Hope that 2010 has found you all well so far. Life in our household has been hectic as usual and the arrival of two new children’s beds caused excitement beyond measure!! I can’t believe how much chaos was created by these beds and how long did they take to put up!! Pleased to say that neither have fallen out so far and although proving a challenge, the ladders have been navigated successfully. It was a bit weird, as prior to the new arrivals, Michael decided that he wanted to have his bedroom painted – the first time since before he was born. It was goodbye to Mr. Elephant and hippo and au revoir to Sippery Sid and co who had adourned his walls for the past eight years. Many parents would have been sad at the obvious symbolic removal of their child’s early years but as John said, we never feel that way. Yes, it is a bit poignant that we move on, but we are just so grateful that either of our children are able to move onto the next stage at all. The fact that Michael wanted a ‘big boy room’ was fantastic and a real indicator that our little boy was growing up. Bless!
On a completely different note, Michael has had a bit of a rough time at school the last week or so, being physically and verbally attacked by another pupil. All sorted now – school have been really supportive and it was not the other students fault directly as the incidents arose as a result of his own particular additional needs. It did make me think though as to whether this amounted to bullying or not? We hear so much about our children getting a hard time in mainstream school and very little about any confrontations in Special School environments. The end result was that Michael was getting bullied but the intent was not there as Michael was just the victim of another child’s obsessive behaviour. Does that make it any less of an ‘offence’? When is bullying not bullying or is it always so? If a child is attacked because the perpetrator cannot cognitively reason what they are doing does that make the act any less important and excusable? The end result is the same and  we were faced at home with a scared child who did not want to go to school but conversely, I am sure that the child involved had no clue as to the anxiety he was causing. An interesting one I think. Any thoughts gratefully received!
Anyway, we at Special Families wish everyone out there a safe and healthy 2010. We are in the process of redesigning this site and would be grateful for any feedback from you as to how we can make the site better and perhaps a bit more user friendly. Please go to the forum to leave your thoughts.