thoughts like this: "Nobody else understands.", "Everybody thinks our child is unruly or naughty.", "My childs brothers and sisters are getting jealous of the amount of time, energy and attention my child needs."

Thoughts like these make it really hard for us to "let go" and let other people help us when we need it most. I was guilty of this for the longest time, until it got to the stage where I was almost totally burnt out.

I decided i HAD to tell friends and family about the way things were, and not gloss over it constantly. If I needed a break, I knew I had to ASK other people to step in, like my mother, or my best friend. People aren't mind-readers, so without letting them know what's going on, they can't possibly know that we need their help.

I still remember the first time I ever mentioned Kyle's problem to my mother. Years ago, long before he ever got diagnosed. She went mad at me. Told me I was imagining the whole thing etc etc etc. She really thought I was just stressed out and blaming it on Kyle. It took a while to get her to see, but with constant communication she DID start to see where I was coming from.

That's when she started taking Kyle off my hands for a week every now and again, and taking all the kids for the Saturday night. Seriously, I don't know how I coped without time for myself before. I suppose I just struggled along and numbed myself as much as I could by ignoring my own feelings.

What I'm saying is, if you have a child with ADHD, he is likely to need a lot more of your energy and attention than you feel you can give at times. Tell your friends and family. Tell them you need a "stress-break", even if it's only for a couple of hours.

Believe me, you'll feel so much better for it and your child will have had the pleasure of some one-on-one time with somebody who cares about him/her.

Take the time to de-stress, go watch a movie, soak in the bath or do some exercise. Spend time with your spouse, or friends. Anything that you find pleasurable. Just go ahead and do it, and don't feel guilty about being away from your kids, they are fine, and probably happy to be out of the "stress-zone" for a couple of hours too ;~)

Anna

Happy Summer Days

2005-07-09T11:43:00.000+01:00

Chris finally got out of bed, and we finally found the keys. We spent a little time in the back garden and now the 2 big uns are watching the 2 little uns riding their bikes out in the front street. It's so nice to live in a quiet area. Definitely makes life easier when the kids can actually go out and not have to worry about cars and such-like constantly.

We took a couple of pictures in the back garden. The weather is just glorious :~D

This first pic is of Chris and his best friend (my Alsatian) Belle.

In this picture Courtney has found an ants nest that was uncovered by "somebodys" small feet kicking a couple of stones off the border.. LOL

Here are my 2 angels, Courtney and Kyle. Seriously, wherever Kyle is, Courtney is never far behind and she's forever copying everything he does. Sometimes that's a good thing, most times it isn't ;~)

In this pic, Kelsey is trying to get Courtney to let HER use the slide. Of course, Courtney promptly tells her she's too big... hehehe.

After sliding down, Courtney says "Mum, I'm glad you don't cut the grass in this bit of the garden, if you did I would probably hurt my bum!"

Here Kyle tests out his photography skills. Actually not a bad pic, don't you think?

Well, that's all for now. Gotta get these kids ready to go to their nans, and then I'm REALLY going to enjoy the sunshine. I'll probably sleep in the back garden and get burnt to a crisp, but sun is sun and we don't get enough of it here. Best to make the most of it while we've got the chance.

Anna

Happy Saturdays?

2005-07-09T09:44:00.000+01:00

Today started off with beautiful sunshine and Kyle making breakfast for him and Courtney. It's not often he'll do things like that, so I was quick to tell him how proud I am of him and how clever he is.

Unfortunately it doesn't look much like we're going to get the chance to enjoy the sunshine this morning as my house-keys have gone walkabouts.. LOL. Kyle remembers holding them, he just doesn't remember where he put them. Ooops.

So it looks like we'll be spending the morning searching the house for my keys. Chris isn't going to be much help in the quest, as he's still in bed. Typical teen "It's the weekend, so I'm not getting up!" hahaha.

Kelsey, poor thing, has been helping me look after Kyle and Courtney this morning. she SO wishes there was school on the weekends too. See, Kyle isn't a very socialble kid, he prefers to be on his own with me, so when all the kids are home it tends to turn into a warzone.

