Anxiety can be a debilitating emotional experience. It has the ability to take a pleasant moment and turn it into a disaster with all of the “what if’s” that could happen.  Anxiety lies and it creates a sense of danger or incredible discomfort in daily life that is exhausting and can be debilitating and limiting.… Continue reading Anxiety in Children: Accommodating Your Anxious Child in School and at Home

I did not grow up on a farm. But I spent all my summers on one in rural Oklahoma. My grandparents turned their plot of red dirt into acres of corn and okra and tomatoes. The garden was sacred. You don’t pull a carrot too soon and you don’t climb the peach tree without permission.… Continue reading Five Life Lessons Gardening Can Teach Your Child

This new law will increase airplane lavatory accessibility for those with disabilities. Here’s how you can help. On March 18th, 2022 The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a proposed rule to increase access to lavatories on single-aisle airplanes for people with disabilities. The law would require each airplane to include one bathroom that is accessible… Continue reading This New Law Will Increase Airplane Lavatory Accessibility

Once a year, I begin the process of mentally and emotionally steeling myself for my son Charlie’s annual IEP evaluation at school. It’s usually March, when the buds on the trees pop and crocus determinedly push forth. Spring is a celebration of survival. We have made it through the dark and the cold. The world… Continue reading Please, Watch Your Language

As mothers and parents, we can bear (or raise) multiple children, and yet each and every one is so different.  Let’s take eating, for example. I have three children with three very different preferences and aversions right from the start. Just because one child enjoys certain foods, another one of your children may find the… Continue reading Feeding Strategies for Picky Eaters

The week before winter break, my son Charlie came down with a cough. Nothing to be concerned about initially. It was dry, sporadic, and his mood was good. “At least he doesn’t have a fever,” I said to my spouse in an attempt to assuage the fears that were politely but insistently knocking at heart… Continue reading Five Feeding Strategies for a Sick Kid

The word “defect” is a difficult word, especially when you are a parent. Medically speaking, birth defects are structural changes present at birth that can affect almost any part of the body. They can affect how the body works, looks, or both. Advancements in medicine and surgery have led to better survival rates, and thankfully… Continue reading What are Birth Defects?

The thing my son loves most is no longer making him happy. This past summer, my son Charlie fell off his horse. He has been riding horses since he was four to help with his cerebral palsy. He is nine now. This has never happened in all the years he has ridden. It was an… Continue reading Getting Back on the Horse

Last Spring while on a walk at a local farm to see the horses and climb through the haylofts and crawl over the farm equipment, we got caught in a flash rain storm. It rolled in while we were racing down the gravel road toward the distant parking lot. It was miles away. Or at… Continue reading The Vital Importance of Getting Messy

Raising an adolescent is hard. Really hard. Their moods change quickly – one minute they’re angry and raging, and the next, they are a pile of tears in your lap. They want independence and freedom and yet, they are afraid of it. They want you to tell them what to do, but they don’t want… Continue reading How do I Parent My Adolescent with Special Needs?