Welcome to my Lifestyle Parenting Blog, where I explore topics related to chronic illnesses such as ME/CFS, chronic pain, and fibromyalgia while embracing a passion for yoga, books, and blogging.
Chronic Illness, Body Image and Online Eating Disorder Support That Fits Real Life
Living with chronic illness changes so much more than just your body.
That sounds obvious, I know, but it is something I do not think people fully understand unless they are living it. When your body stops moving the way it used to, when pain becomes part of the background noise of your day, and when medication starts solving one problem while creating another, it can really affect how you feel about yourself.
My Neurodivergent Teen's Reaction to the Upcoming Social Media Ban
When news of the upcoming social media restrictions for under 16s started appearing in headlines, I did not expect it to have quite such a profound effect on my teenager.
As a parent, I had read about the proposed changes, including restrictions around social media access, AI tools, live streaming for 16 and 17 year olds, and increased controls around online activity. My initial reaction was fairly positive. Anything that helps keep children safer online has to be worth considering.
Why It Is Important That Children Experience Being Bored Often
If you are reading this, you are likely part of the unique and often challenging world of kinship care, special guardianship, or parenting neurodiverse children. You know the daily juggle, the emotional load, and the constant need to be everything to your child all at once. It is a role that requires immense patience, resilience, and love, but it also comes with its own specific set of pressures and anxieties.
Why Neurodiverse Kids Do It: Breaking Rules And Sneaking Explained
So what do you do instead? You have to change how you approach things. You have to stop seeing it as bad behaviour and start seeing it as unmet needs or developmental delay. You have to find consequences that actually make sense to their way of thinking.
Recently I tried something that actually seemed to click. My daughter had been sneaking her phone and staying up for hours and hours. We added it up and realised she had spent eighteen hours during the night that week on her device when she should have been sleeping.
A Different Kind of Brain and the Cost of Forcing Normal
I’m watching Netflix, half watching, half thinking, which is usually how these things go. I put the Eddie Murphy documentary on because I love a good documentary. Eddie Murphy was a big deal in my house when I was growing up. My dad loved him. Not just liked him, loved him. His humour, his energy, the way he filled a room even through a screen. Some of my earliest memories are of my dad laughing at Eddie Murphy movies, properly laughing, the kind that makes you forget everything else for a moment.
Finding Support as an SGO or Kinship Carer
There is a moment that most special guardianship and kinship carers recognise instantly. It is the quiet realisation that life has shifted on its axis. One day you are a grandparent, aunt, uncle, older sibling or family friend. The next you are navigating school runs, trauma responses, social workers, court paperwork and a level of emotional responsibility you never planned for.
How the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) Saved Our SGO Placement
I want to write this because there was a moment where everything we had worked so hard for almost fell apart, and the reason it did not is because of the ASGSF programme. Without it, I am certain our SGO placement would not have survived. This is not exaggeration. This is our lived reality.
Special Guardian Child Not Doing Well in School: What I Did and What Helped
When I first realised my special guardian child was not doing well in school, I felt a mix of worry, guilt, and constant anxiety. I’m a Special Guardian to my little girl, and like many children under special guardianship, school was not a safe or supportive place for her, at least not at first.
Advocating for Your SGO Child: Navigating the Education Systems
As a parent with a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) child, navigating the education system has been a traumatic and overwhelming experience for both myself and my SGO child over the past 7 years. Luckily, we now have an EHCP in place, and she attends a specialist school, thus, things are a much more positive experience for all, and our SGO child is thriving in her new school.