Luckily for me I've learnt to blank out most of it and only react when it gets bad, like when they're flooding the bathroom etc.

I do love my Saturdays though. It's the day when my mother takes all 4 kids off my hands so that I can have a break, and gawd knows I need it by the time the weekend comes along.

Every now and again she'll take Kyle for a whole week, which is both good and bad. The good points are that the kids get a break, I get to relax and the fighting stops. The bad point, and there's only one, is that he comes back totally hyped up from all the sweets and stuff he's had that whole week...lol

Oh well, you win some, you lose some eh? Anyway, time to go on a treasure hunt. wish me luck in finding my keys ;~)

Anna

My Star

2005-07-08T14:30:00.000+01:00

Does this kid look brilliantly evil or what? hahahaha, Gotta love him.

This was taken a few minutes ago. My friend wanted to watch something on TV, but Kyle refused to give her the remote... hehehehe

Anna

Finding the positives

2005-07-08T10:14:00.000+01:00

First I'd just like to say thanks to everybody for their wishes, thoughts and prayers. So many great people out there, sometimes it's hard to believe we're all sitting behind monitors ;~)

Ya know, in comparison to 9/11 this was a tiny thing and amazingly little panic. People were still going about their biz as usual just a couple of hours after the first explosion. Brits seem to handle things well and nothing much phases us. It's that stiff upper lip thing.

Out of all the news clips and live news things I've been watching I don't think I've seen one person crying or panicking, apart from maybe a relative or 2.

London and the Uk has had a history of unrest. Things like IRA and bombings in WW2 etc, it's almost like we're immune to it all and we have an "ok, it happened, lets fix it" kind of attitude.

As a country we're outraged, yeah, but that's about it. Heck, even G8 started up again soon after the explosions, because that's "more important".

It's good though. Not showing weakness at times like this makes these horrible acts less effective. We just give them the finger and say "Hey! You can take our lives but you can't take our freedom!"

Some ppl are scared, others will probably never use the underground again, but it'll be a case of "life goes on" just as it always is ;~)

Anna

We have been lucky...

2005-07-07T18:44:00.000+01:00

We finally received word that my cousin is ok. Perfectly fine even. She hadn't gone to work today, although she couldn't explain why. No matter. I'm glad she stayed home and is safe.

Watching bits on TV still, people are being removed from the Victoria Station by "panicked" policemen, as they seem to have found a suspicious package there. Hopefully it's just something someone has left behind and nothing dangerous.

The news has slowed down a lot, so it might be best if I get my kids ready for bed. As always, I'll make sure that the last thing I say to them before they go to sleep is "I love you".

Please don't forget to tell your loved ones how you feel about them often. "I love you" can never be said often enough.

Anna

A Touch Of Normality

2005-07-07T16:33:00.000+01:00

It hasn't been the greatest day of the year, but things are calming down a little bit now. The children in the schools around the area of the bombings are being kept in school until they can be taken home safely or until their parents/carers can get to the schools to be with them.

The police are asking people to NOT go into London tonight at all, so that they can try to get things back to some kind of normailty. Buses and trains have started running again, although some are still suspended.

Here at home it's been quite difficult explaining to Kyle what's been happening. He's seen it all as he's home educated and was watching TV with us today, but he doesn't quite "get it". Actually, I'm quite grateful for that, he's way too young to have to worry about things like this.

The older kids came home from school and Chris immediately called his nan, just as I suspected he would, to make sure she was ok. He knew she'd be worried about my cousin, so he had to call her and discuss what has been happening all day.

Unfortunately, we still haven't had any news of my cousin, so my mother and my aunt are walking around as if they're on hot coals. Hopefully now that things are calming down it shouldn't be too long before there's some good news to report.

I've had tons of emails from people wishing us all well and sending prayers and thoughts to our family. I really appreciate everybodys thoughts. Thank you.

Anna

New Numbers in London Blasts

2005-07-07T14:19:00.000+01:00

Sky news just reported that there are at least 40-45 dead, and upto 1000 injured. Plus the ca.150 seriously injured.

