Bag of Tricks

Hi!

Wow.  Okay.  This week kind of flew by.

I am the deputy clerk of Grant Township, and we recently held an election.  Not sure if you've heard of one of those, but I have been keeping track of absentee ballots for months and helping people vote on November 3rd.   Maybe you voted in your own precinct.  Good for you!

Anyway, for my excuse, I had some post-partum exhaustion after that.  Whew!  Glad that's over on my end!  

I hope...

Other than that, nobody has sent me their story yet, so I will share a super happy one of mine.

Did I tell you that Brady P. found an amazingly wonderful young lady to be his aide/mentor/magician (whatever you want to call her) at the school???

Yes!  He did!

After I was going to ship us to Calumet, she magically appeared. And she is perfect.

Here is why.

She gets to his level, sees what he is doing and what he wants to do, and steers him to do what she needs him to do from there.  Joyfully.

BINGO!

Did I not just talk about that?

I have already seen great improvements in his penmanship, acquiescence to do math, potty training, overall studiousness and ability to stay on task.

Those are all great, right?  I mean, that's the point of school.

But here's where I see magic.

He is not exhausted when he comes home.  He is not resistant.  He is still full of joy.

Even though his is working harder at his desk and getting more done, he is not so tired.

What does that show me?  He is enjoying himself.  He is flowing freely throughout the day and learning and accomplishing as he goes.

I also saw this improve when my own methods changed with him.  We both have more energy!

Do you see what I'm saying?

Stress and resistance, whether it be a person at work or a student at school, drain a person.  It doesn't even mean it's anybody's fault.  Sometimes the issue is not always noticed, and therefore it is never addressed.

Even if you try to work on a home project and find yourself constantly troubleshooting, you will be more tired than if your project went smoothly.  Your productivity (the end product) is the same, but the amount of energy it took to get there is different.

See the parallels?  

Now, Braeden's job at school is a bit different than the other kids because he doesn't fall in line as easily.  He needs a helper for pretty much everything.  But when that helper comes with a bag of tools and tricks to meet him at his level and get him to escalate to the realm of the other kids, that is magic.

He does not resist, and he is not stressed out.  He is praised and respected.  He is assisted and adored.  Plus, his productivity goes up, so he has more to be proud of.

His new aide has lofty goals for him, and she knows how to help him reach them.  It is so beautiful, it makes my heart burst out of my chest and tears well in my eyes.

I am so grateful it worked out this way.  I just see so much expansion and so many possibilities for him.  Not that I didn't think he was on a good path before, but this certainly gives him a turbo boost!

And we get to stay home in our little town.

For that, also, I am grateful.

B's school picture 2020

In retrospect, I should have given him a haircut before picture day!