children

Children: Our most valuable natural resource.

The Beginning of the End
Where do I start with this I really don't have any fucking clue? i really dont have any fucking clue. As I sit here and hold my sleeping grandson. I really want to start with him. BUT THIS STORY WAS ALREADY STARTED AND HE KICKED IT. UGH.. His little story is one of those ALL MOST DIDN'T MAKE IT TO THE HOSPITAL. HIS mom was alone in Kansas, I was in North Carolina. Perpectively even his story cannot be told without telling his older sisters story. HER story is tied up in her mother's story.. HER mother's story.. IS TIED INTO MINE.. an MY story WELL lets just say my story is alot of running away from the people tied to me.. BREAKING THE FAMILY CURSE ONCE AND FOR ALL..
By Shades Mckenzie5 years ago in Families
Pandemic Parenting and Virtual School
Pandemic Parenting. Yeah, that’s a thing. “So, have you given up yet?” That’s the question I ask myself in the reflection of my coffee every morning. My answer is always, “If I can taste this coffee, then no.” But deep down, I contemplate a retreat to some remote mountain village where Buddhist monks live.
By Kandice Moore5 years ago in Families
Where Precious Moments are Created
Being outside in nature is the place where I feel most at home. Photographer: DeMario Holley; Henry Doorly Zoo 2010 Whether it's snow, sand, dirt, grass, water, or trees, being in it, touching it, breathing it in helps me to feel at home, cozy, comfortable, calm, and at peace.
By Angelica Stevenson 5 years ago in Families
My long journey to mother hood
If you read my previous story then you know I’ve had 2 very rough and hard pregnancies after I had Madelyn I had her 2 year old sister Emmalynn who was born with only 30% of her skin and then I had Raelyn who was born with anencephaly and only lived 23 days. I’m currently writing Emmalynns story (The miraculous healing of Emmalynn Upchurch)and I already wrote the short version of Raelyns story but here is there big sister Madelyns story I can’t write about her sisters without writing about her it’s just not fair. I wrote this when she was about 5 years old she will be turning 9 here on Feb 4th 1 day before Raelyns passing. This year will be hard but we will get through this as a family! Anyways here is Madelyns birth story.
By Krystalyn Trammel5 years ago in Families
Following My Father: Los Angeles
When I was almost 13 my parents and I moved to Los Angeles from Palo Alto. Our neighborhood in between North Hollywood, Wilshire Boulevard, and Olivera Street, the famous street in the Mexican area of downtown.
By Caroni Lombard5 years ago in Families
Before and After Having a Baby ( Own Experience )
Before and After having my first Baby Day 1 of writing Life before and after having my first baby is quite a life changing and the reason I say this is because every day I do things that normally I would never do.
By Julian Sava5 years ago in Families
Following My Father, Palo Alto, Part Two
Our move to a house right across the street from Jordan Junior High School proved to make for a miserable year for me. Throughout my childhood, it often seemed that we lived in a place I liked a lot, moved to a place I didn't like, moved to a place I liked, and so on. This was not always the case; sometimes there were two places, even three, in a row where I felt unhappy.
