Easter doesn't get any easier does it?
The other two long school breaks kind of look after themselves;
Christmas is about Christmas so you tailor that around your family's needs including any foster children you have; you decide whether to do the church thing or ignore the religious side, how to do gifts, who to invite round...all that.
Summer is summer. The weather plays a big part,...
Monday, March 28, 2016
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
FOSTER PARENTS MUST ALWAYS TAKE SOMETHING AWAY
Praise the Lord for takeaways.
Looked-after children love them to bits.
All children do, of course, but they have an extra magic for children who come into care.
Maybe the arrival of takeaway food in their real home meant a reduction of tension, a sense of togetherness and the fact that a key need, namely food, was available in abundance.
This is what happened this week;
Our new placement, I'm...
Friday, March 18, 2016
LEARNING HOW TO LEARN
One of the things that makes foster parenting different from normal parenting is the extra effort and expertise that goes into the child's education.
You wouldn't need an Oxford degree to work out that children coming into care are generally behind in their education, but until you see it close up it's difficult to explain how how far behind they can be.
It's not just literacy and numeracy, it's...
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
WHY A FOSTER PARENT MUST NEVER BE COOL
One of the things that's most interesting about fostering, and at the same time most rewarding, is building the right relationship - that is, the one to help each looked-after child.
Most relationships that young people have with adults are well defined, historic. You have parent-child, teacher-pupil, nurse-patient. The exact relationship varies, of course, but everyone is pretty much...
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
THE NOISE OF FOSTERING
Woke up at four this morning, I thought I heard someone on the landing going to the loo. I've been a light sleeper since other people's children started living and therefore sleeping in our house. You're always on alert.
It had been a raucous bedtime last night. Bedtimes are spread over two hours, so there's always someone begging another half hour.
Have you ever heard that riddle "If...