Thursday 18 September 2014

97 Sleeps to Christmas!!

I had really hoped I would avoid knowing how many sleeps there are before Christmas until we were much closer to December. Unfortunately, I have not been so lucky and our youngest son is already asking for a countdown chart, which I have refused to do until our other son celebrates his birthday in November.  I also don't want to add to the anxiety of our youngest son who is not a big fan of Christmas and the more he thinks about it, the worse he anxiety develops.  

He is already asking if he has to take part in the Christmas Play at school, as he does not like being the centre of attention and standing up in front of people.  Even going into the shops will start to prove a problem, as there are Christmas items creeping into the aisles.  

This week's question has been why does Father Christmas have presents in his sleigh as he should have money instead, as you don't need to wrap it up.  This is due to our youngest son not liking his presents wrapped up.  I can see the logic in his thinking, as it suits the way he feels about Christmas, but our other children are not so happy as they want presents!!  

It could be a rocky few weeks getting to Christmas with lots of tantrums, meltdowns and sensory overload, but fingers crossed the subject will not arise again until we get to at least 50 sleeps.  I can live in hope anyway!!






Disappearing Cellotape!!

We can always tell that our youngest son is stressed when our cellotape disappears. He spent last night wrapping a whole roll of cellotape around a scrunched up piece of paper. He finds it to be a great way to calm down and it is good that at the age of six he is developing strategies to alleviate his anxieties. It also means I need to make a trip to Poundland and stock up on cellotape as I guarantee that when I need it there will be none in sight!!

Thursday 11 September 2014

Homework Stresses


It's week two of returning to school after the summer holidays and the stress is starting to show. Last week I was surprised as to how calm our daughter was about entering Year 7. It seemed too good to be true and now the bubble seems to have burst with huge meltdowns occurring each night and refusal to go to bed until late. Homework is the root of the problem as our daughter is now getting two pieces every night. The work is well within her capability but she struggles with prioritising which one should be done first and then tries to do them all at the same time, which results in nothing getting done.

We appear to have reached a compromise and I have got her to write each subject on the blackboard in her room with the date the homework is due next to it. I'm hoping that now she can see it visually in one place she can work out which subject needs to be handed in first and can concentrate on that.  We will see how this plan goes over the next week or so.  If it doesn't work, I'll have to think of another strategy.  We will get there in the end though!




Monday 1 September 2014

End of the Holidays

The summer holidays seem to have whizzed by far too quickly again and tomorrow the new school year begins.  It’s going to be a tough week in our household with changes for all three kids.

Our daughter begins Year 7 and their daily structure has changed with five one hour long lessons, rather than six 50 minute ones and break and lunch time are now later.  She also has to get used to the fact that one of her brothers is joining her at school.  Their paths shouldn’t cross too much apart from when I drop them off and pick them up each day, but it is an added stress for her to deal with.  She likes to keep home and school life very separate and when they were both at lower school, teachers remarked that you wouldn’t have known they were siblings, as our daughter avoided her brother with the widest berth possible!!

Our eldest son begins his journey in Middle School and although he comes across as the most confident of the three children, he is nervous about starting somewhere new.  He will soon find his feet though and he’s lucky to have two close friends with him in his new class that he has known since nursery school.

Our youngest son starts Year 2 tomorrow and has the hardest task as he has a new teacher, new 1:1, two new TAS who work in the classroom and a new dinner lady to get used to.  Plus he is upset that his brother will no longer be around at school – they used to play at lunch time and break and were often seen to give each other a hug or a beaming smile to one another.  It is such a contrast to the relationship our daughter has with our eldest son at school.

Hopefully, all three children will soon settle into their new routines.  If I expect the worst this week, it can only get better!!  Good luck to all of you out there who will go through similar experiences this week.