Tales from the kitchen
Tag: family life
I don't want to get run over by a garbage truck
I don't want to get run over by a garbage truck. My guess is, neither do you. And for this reason, if no other, we need to realise the importance of dinner.
Really.
The other week I was chatting with someone about how daily life happens in her house. She has a son with significant disabilities. In amongst the usual afternoon and evening activities found in a busy household, was dinner. No great surprise there. Except, as this woman explained, her son with disabilities needs to be fed. He is unable to eat his dinner on his own.
I still don't get how...
Parenting's hard, but if I may be bold
There's a lot, 'fore we're parents, we're simply not told.
Like how little juniors, would seem without warning
To wake in the morning and promptly start bawling
There's a lot, 'fore we're parents, we're simply not told.
Like how little juniors, would seem without warning
To wake in the morning and promptly start bawling
And so 'twas our fate, the morn before last
One junior woke up and just gave us a blast
And right in that instant, confirmed all my fears
For an effortless morning, yep- a junior in tears...
One junior woke up and just gave us a blast
And right in that instant, confirmed all my fears
For an effortless morning, yep- a junior in tears...
If you can't beat 'em, cook with 'em
The virtues of eating meals with your children are long heralded. The benefits, we are told, are untold. Everything from lofty educational attainment to absence of delinquency are certain gains.
What they don't mention is that eating with those significantly younger than you, can be quite unpalatable...
Lifelong learning...
Learning, I've come to realise, occurs in stages. Whenever one starts working with new tools, for instance, there is that stage in which you're stretched until your functional knowledge and proficiency catch up to your skill need. Psychologists call this stage "conscious incompetence": a point at which you have at least recognised a deficit in your understanding or skill.
This week I have made some inroads to stemming my incompetence:
Who cares? Carers Week 2016
The week just gone was National Carers Week in Australia. It's a chance to say thank you to those who provide care in all sorts of ways, and to recognise their valuable work. Informal carers save government in this country over $1BILLION each and every week: over $60billion annually. That's a lot of dollars in anyone's language.
Solving the little problems
Big problems are worthy of big thought. They need time and energy to consider and act on them. Little problems should not be time and energy consuming. These, should just be dealt with: spontaneously and with a modicum of fuss. Those particularly adept at problem solving can think about the big problems while solving the little ones. Simultaneously.
Until the other day I thought I was one of those people.
None of us are islands
These three are important to me. I'm their mother, and I look after them. But not every second of the day...
Here is what I have learned
There are others who write far more eloquently than I about travelling. But, while travelling with three junior recipe testers, here is what I have learned recently:
Not a first-class girl after all
The other day I made a shocking discovery. I had always fancied myself as a first-class sort of girl. Someone who would be at home amongst the swank and swarve, the perks that first-class travel brings. Seats that lie flat like a bed, for instance. The ability to move about the cabin at whim.
To my horror, I have realised that I am not at home with those perks. In fact, I'm not sure I ever want to travel first-class again.
Guest blogger: Marjorie Aunos - Becoming a parent with a disability and what dinner means
A few weeks ago I wrote about my friend and colleague, Dr Marjorie Aunos, from the West Montreal Readaptation Centre in Montreal, Canada. Marjorie recently visited Sydney and gave a lecture about her experiences from leading research into parenting with a disability to becoming a parent with a disability herself.