I recently read a post in a parent group that began with "I just want be be understood" . It was written by a Mom who was frustrated and exhausted at going to doctors offices and hospitals and community centres, etc. etc. and being judged for ....parenting the way she needed to parent. I'm curious how many of us have sat in waiting rooms and have had all eyes on us. Other parents, staff members, even other children stare and make comments about either our children's behaviour or what we, as parents, are or are not doing about it. I am going to hazard a guess that most if not all of the parents reading this have felt that judgement. To say it is not a nice feeling is often an und...

As primary care providers, either as parents or caregivers, we often lead with our hearts. UNTIL the decision we are faced with involves us personally. Then the mind chimes in . Too frequently with doubts and limiting beliefs. Learning to care for ourselves with the same amount of confidence and gusto that we give our person. Your personal belief system creates the foundation for your decision making. When your heart and your mind are in sync - the decision is made. No matter how difficult and perhaps painful the process is: when every fibre of your being tells you this is the direction to go - listen! On the other side of pain and discomfort is joy, happiness, and choice. Choose to be t...

Deadlines are given and appointments are made often at much inconvenience to us. We take time off work, disrupt school days and routines, rearrange our and others schedules, interrupt meals, sometimes travel for hours (which deserves a post of its own!), we wait in waiting rooms, endure meltdowns, and grouchy people, bare our souls answering the same questions over and over again jump through several proverbial hoops all to fill out form after form to obtain services for our child/person that we are told they should be receiving. And then we wait…and wait and wait…. We then have to send that paperwork to doctors or social workers, intake workers, disability work...

Everyone has something that they carry with them as they go on living their lives. It is often referred to as “baggage”. Baggage is what remains from the past. The past can be something as far back as our childhood or it can be as close as yesterday. “In our present we are continually creating tomorrows’ past.” Baggage can take any shape or form. Realization of the effects of your own personal baggage may strike at any time or not at all. Your past may, in some way, shape or form, prevent you from moving forward in your life and accomplishing your goals. Baggage is not necessarily something bad. An experience, a memory, a thought, an emotion; It is how an individual chooses to deal with ...

For some it’s all about “Go big or go home!” for others it’s more intimate and personal. There are many reasons to celebrate; birthdays, holidays, graduating, personal milestones, the list is endless. Whatever the reason is that you are celebrating it is tremendously important that you do just that – celebrate! If something has happened in your life that you are proud of, that has made you feel good, celebrate it. Shout it from the roof tops, throw a party, go dancing, sing at the top of your lungs, call all your friends and family, treat yourself to dinner or quietly enjoy the moment by smiling and reminiscing about the journey you took to get there. However you choose to acknowledge the...

The other day my daughter said something to me which really hit home. She said "Mom, sometimes it takes you so long to respond to me. I understand if you're texting but in person it takes you a long time!"Well there it was staring me right in the face. The consequence of not learning how to take care of myself sooner than I had. So I told my daughter what I had now known for some time; I told her that the reason I take so long to answer "is a result of having been under too much stress for too long, kind of like brain damage." Of course I then had to explain that everyone who experiences stress is not going to have the same side effects that I have.I went on to explain that stress in moder...

The weekend arrives and along with it relief. For two days there are no alarm clocks, no lunches to make, no buses to worry about or phone calls to make. Weekends are our hopeful haven from the real world; a chance to catch up on what we, the parents, need or want to do.  Once Friday night arrives a bubble of excitement starts to grow as you think of all of the things that you have planned for the next two days; uninterrupted productivity or complete and total relaxation. Wrong.I know I am not alone in having had the desire to make everything the best it can be for everyone around me. If someone needs something I have completely changed or totally obliterated my plans. There are a to...