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.
Helping Children Feel Safe Enough to Sleep: Neurodivergence, Trauma, and Bedtime Routines
Sleep is often viewed as a simple matter of tiredness, but for many neurodivergent children and those who have experienced trauma, it is far more complex. Sensory needs, feelings of safety, predictable routines, and emotional regulation can all play a significant role in helping a child settle and rest. In this article, I share the bedtime strategies our family has discovered through trial and error, and why creating a calm, secure environment before sleep can make all the difference.
The Reality of Life After a Special Guardianship Order
When people think about Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs), they often focus on the court process itself.
What many don’t realise is that once the Special Guardianship Order is granted, the support you’ve relied on throughout the assessment process can suddenly disappear.
That was certainly our experience.
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.
What is a Kinship Carer? Understanding Kinship Care, SGO and CAO
It’s when family or friends step in and essentially stop a child from going into the care system with strangers.
Kinship care means familiarity, love, connection and so much more. It is about keeping a child within their family network, with people they already know, trust and feel safe with.
In simple terms, a kinship carer is someone who cares for a child when their birth parents are unable to, and instead of the child entering foster care, they remain within their extended family or close relationships.
What Steps to Take When an SGO Is Failing: Real Support for Kinship Carers
There was a point where everything felt like it was slipping.
Not in a dramatic, obvious way. It was quieter than that. A slow build of pressure, behaviours escalating, school becoming harder, and home starting to feel less like a place of safety and more like a place of constant firefighting.
We had our Special Guardianship Order. On paper, we had permanence. We had done everything we were supposed to do.
But in reality, we were struggling.
Is It Stimming, OCD, or Anxiety? How I Learned to Tell the Difference as a Parent
For a long time, I thought the hardest part of parenting was learning how to respond in the moment. What I did not expect was how difficult it would be to understand what I was even responding to.
I watched my child repeat movements, phrases, rituals. I watched behaviours ramp up when they were overwhelmed, tired, excited, or under pressure. I watched them disappear into patterns that looked comforting one day and distressing the next. And I kept asking myself the same question, quietly and then out loud.
What Happens After You Get the Passport When You Have a Special Guardianship Order
When the passport finally arrived, I remember holding it in my hands and feeling something close to relief. Not excitement exactly. Relief mixed with exhaustion. If you have ever applied for a passport for a child under a Special Guardianship Order, you will understand why. It is not a simple tick box exercise. It is paperwork layered on top of court orders, parental responsibility, consent, uncertainty, and the constant fear of getting something wrong.
For a brief moment, I thought we were done. Passport sorted. Box ticked. Job finished.
But the truth is, the passport is only the beginning.
When a Child's Birth Parents Leave: Supporting a Child Through Loss and Confusion
When a child's birth parents suddenly leave their life, there are no easy answers. This is my personal story of trying to support my little girl through the confusion, hurt and questions that followed.