Category - parenting

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Visit Us At Our New Website—averybrightlife.com
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Kids Learning To Play Again: A Quarantine Positive
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When Your Child’s Speech Delay Gets Worse
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When People Stare At My Child Who Has Special Needs
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When A Stranger Has No Social Filter…

Visit Us At Our New Website—averybrightlife.com

Twelve years and so many memories later, it’s time to say adios to Forever in Mom Genes. I mean, she’s not technically leaving. I am. This website, and her content, will remain here in her little corner of internet. Well, until I forget to renew the domain name and she slips away into the abyss of cyber space. I’m not going far though. You can find me…AND my daughter Avery over at aVERYbrightlife.com. The stories here have become predominantly Avery’s—her life, her interests, her perspective. This amazing girl is older now and has expressed an interest in telling her stories, in her voice. So come visit us—on the new website, the blog, and the brand new podcast! Thanks for reading, for sharing and for all the love and support. We hope to see you soon! xoxo Lisa and Avery

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Kids Learning To Play Again: A Quarantine Positive

I still can’t believe this is happening. It’s like we’re living out a Netflix series. I’ve shared a bit about my personal struggles with the stress and my OMG PTSD, and so many have reached out to tell me I’m not freaking out alone. Thanks for that.  This situation is disarming with obvious negatives.  But, during this scary pandemic, there are some unexpected positives. Here’s one.  Kids are kicking it old school and it’s refreshing. It feels like some kind of childhood reset. Kids are learning to play again—they’re imagining, crafting, and pretending. Not all day, every day. Let’s be real. My kids have spent way more time online than I care to admit. For e-learning of course, but also for fluffy entertainment. When I’m working and need to concentrate, my daughter is usually on a device. Sometimes she’s doing schoolwork. Sometimes she’s on a chat app talking to a friend. Sometimes she’s watching Ninja Kids TV (her current obsession) on You Tube. Even screenagers are starting to say enough is enough and have found other ways to entertain themselves… offline. OFFLINE—the mysterious place where we GenXers used to roam, free-range style, until the streetlights turned on. My son picked up his[…]

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When Your Child’s Speech Delay Gets Worse

We started learning American Sign Language as soon as we found out about our daughter’s genetic disorder—one that is almost always associated with severe speech issues. We relied on a variety of ASL resources, but a favourite (and the most fun) was a PBS show called Signing Time. A friend gave us the DVD set which we watched a hundred times. It’s no longer on television, but you can find it on You Tube.  As Avery started verbally saying words, and eventually longer more complicated sentences, sign language went to the wayside. She was talking with intelligible words and it was the sweetest sound.  Avery was eventually formally diagnosed with a profound speech delay. We weren’t surprised, but we were hopeful that with maturity and hard work, her speech would improve. And it did. For a little while.  Since then her speech has declined even more. Especially in the past few months. I tend to panic when I don’t know why things are happening. And for no clear reason.  The ideas are there—she knows what she wants to say and she wants to say it, but she struggles to get the words out. Like, really struggles. It’s hard to watch. Harder still, for me at[…]

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When People Stare At My Child Who Has Special Needs

  When strangers stare at my daughter I feel embarrassed, angry, defensive, indignant. I feel all the feelings in no particular order.  Sometimes I make direct eye contact with the starer. Sometimes I call them on it. Sometimes I don’t.  It’s emotional for us when people turn to look at our kids. And when their stares linger, it’s hard to handle.    But I try to remind myself that different draws attention. It’s human nature to be curious. People aren’t generally cruel. They’re just trying to figure it out.  So last week when my son’s gaze fell upon a girl with Down Syndrome and his glance lasted a few seconds too long, and was perceived as a stare, I understand why her mother glared at him.  He looked upset after swim practice. Not only were his eyes stinging from the chlorine, he was feeling the sting of guilt because he’d upset the mother of a girl in his class.  He explained that when he got out of the pool he noticed a girl about Avery’s age standing on the pool deck waiting for her sister. He spotted a school crest on her shirt and he was trying to get a better[…]

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When A Stranger Has No Social Filter…

When it comes to social graces, some people completely missed the boat. Were they born without a filter or did something happen to make them that way? I have no answers here, but I do have a story.  A few months ago I was at the grocery store with my daughter and the cashier criticized my parenting. No qualms, no mercy, she flat out tried and convicted me without knowing a thing about me or my daughter. You can read about how enjoyable that was HERE.  Turns out, this was the same cashier who a few years earlier (she’s a lifer at our local grocery store… lucky, lucky us) berated my friend in front of a long line of customers. She made a snap judgement about her parenting (she is a wonderful, loving parent by the way), and called her out for being what she deemed “a negligent parent.”  Seriously lady?! a) Who do you think you are? b) You had no idea what this mother was dealing with that day. c) Ever heard of customer service? d) If you don’t have any nice to say, zip it. e) Your conveyer belt is always sticky.  Yesterday my sister in law and[…]

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