Thats me and mine!

this is a picture of my son and I. It as taken for our first Christmas in Turkey 06! Now that was a great day. My son loves to dig (thats his stress relief!) so when it got too much off he would hop from our meal and dig on the beach with other children.

He's a great kid and helps me be grounded.

Aspergers helpful book

Well I have been asked a few times for some good books on the subject of Aspergers, really with the view to helping us mums and the child. A great book I have found easy to read (not full of medical terms!) is “Parenting your Aspergers child” by Alan Sohn and Cathy Grayson.
It’s a book that walks you through diagnosis. Gives you insight into Aspergers from what the child may be going through, to helpful advice on who to see to help your child. This book helps you see the complexity of Aspergers. Allows you to help some of the professionals ( teachers, doctors) to have better understanding of this complexed condition.
Order today through our web site www.expatsavings.eu Click on “Holiday essentials, on the top of that page is Waterstone, click then type in the name of book and order. When you have the list up there are a few other books there for you to consider. Hope that helps.
I will in a few days pop up some books that help siblings and friends of your child! I found these helped my daughter a lot and we also found them good for her friends to have better understanding of our home and family. They have also help the “sitter”! We have to help not only the child but all the people around the child.

Kids and the net!

So the holidays are coming! You know that some of you out there are allowing children to use the net but how safe is it? What do they use? While not wising to ruin their fun how can you see what is safe?
Some tips I use are: Check it out! Look at what they are using. Sit with them and see if that site is ok. Book mark the ones that are fine. Most site that are games have age restrictions for a reason!
Teach your child that they should log out if in doubt! Talk about what they do on line. A lot of parents don't and so we get lost in what they are doing! Make an agreement, time on line, what they can do and then stick to it. If possible have the computer in a part of the house that is not too private, that way they are not tempted off the "safe" sites and you can check more easily. Chat about what they are doing, keep the communication open. Once at the beginning of the holidays is not enough. Report miss use by others to the Internet service provider. We would not allow our children to wander in adult only areas of our city's or visit pedophiles! So come on a little work in this field goes a long way. Keep it safe for your child, visit sites they have used ( you only have to look at the history bar) Teach them safety on the net. Then you and the child can see some wonderful thing on line.

Small, free things that help with holiday time!

Well like most parents the thought of the holidays brings good and bad. The bad can be the sorting out the child care for the holidays, working while your children are home. The extra bills of day trips, treats, holidays.
So here is a few tips that can really help. Check with friends if you can share the child care, that way you have no extra bills for child care. The children then have a friend over to play on that day or they are at a friends house for some days.
Do a "swap" with friends on videos, DVDs, games and toys. That way you save money and the children play, watch new to them things. No cost for you either! Please help each other by writing down what you have borrowed and when it has to be returned!
Plan for a few trips out that are free or next to no cost. Check your library for reading days specials, see if the local museum has special days for children in the holiday. Get a group of you to do a "Teddy Bear's picnic" in a local park. All these things can be cheap and great fun.
Ask around if any of you have a talent, face painting, cooking, story telling these offer group fun and lovely stops in the long holiday.
So plan a little helps. Talk to others in the same situation you will be happy with what can happen.

Planing to help your child!

Planing is the key to helping your child with change. Well I say that but it does boil down to having the time to do this, life often throws changes at short notice!
Things that help can be a simple day counter for the child to tick off as the count down. I have found rather than hide the fact that the doctors or dentist visit is coming up (which my child hates!) we have it on the planner and just don't get into a decision on the subject. We except that the appointment is there and that they are not looking forward to it. You see thats life we all have things we don't want to do. I have found that far from it building up to big upsets its put the "problem" into size! Way worse was the way that I used to drop it in on the morning of the appointment, then all hell would break lose. An other way I use this is the count down to a holiday with paper next to the count down to allow picture or words of the things that they need / want to take. This has worked really well and given my child the freedom to not worry that they haven't packed some thing that is impotent to them. Hope that help.