I love to create. In particular, I adore scrapbooking. It's an activity guaranteed to make time, worries and cares disappear into a vortex. Covered in ink, glue and paint and surrounded by a menage of paper, fabric, chipboard, ribbons and embellishments I was in heaven.
Then it went pear shaped. The scrapbooking world I loved so much became less about sharing and more about competition, putting others down and outdoing each other. It tainted the whole create process for me. I took a huge step back, looked at it and decided I didn't want to be a part of all that.
I took some time off creating. I dabbled in some card making though and a little teaching with friends but I mostly ignored it.
I've found my groove again. I discovered some websites that celebrate all scrapbookers and all styles. I found that there were scrapbookers out there who, like me, weren't into competition and outdoing others. They were happy to share techniques, bare their souls and open themselves willingly so that they might share their art and receive in return.
I'm scrapboooking again and thoroughly enjoying it. It's time to get the camera out, revisit my enjoyment of photography and get scrapping.
You can see my new creations at: Raptural Reveries
Tuesday 15 May 2012
Mothers Day
Mothers Day is about more than just being a mother. It's about being with and enjoying your family. I had the most delightful, enjoyable day.
It wasn't that a delicious breakfast was cooked for me.
It wasn't the gorgeous gifts chosen so lovingly from the Mothers Day Stall at school.
It wasn't the fabulous book about simple living obviously chosen with much thought by my husband.
It wasn't the board games we played.
It wasn't wandering around the markets in the sublime Autumn sunshine.
It wasn't the scrumptious Indian food and Moet and Chandon champagne for dinner.
It was that I experienced all these moments with my family. All of us. Together. Enjoying each others company. Laughing, interacting, playing and loving.
THAT is what Mothers Day is all about. ♥
It wasn't that a delicious breakfast was cooked for me.
It wasn't the gorgeous gifts chosen so lovingly from the Mothers Day Stall at school.
It wasn't the fabulous book about simple living obviously chosen with much thought by my husband.
It wasn't the board games we played.
It wasn't wandering around the markets in the sublime Autumn sunshine.
It wasn't the scrumptious Indian food and Moet and Chandon champagne for dinner.
It was that I experienced all these moments with my family. All of us. Together. Enjoying each others company. Laughing, interacting, playing and loving.
THAT is what Mothers Day is all about. ♥
Monday 6 February 2012
Perseverance, Believing In Yourself and Fighting For Your Kids Because They Don't Have A Voice In Our Society.
To save you the long, drawn out saga I'm going to try and restrain myself and keep this brief. Wish me luck!
Sept 2010:
One school morning, not for the first time, our then 7 year old daughter was curled up in foetal position on our bedroom floor sobbing and begging me not to make her go to school. This is not normal behaviour for our girl who loves to learn, read, write and socialise. For this to be happening again sent alarm bells ringing in my head.
I had noticed a few other things too. She had started to chew her fingernails. Her usual thumb-sucking when tired was now almost constant. She was breaking off bits of her hair. And she had developed a nervous, long eye blinking. I'd also noticed that the eye blinking had disappeared during the 2 week school holidays and returned after resuming the new school term.
So I talked to her. "Tell me why. Tell me what happens at school."
It's really noisy. The teacher has to yell. Other kids interrupt the class all the time. I can't get my work done. The teacher says, "No more questions. Hands down.", and I don't get an answer to my questions.
I want to say here that I spent a lot of time in the classroom and I knew that what she was talking about did in fact happen. After spending a hour helping out in the room I was glad to escape it.
So she had a day at home and then returned to school. At the end of the week, after school had been let out a few parents were gathered chatting when a student from her class threw a handful of bark chips into her face. A lot went in her mouth. She was understanding upset and he stood and laughed at her. This was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. The culmination of a whole lot of little things that make a crappy everyday into an "I can't take it anymore" day.
At that point I promised her that she would never have to go back to that class. And I kept that promise.
So we explored our options. We looked at other local State Schools. We found them mostly overcrowded, with room for one child but not the other. One of the Principals suggested we go back to the school Principal where the kids were currently enrolled and try to sort out the problem. Ask for counselling and ask for a meeting with the teacher and the Principal.
So we did that. We submitted a detailed letter with out concerns and requests and organised a meeting with the Principal. What ensued was disheartening. To say the least. The Principal asserted that the class in question was a "normal" class. He refused our request for guidance counselling to assist our daughter. He insisted that changing schools was playing our "trump card" and presented an action plan to ease our daughter back into the classroom. In other words he discounted all our concerns and had a preconceived plan for us to follow. Only problem was the plan was built on the flawed foundation that nothing was wrong with the classroom. The attitude that he presented to us was that our daughter was manipulating us to get out of going to school.
At this point I feel it's important to say that I believe his assessment of the situation was completely, totally incorrect. I know my children and I stood by my convictions that something is wrong in the classroom.
Our son had a history of being bullied at the school so we pulled both our kids out of the school and embarked on Distance Education for the last term of the school year. Which meant an awful lot of work for me, being the at home parent supervising lessons and organising everyone. There were a lot of benefits though. I could see where our son has missed some basics along the way and could work with him and his teacher to catch him up. The kids discovered that I actually have a pretty good knowledge of the world. All our work was done between 8am and midday and the rest of the day was free time.
