These are my girls, Ainsley and Payton. Sisters. Daughters. Great friends. They love and fight and play and hug and eat and drink and dance and dream and share part of our lives, our home and hearts. They are the reason we wake up and breathe and do – pretty much everything. There was a time when we didn’t know if we could be parents. There was a time I didn’t even know if I wanted to be a parent, if I am being 100 % truthful. I wanted a career – writing was my passion – and many days…
This shopping with kids post was sponsored and I received compensation and product in exchange. Saturday Shopping I spent my Saturday shopping. Oh now before you go getting all jealous, let me just state that we all went shopping. Yes, for whatever reason, we took leave of our senses and headed over to Sears at Masonville Mall in London all together. As a family, shopping. That’s right we went shopping with kids. What Were We Thinking? Yup, big family fun day here at the Schuck house. Winter Coats See, my kids have had crazy growth spurts over the summer and…
No secret that dentistry, planned or unplanned, can leave the average person out of pocket for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars. If you don’t have insurance, what’s a family to do? Luckily DentalPlans has some answers to your dental needs. With plans that start at $79.95 a year, you can help your family save. I am all about the savings here, so this is one service that caught my eye. Plans start at the low price of $79.95 for single patients and $129.95 for families. That’s a good deal less than many dental insurance plans. As a mom of…
Butter tarts are one of my all time favourite treats. We have made these together many times here and every single batch of these quintessentially Canadian treats is an opportunity to experiment. There are so many variations that you can make when it comes to butter tarts. In fact we like our yummy Canadian desserts simple so the flavour shines through with every bite. We’ve dubbed these the best butter tarts on the planet and even writing about them makes me want to go grab the butter and sugar and start baking. Do not scrimp on the filling whatever you…
Does your child worry? Chances are good, if they are preschoolers on up, there are times their little minds won’t turn off the busy actions of the day. Or times their thoughts are racing. Sensitive children, gifted children, children with special needs, perfectionists, or simply children who spend a lot of time thinking. All children at one time or another handle worry, or anxiety. That’s just part of life. These days, worry and anxiety seems to be more prevalent among children than ever before. Healthy adults handle worries and anxieties every day. But most healthy adults have a toolkit of…
With an increasing number of kids who have sensory processing disorder or sensory issues related to brain injury, concussion or autism, there’s a lot of new knowledge about sensory play and sensory activities. We started reading up on sensory play and sensory processing disorder years ago when Ainsley was first diagnosed. Depending on whether your child is sensory seeking or sensory avoiding any one, or all of these may appeal to them. FIVE EASY SENSORY PLAY ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS Fill a sink with warm water and soap suds. Have them wash things. Toys, dolls, dishes.…
My daughter Payton. Both my kids have at one time or another been bullied. One of my children could also easily be perceived as a bully. She is not, but she has special needs and is frequently mishandled, undersupervised and left to handle situations she cannot because of her disability. My heart breaks when I read of kids who have ended their lives because of bullying. This is tragic every time and I can see too easily how a child could feel that there is nothing good in the world when school is not a safe place. I believe bullying…
This is the picture of the day we met our daughter over ten years ago now. People often ask me how the process was and when they hear we adopted domestically they are astonished. I often say: Have you seen our beautiful girls? I could never complain about either one of our adoptions. We got two gorgeous daughters, we got to be parents and we found a great community of friends in the process over the last decade and we have found a passion advocating for other families. Part 3: This is part three of my series in honour of…
A lot of people followed my story of scales in schools. Last Friday I posted about my daughter, 10, in grade five and an insensitive assignment in which a scale was in her class and kids were weighed. My daughter went first. She was picked to go first and comments were made by others about her size and weight. She came home very upset. Anyways part of my weekend was then spent trying to fix that problem and get to the root of what happened. The issue was resolved yesterday morning when the teacher, whom I believe to be a…
Moms are some of the savviest and most creative people I know. If necessity is the mother of all invention as the saying goes, then mothers are also the greatest inventors. Take Lisa Goodman for instance and her protective chair covers. Goodman, the single mother of a young child with autism, was looking for an item on the market that would protect furniture from those little spills children so often make when eating, drinking, crafting. When she couldn’t find what she wanted, she designed the perfect chair covers herself and so began the Oopseat. Lisa sent me a square Oopseat and…