Change Ready or Not

freeimages.com It's the beginning of a new academic year. While we all will react differently to that news we share a  common theme. It's called distress. Now my distress level and yours are going to be at different levels but distressed we will be. Managing it will be the key. My mother said there are many ways to skin a cat and the same is true of how you deal with distress.   Some parents will be feel  anxious as their children  start school for the first time or move from primary to secondary school  Some parents exhale  a huge sigh of relief  thankful that they no longer  have to provide activities for them to do to fill their day nor empty their purse/wallet to keep them entertained.  I think i would have to say that I'm glad my purse is shut but as one door closes another will open. Some parents will be stuffing huge levels of distress  at the thought of another year of constantly being called into the school to listen to complaints about their child's be

pininterest.com   Last night I was busy having a really good time at L's  birthday celebration. I found myself speaking to one of her friends and we really hit it off.  Before you get any ideas she and I found we had a lot in  common and talked for ages.  I know I should have been drinking more than talking but believe me I was doing both: talking and drinking.  The more I drank the more talking that happened. Anyway we talked about so many things but what resonated with me was this theme. The idea that we know  when we've chosen the wrong person to be involved with.  We really do know. All we have to do is listen to ourselves. What we tend to do is ignore that gut feeling and instead think that we can change whoever we happen to be   involved with. All they need is for us to show them. Yeah right. In fact if we had listened to ourselves in the first place we might have prevented ourselves from learning the lessons that we eventually find ourselves experiencing.  In h

Balance@freeimages.com Grammar schools equate to class and money. Neither of which I possess in great quantity. A  comprehensive school system might allow me the option of taking these out of the equation and looking at accessing quality education that works to make the best of us all. Education is not for the so called elite. It is for ALL. Allowing my  children to develop  their true potential is all I want as a mother. So how can this be achieved?  I think if  I look back most of my work experience has been about getting involved and trying to stem the fall out for children who have had poor experiences in their education. But I  realised that some of my dreams may have been were too big for the places I have worked. It seems you need a big voice or is it really all about connected friends? I became involved in school governance and developed a strategic perspective but realised politics has serious impact that filters down  to the class room. Did I have to become more  pol

www.freeimage.com I put a ban on the iPad, iPod and social media in my home. My kids can't use them until the weekend.  Now when I started this little experiment I wanted to see how things would go. I've got to be honest. We lasted about two weeks! Lol.  I mean I noted things for about two weeks and them slowly we adjusted our habit. I noticed that we interacted more with each other. I guess that's what happens to  trapped animals.   As I have mentioned in one of my previous blogs I have been feeling concerned that humans are losing it. What are we losing?  The ability to connect with ourselves and each other other. So you shouldn't be surprised that I try to make sure that my family tap into each other and that we experience connecting with each other whenever possible. Week one without the contraptions  and I noticed  that both my children slept far more than I think they realised. This either demonstrated that they were far more tired than they realised  OR