Fear

  

Go for it!!

Sometimes

56 sleeps till Christmas

I have been playing catch up this week, or so it feels! I wake up in the morning hit the deck running and don’t seem to stop until I am back in bed at night time , at which point I am so tired I can barely stay awake to watch a TV show.

The hope is, that as we get closer to Christmas and the festive season, things will start wrapping up and we can focus on the good stuff, the fun stuff. My column is due tomorrow this is the final edition of the paper for the year. Also I need to get the roster out for next years Festival so that people can start reserving the date. There is a presentation that needs to be finalised for an annual forum, not to mention everything else, birthdays, anniversary’s, sports break ups, graduation I could go on but my head is spinning thinking about it all.

With only 56 sleeps till Christmas I don’t know whether to be excited so just terrified!!! Am I the only one feeling the pressure I wonder??

Doubt kills more dreams

High School assessment -ACER testing

This weekend Harry had his testing day at the high school he is going to next year. Most high schools do this, it is a way for them to get an idea of each child’s strengths and weaknesses and be able to place them in appropriate grades accordingly.

Unfortunately Harry is the only one going to this high school from his primary school, so it was a very nerve wrecking experience. Out of my three children Harry is the least social, and I won’t deny that I am worried about him making friends and fitting in. I have flashbacks of year 2 when every day was a struggle getting him to school, countless stomach aches, and doctor appointments to tell me what I already knew, he was stressed not happy. Then one day it just clicked, he made friends, great friends that he still has and will hopefully continue to have despite going to a different high school.

Standing in the courtyard waiting for everyone to be ticked off, was very hard, everyone else seemed to know each other, people were standing or sitting in groups laughing and chatting and we stood in the back alone watching nervously. I did spot one of my eldest sons friends mother with her youngest and offered to go across the courtyard to stand with them but Harry did not want to.

Finally just before the boys were split into groups and marched off, a boy approached Harry and started talking to him. It turns out he is also a twin!!! I cannot describe my relief, and what was even more Impressive was that when I went over to say thank you to his mum for sending him over to talk to Harry she assured me that she had not, her son had come over on his own.

Worth fighting for

I know how lucky I am, and how lucky my children are (even if they don’t always see this). We have been blessed with a loving family that support and love us unconditionally.

Unfortunately not everyone is as lucky though. I was reminded of this yet again today as I tended to a little 9 year old girl who was feeling a little overwhelmed and scared as she waited in the waiting room of our health centre for her mother who was meeting with her drug and alcohol counsellor and a representative from Child Protection Services.

Her fear manifested itself in the form of an upset stomach, and she came over asking if I could call her mum because she was not feeling well. It was clear that she was stressing.

Mum came out of the meeting and reassured her that everything was ok, but the little girl was not convinced. As I walked mum back to the counseling room she explained to me that her daughter was worried that child protection would take her away again.

I was heartbroken for this beautiful innocent little girl who had obviously had to deal with more than anyone her age should ever have to deal with.

I hope that mum finds the courage to embark on her journey of recovery for her child’s sake. Fighting addiction is hard but if ever there was something worth fighting for then this is it.

The Condom Challenge

There is a new craze sweeping across Facebook at the moment which you may or may not have heard of. If you have a teenager as I do, you have probably come across this lunacy. I don’t know about you but I am horrified to say the least.

The Condom Challenge is a dare game that involves inserting a clean condom into one’s nostril and snorting it back through the throat to be coughed out of the mouth.

Apparently this challenge has been gaining momentum since 2013 when it first appeared on YouTube.

Aside from being totally gross the risks for potentially choking to death are so great, that I just can’t get my head around why anyone would ever attempt something like this.

It really it a scary world we are living in, our children have enough to deal with without this kind of rubbish. Honestly who comes up this kind of stuff?

The Condom Chalkenge

Stalker mum

I have officially lost my mind. Today I had an important appointment after school so I thought I’d fight my fears and let my twins walk home from school, they have been wanting to do this for a very long time and I have been resisting. It’s not that I don’t trust them (even though Madelyn did accuse me of this), it’s just that we live in a different world now. Every second news report is bad news, we are constantly hearing about children being killed, or abducted, or molested. As a parent my job is protect my children to the best of my ability. I know my mother in law is right when she says we can’t wrap them up in cotton wool, but if I can at least eliminate some of the potential risks then surely that is some thing right?

Anyway I digress. I said yes and even though I was nervous I was at least comforted in the knowledge that they would be walking home with a friend of theirs, so safety in numbers. My appointment however finished early so I decided to pick them up instead. Ofcourse they were not happy and insisted on walking home as agreed. So what did I do? I stalked them ofcourse.

I’m not proud of myself, I just wanted to make sure they were safe. Turns out I would not have made a very good detective after all because the twins spotted my car easily, even though I had my seat all the back and was hiding behind the dashboard.

Worse still a teenager walking behind the twins spotted me too, only problem is she thought I was stalking her, my daughter over heard her telling whoever she was talking to on her mobile phone that there is a strange car stalking her. So the police could very well be on the look out now for a psycho mum driving a little black car.

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone – part 2

Well today I was certainly out of my comfort zone when I opted to drive into the city (CBD) for a meeting, that I would have otherwise taken public transport to.

I have never driven in the city before, I don’t think I have ever had the guts to. I guess the fact that I have had 2 very bad car accidents pretty close to each other has contributed to this fear, It has certainly made me a lot more cautious.

Both times I was very lucky that my children were not in the car with me. Although I was not hurt neither was anyone else thank god my cars were really badly damaged, both had to be written off.

I tend to avoid freeways now and any place really where people have to drive very fast, and I am conscious to allow myself plenty of room whenever doing a right hand turn through oncoming traffic.

But this year is all about pushing myself just that little bit more, so despite the unexpected road detour, the annoying bike riders that like to just pop out before you, here I am in the CBD an hour before my scheduled meeting enjoying a much deserved ice coffee and having some lunch.

Would I do it again? Absolutely! Now that I know I can do it, I will definitely opt to drive in next time as well.

So this living out of my comfort zone thing is working really well, I’ve taken up Zumba which I’m really enjoying and now I’ve conquered my fear of driving in the city. I wonder what will be next?