23 dead at Kings Cross, 9 at Edgeware , 7 at Aldgate and 2 at Russel Square.

Of these the numbers at St. Mary's right now were said to be 36 casualties, where 6 are critical and 17 are serious.

My mother just called me, still no news about my cousin. People are having a hard time trying to get in touch with loved ones due to the mobile networks and landlines being down.

I was watching Fox News Live, they reported that the americans are stepping up their security again. Seems they have the same idea as a lot of other people, that the terrible incidents in London may have only been a warning. Let's hope they are wrong!

Anna

Helicopter News

2005-07-07T13:17:00.000+01:00

If you have Sky Digital, EuroNews on channel 528 is showing live helicopter coverage.

Emergency services slogging their guts out making sure everything is as ok as they can make it.

Bewildered people refusing to listen to the police who are trying to divert them etc.

6 blasts on the underground and one on a bus above ground.

Londoners people are coping by trying to "carry on as normal".

Anna

About 150 Seriously Injured so far

2005-07-07T12:58:00.000+01:00

Latest news: About 150 seriously injured so far, no other numbers. Any number is still way too many. Amazing that the number is so low, though considering the sheer mass of people commuting in that area at the time of the explosions.

Sitting watching ITV news live coverage at the house of Commons. Getting irritated at the speakers saying they'll now stand behind Blair no matter what. Shame they didn't show their support at the time of the Twin Towers, when he did what he thought was right.

Just heard Al Qaeda Group is claiming responsibility, guess it'll be a while before we know for sure.

All emergency departments and hospitals in the area are doing a great job. It's always good to know they're around for us, even for the times like this that we wish would never happen.

Anna

London Explosions. Treated as Terrorist Attacks

2005-07-07T12:40:00.000+01:00

Sitting here watching breaking news about at least 7 explosions in London this morning. Worried about my cousin, she commutes and was in the area at the time of the explosions.

She calls home every day when she gets to work, no phonecall yet.

Above ground looks bad, I can't imagine how bad it must be in the underground. News and updates here: CNN.com The BBC News site is pretty overloaded right now, so hard to get it to load.

Lots of casualties, no numbers on fatalities.

Schools are being told to "carry on as usual" and parents are being told to stay in the schools. Wide areas being evacuated due to indications of more explosives.

Bloggers are updating with more news, links here: http://www.blogherald.com/2005/07/07/london-bombings-blogs-covering-from-the-frontline/

Anna

My Family and ADHD

2005-07-06T22:20:00.000+01:00

As this is my 2nd blog, I'm just trying out the different templates and colours etc to see which one we like best. Kyle (8) chose this one, so we'll see how it looks.

I have 4 children. Chris is the "almost" unruly teenager, at 15 he's probably the most sensible kid I've ever met in my whole life. Chris is in full-time school, and next year (September) he will be starting on his GCSEs.

Kelsey is 12, born on Halloween she's our own "personal little witch", a nickname that's stuck with her since birth.. LOL. Kelsey started high school this year, and apart from a few incidents where she was getting bullied, she is really enjoying school. Then again, she always did love school. Don't think I've ever met another kid who cries if she's ever unable to go for some reason...

Kyle is 8, he's recently been diagnosed with ADHD after a long, hard fight to even get him seen by a specialist. Thankfully we now know what we're working with, and we can stop banging our heads against the wall. Kyle can be a handfull at times, but he's our "Star". When he smiles, the whole world lights up, and people can't help joining in on the smiles.

Then there's Courtney, our "baby". She's almost 5, and in fulltime school and loving it. It's long days for such a young kid, and she can be testy at times, but she's an angel really.... hahaha, well at least she is when she's not copying everything Kyle does. Courtney ADORES Kyle, and looks on him as her idol.

And then there's me, the one responsible for holding it all together. It can be difficult at times, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I find there's constantly something new to learn about kids, even after having 4 of them. It's a never-ending story, and I'm loving it.

The things they say, the things they do, it all still amazes me as much now as it did when I first had Chris. I love how they're all the same yet so different. Life is good! :~D

Anna
http://annamarketing.com/