I was listening to a podcast about something unrelated to parenting, or school, or any of the things that I usually talk about. The guest was talking about his experiences leaving a religion where the leaders were abusive. He raised the alarm as a teenager, thinking that others would act to protect young people.
Love this! I totally agree with you. When I got a call from my son’s ’attendance officer’ (I can’t believe someone has this job!) she said that his attendance needs to be better, I think she thought she was going to get one of those mums that nods and agrees and apologised, but instead she got me who told her that when my son needs a day off for being poorly or overwhelmed emotionally he will have a day off and that’s the end of the conversation. The attendance rules are all for OFSTED and they don’t ever look at the bigger picture as to why so many kids as are absent from school. If it was less rigid, rule-based and more nurturing then maybe the kids would want to go in every day happy. The government has a lot to answer for. Thanks for writing this and raising awareness xx
Yes we see how society treat whistleblowers - it feels like it's the same dynamic.. if you are different there is something wrong with you.. whereas I and the neurodiverse would argue, as well as indigenous cultures and Japanese culture, difference and neurodiversity is something to be recognised - these are the 'healers'
That's so beautifully said! And if you defend your child and try to point the problems the school has, they say you're spoiling him and he shouldn't be so sensitive. I'm much grateful for those days are now from the past.
We regularly intercede with the school on behalf of our son. For example, his PE teacher had my son’s class running intense sprints and my son coughed so much afterwards there was some blood. I wrote a note excusing him from any more sprinting, spoke to the school and teacher about how “pushing through the pain” doesn’t work for our son (or most people). We explained to our son that exercise should be fun and something you build over time, and now we’re looking for ways to get his heart rate up and improve his endurance without all the pain, like doing mountain biking. Both my husband and I have had to proselytise about this way of doing this repeatedly.
This where having a chronic illness comes in super handy, because I had to learn the hard way that I was sick not because I was flawed, or not trying hard enough, but because things around me were broken and hurting me. Now I spend a lot of my time fixing those problems in my life and my mission in life is to help others have those things fixed too.
Like you say, it’s not our children (or us) that are the problems, it’s the dysfunctional systems we’re forced to live in. Love to all the whistleblowers and Cassandras out there!
Love this! I totally agree with you. When I got a call from my son’s ’attendance officer’ (I can’t believe someone has this job!) she said that his attendance needs to be better, I think she thought she was going to get one of those mums that nods and agrees and apologised, but instead she got me who told her that when my son needs a day off for being poorly or overwhelmed emotionally he will have a day off and that’s the end of the conversation. The attendance rules are all for OFSTED and they don’t ever look at the bigger picture as to why so many kids as are absent from school. If it was less rigid, rule-based and more nurturing then maybe the kids would want to go in every day happy. The government has a lot to answer for. Thanks for writing this and raising awareness xx
Yes we see how society treat whistleblowers - it feels like it's the same dynamic.. if you are different there is something wrong with you.. whereas I and the neurodiverse would argue, as well as indigenous cultures and Japanese culture, difference and neurodiversity is something to be recognised - these are the 'healers'
That's so beautifully said! And if you defend your child and try to point the problems the school has, they say you're spoiling him and he shouldn't be so sensitive. I'm much grateful for those days are now from the past.
We regularly intercede with the school on behalf of our son. For example, his PE teacher had my son’s class running intense sprints and my son coughed so much afterwards there was some blood. I wrote a note excusing him from any more sprinting, spoke to the school and teacher about how “pushing through the pain” doesn’t work for our son (or most people). We explained to our son that exercise should be fun and something you build over time, and now we’re looking for ways to get his heart rate up and improve his endurance without all the pain, like doing mountain biking. Both my husband and I have had to proselytise about this way of doing this repeatedly.
This where having a chronic illness comes in super handy, because I had to learn the hard way that I was sick not because I was flawed, or not trying hard enough, but because things around me were broken and hurting me. Now I spend a lot of my time fixing those problems in my life and my mission in life is to help others have those things fixed too.
Like you say, it’s not our children (or us) that are the problems, it’s the dysfunctional systems we’re forced to live in. Love to all the whistleblowers and Cassandras out there!