The problem was that although we went to the museum and other outings with home based families, the kids wanted to experience more and missed having other kids to play. So we again investigated our options and set up a meeting with the Principal of a local Catholic school. Which irked me because I'm not religious at all. But the kids were accepted and to date it is one of the most positive decisions we made for our children.
The very first week of school our son said, "We did the right thing."
Some of the kids observations:
There are no bullies.
The teachers listen to us, even if another teacher comes up to them to ask a question.
Everyone smiles.
There's so many interesting things to do.
After an initial few weeks of settling back into a school routine our daughter has bloomed into a confident, happy child. She learning so much, has been accelerated in her learning, has some great friends, has lost all her nervous habits (except for the nail biting) and enjoys going to school.
The only complaint I've received about the school is that they have to say a prayer each morning.
I figured if saying a prayer is the biggest issue you have at school, it's a pretty good school.
Don't give up on your kids. Don't discount their unhappiness. Keep trying to find a workable solution. Don't take on board what other people say when they don't know your child.
Our WHOLE FAMILY is less stressed because the kids are happy. I feel confident that I can drop my kids at school and they will be cared for. They feel respected and they feel safe. That's all I ask for.
Sept 2010:
One school morning, not for the first time, our then 7 year old daughter was curled up in foetal position on our bedroom floor sobbing and begging me not to make her go to school. This is not normal behaviour for our girl who loves to learn, read, write and socialise. For this to be happening again sent alarm bells ringing in my head.
I had noticed a few other things too. She had started to chew her fingernails. Her usual thumb-sucking when tired was now almost constant. She was breaking off bits of her hair. And she had developed a nervous, long eye blinking. I'd also noticed that the eye blinking had disappeared during the 2 week school holidays and returned after resuming the new school term.
So I talked to her. "Tell me why. Tell me what happens at school."
It's really noisy. The teacher has to yell. Other kids interrupt the class all the time. I can't get my work done. The teacher says, "No more questions. Hands down.", and I don't get an answer to my questions.
I want to say here that I spent a lot of time in the classroom and I knew that what she was talking about did in fact happen. After spending a hour helping out in the room I was glad to escape it.
So she had a day at home and then returned to school. At the end of the week, after school had been let out a few parents were gathered chatting when a student from her class threw a handful of bark chips into her face. A lot went in her mouth. She was understanding upset and he stood and laughed at her. This was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. The culmination of a whole lot of little things that make a crappy everyday into an "I can't take it anymore" day.
At that point I promised her that she would never have to go back to that class. And I kept that promise.
So we explored our options. We looked at other local State Schools. We found them mostly overcrowded, with room for one child but not the other. One of the Principals suggested we go back to the school Principal where the kids were currently enrolled and try to sort out the problem. Ask for counselling and ask for a meeting with the teacher and the Principal.
So we did that. We submitted a detailed letter with out concerns and requests and organised a meeting with the Principal. What ensued was disheartening. To say the least. The Principal asserted that the class in question was a "normal" class. He refused our request for guidance counselling to assist our daughter. He insisted that changing schools was playing our "trump card" and presented an action plan to ease our daughter back into the classroom. In other words he discounted all our concerns and had a preconceived plan for us to follow. Only problem was the plan was built on the flawed foundation that nothing was wrong with the classroom. The attitude that he presented to us was that our daughter was manipulating us to get out of going to school.
At this point I feel it's important to say that I believe his assessment of the situation was completely, totally incorrect. I know my children and I stood by my convictions that something is wrong in the classroom.
Our son had a history of being bullied at the school so we pulled both our kids out of the school and embarked on Distance Education for the last term of the school year. Which meant an awful lot of work for me, being the at home parent supervising lessons and organising everyone. There were a lot of benefits though. I could see where our son has missed some basics along the way and could work with him and his teacher to catch him up. The kids discovered that I actually have a pretty good knowledge of the world. All our work was done between 8am and midday and the rest of the day was free time.
The problem was that although we went to the museum and other outings with home based families, the kids wanted to experience more and missed having other kids to play. So we again investigated our options and set up a meeting with the Principal of a local Catholic school. Which irked me because I'm not religious at all. But the kids were accepted and to date it is one of the most positive decisions we made for our children.
The very first week of school our son said, "We did the right thing."
Some of the kids observations:
There are no bullies.
The teachers listen to us, even if another teacher comes up to them to ask a question.
Everyone smiles.
There's so many interesting things to do.
After an initial few weeks of settling back into a school routine our daughter has bloomed into a confident, happy child. She learning so much, has been accelerated in her learning, has some great friends, has lost all her nervous habits (except for the nail biting) and enjoys going to school.
The only complaint I've received about the school is that they have to say a prayer each morning.
I figured if saying a prayer is the biggest issue you have at school, it's a pretty good school.
Don't give up on your kids. Don't discount their unhappiness. Keep trying to find a workable solution. Don't take on board what other people say when they don't know your child.
Our WHOLE FAMILY is less stressed because the kids are happy. I feel confident that I can drop my kids at school and they will be cared for. They feel respected and they feel safe. That's all I ask for.
Powerful Vs Empowered
Gaining something someone else covets can give a sense of power. That sense of power can only be held for as long as someone else covets whatever it is you have. Therefore it is not empowering. It is transient. Maintaining that perceived power means ensuring that other people covet whatever it is you have. If they dont, that perceived power is lost. Therefore it was never empowering.
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