By Caroni Lombard5 years ago in Families
Living in Uncertain times with a disability
Scary times! No politics here. No opinions here. Just uncertainty and fear! All I can do is speak from a perspective of someone with autism. These times would be scary to a typical person so to say that it is scary for someone on the spectrum, would not be surprising. Living in a house with four people on the spectrum can be challenging, to say the least, but trying to keep peace in a world that is so challenging is difficult right now. School has been disrupted in our house. Work has been disrupted in our house. Kids that knew and understood their schedules have been thrown into an unpredictable maze with no way out. Teachers are trying to reach kids through a computer screen that are hard to reach in a physical classroom. Kids that need a structured schedule are falling apart. I, for one, thought I could do this. I really did think I could reach my child on the spectrum. I had no idea that she would go out of control and her world would be so turned upside down that she would be unreachable. The only thing that helped, at all, was to put her back into school. Is it safe enough to put her back in a physical classroom? I have no idea, but it comes down to quality of life. I have three kids on the spectrum and myself. Crazy! I know! My sanity became a factor as well. I love teaching my kids at home, but at some point, I had to recognize that if I don't have my space, as well, I was going to lose it. I always say that people with autism need time to be in their autism bubble every single day. We work so hard trying to fit in and act like we are not on the spectrum. It is crucial that we make time for ourselves and get lost in our own passions. I have many passions that I have not been able to do in months. I love to write. I love to read about marvel. I love to blog and work on my photography. I love to work on projects I have at home. I love to play games with my kids. I love to watch binge-worthy shows on Netflix, etc. These are all so important to me. I'm obsessed with antenna tv and trying to find the most channels without paying for them. I love scanner radios. I love taking a bath. I love just having a few minutes to breathe. In these uncertain times, a lot of what allowed me to breathe easier, has been taken away. A few minutes just for me. A few minutes to calm is so crucial to the rest of my day. I have a passion for the news and being informed, but during these uncertain times, that can bring about more anxiety. The world we are living in, is very scary and I'm not even sure what tomorrow is going to look like. Two of my kids are back in school, but one has to be home because he is immunodeficient. We are just trying to make it through until tomorrow. We all are. We are all just trying to find our new normal, but there is really no way to find it when there is NO new normal. Every day is different and there is no place to settle. Imagine being on the spectrum during these times when your entire life depends on structure and certainty. Two of my kids with autism, well, I think I can say all three of them have anxiety issues. One of my kids on the spectrum has generalized anxiety disorder and her behavior has been out of control. Her fears have been dictating her every move and she is stuck in fight or flight. We can't blame her at all because after watching our news, from people taking over the capital to covid, we are all living in uncertain times just trying to find our new normal. I feel like our world is under attack and it is coming from within. I pray for our country and I pray for those on the spectrum that is trying to make sense where there is no making sense.
By Ann Kagarise5 years ago in Families
Following My Father: Palo Alto, Part One
My family left San Francisco at the end of fifth grade. Why? Beats me. Dad still worked at John Blum's firm downtown. We moved many times during the years he worked for him. I've written before about how nonsensical most of our moving seemed. Dad had wanderlust in addition to a tendency toward the geographical cure.
By Caroni Lombard5 years ago in Families
My Favorite Place
There is no speed control on the recliner so I have to gradually lay back into a comfortable position. Until I get to this place everything is a rush, hurry and go from here to there and quickly do that. The sound of the recliner slowly taking pressure off of every aching part of my body is like a lullaby to my thoughts. By the time it reclines completely, my thoughts are at rest and the worries of the day have almost disappeared. I close my eyes just for a few second and I am transformed from a world filled with worry and stress to my own world of no worries. Each element in this space has its own story.
By Skittlez Sneed5 years ago in Families
Obsessed with Cookie Dough
Do you ever smell something and it immediately takes you back in time? It happens to me every time I smell vanilla, any type of vanilla, scentsy burner with vanilla scent, perfume with a hint of vanilla or baking and adding vanilla into the ingredients. All of a sudden it’s like I am 11 again. That was the age I was when my sister and I first tried to make my moms chocolate chip dough cause we loved it so much. We wasted so much ingredients that summer trying to make that dough that our parents thought we were eating it, eating bags and bags of brown sugar, chocolate chips and vanilla. Ok now, we were unsupervised kids but we weren’t animals we weren’t scarfing down brown sugar by the spoonful. In fact if my parents ever went onto the deck attached to their room they would have found all the missing ingredients in a bucket full of dishes , dishes we bought at the thrift store so we didn’t have to do extra dishes because of our new baking hobby. We may have been kids but we were smart, we can try to make the dough and throw all the garbage and dishes from our failed attempts into the bucket we kept on my mom and dads deck. Looking back I don’t know if we were just dumb or if we were smart to put it out on their deck , they never did find it so I suppose we fall into the smart catagory. We even moved out of that house and cleaned everything except for that deck that held our secret failed cookie dough attempts.
By Crazieone5 years ago in Families
Who Cut the Cheese!?!
Once upon a time at an animal circus there was a curious baby skunk. After finishing her lunch the curious baby skunk wanted to find an answer to a question on her mind.
By Emmanuel Pace "Uncle Stinkee"5 years ago in Families