Kid: “Oh, now I understand how space and time are the same thing.”
Same kid, earlier in the day: 60 minute meltdown including self harm and hysterics because a play date had to end.
Tell me again how my parenting is to blame?
Responding to Bullies
Kid has been getting hassled at school for loving bunnies and rainbows and shiny things. We sat him down and discussed options for dealing with bullies.
1. Change.
By accepting that you are different and trying to fit in, the bullies win, and you’re miserable.
2. Tell the bullies to fuck off.
Metaphorically, of course. I wouldn’t condone swearing at School as a good means to an end. But a decent fuck you/fuck off/go fuck yourself requires a healthy dose of self esteem. So we checked.
Me – Do you know who you are?
Kid – Yes
Me – And do you think you are a good person? Are you kind, and clever, and respectful, and funny, and cool?
Kid – Yes
Me – And do you like yourself?
Kid – Yes
And this morning, when dressing for school, he wore the shiniest, rainbowiest outfit he could find, then added a rainbow umbrella, and decried the lack of rainbow glasses to complete the look.
My work here is done. Fuck you bullies.
World Famous in New Zealand
It’s a thing – and for such a small country, this is a pretty big thing. Page 6 of the National paper, talking about a promise by the new government to fund gifted education.
The New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education was contacted for comment, and they were asked to provide a parent who would be willing to comment for a story.
Inigo was happy to be photographed, so I chatted to the journo on the phone for 10 minutes, then we met the photographer in our local park. The online article was published last night, but the photo of us is only in the paper.
Matilda for the second time!
And Tim Minchin was in the audience! Squiddy had an amazing time, but is now inconsolable that he didn’t get to say hello to his hero.
Arguably, exposing a not quite ten year old to the amount of profanity and irreverent humour in Mr Minchin’s oeuvre is questionable parenting, but there it is.
I feel a letter to Tim coming on.
A portrait of the artist
Green sticker = highly commended.
Last day of school holidays
Mark has taken Squid and his bestie to Rainbows End. I think they are having fun.
How to ADHD Tedx Talk
Please, please, please watch this if you can. Even if you’re not a teacher, don’t have a loved one with diagnosed ADHD, or work with someone with it, you can still learn a lot about how an ADHD brain works.
And understanding makes such a difference. Next time you wonder “what is wrong with you”, about someone (or even yourself) consider that brain differences are a possibility. So many more people have ADHD than are diagnosed with it.
If you are smart, or female, or just inattentive (with no hyperactivity), or all three of these things, you’ll be much less likely to be diagnosed. But the impact on your life will still be profound.
We apologise for the interruption of service…
But finally, after a few years of not being able to do much with the blog, we seem to be back in business. Thanks very much to Mark for keeping everything going for the last decade or so, and switching me back to wordpress so that I can get blogging again.
And to Mary, for popping over for dinner last night, and helping me to upload pictures. We now (appear to at least) have the blog back under control.
Next, make it less ugly. Or more ugly, depending on your perspective 😉
Blog test
Taking control from the squirrels
Matilda
Finally we made it! Squiddy is now excited and open to the possibility of it being awesome.
For two weeks he’s been obsessed with Tim Minchin. Many of whose YouTube videos are less child appropriate than you might hope 😂
Disco Knitter 