Tag: dadlife

School May Not Look Like You Imagined: Part 1

On By justmymomsenseIn school1 Comment

The First Day of School

During my blog hiatus, I thought about a lot of different posts I wanted to do and this was one of them.

‘J’ is coming up on finishing 1st grade.

<Excuse me while I go cry.>

When starting Kindergarten last year, ‘J’ was so nervous. While most kids were posing in front of the big “First Day of School” signs in front of the school, I was focused on just getting him out of the car and through the front doors. I asked if I could take a picture of him, but I already knew the answer – no. In the world of social media, I knew all these parents would have pictures of their kids with the signs, posting them everywhere, and showing off those “perfect” moments.

Did the fact that I wouldn’t be a part of that bother me? No. Because it doesn’t matter! Social Media is not real life. It shows real moments in the midst of life but at the end of the day it’s not what matters. I say this as someone that incorporates social media into her daily life, so I’m not judging others that do the same!

The thing that mattered most to me was making sure ‘J’ was ok and had the best 1st day possible. We arranged a walk through of the school the week prior. He got to meet his Vice Principal, see his classroom, check out the cafeteria, specials classrooms and got a feel of the school. We made a social story for him that we read in the days leading up to school. Anything that was going to help with this transition, we were all about. The Vice Principal and I had a chat about how he may need some help on the first day.

And he did. He was so nervous, even after seeing a friend. As soon as the doors open, he was crying and clinging to me. I made eye contact with the Vice Principal, she came right over, pulled him off of me and walked him into school. I turned around, held my breath and cried in my car.

The tears were a mix of things:

Relief – I did it! He’s at school, he’s going to love it, I just had to get him there. (Just as a note: my husband read him his social story and pep talked him along the way. But we decided for drop off, it would be best for just a 1:1 instead of all four of us.)

Mom Guilt – Oh my God, I just left my baby boy in a new school with strangers! Knowing this was silly and I’d laugh about it later, in the moment, it was hard letting go.

Nervous – Knowing he would be fine, but hoping I wasn’t going to get a call during the day that the tears hadn’t stopped.

As the year went on, some drop offs were better than others but none were perfect. He never walked into school excited. BUT he absolutely loved everything about school. His teacher, friends he made, what he was learning, his specials, all of it. He was so happy during the hours of 8:10 and 2:15. From 8:09-8:10, not so much.

If your child has sensory processing difficulties and anxiety or maybe they’re shy and want to approach school experiences differently, my best advice would be to follow their lead. Go with the flow. Don’t feel the pressure of other parents, your own family, social media or what someone may see as “normal.” If you get that perfect picture in front of their new school, great! If you got one at home (like we did), fantastic! If you get none, oh well! As long as they were happy, you got through the first day as a parent and they got through the first day as a kid, that’s all that matters.

In Part 2 I’ll chat about Holiday Assemblies.

Let’s Go to CAMP!

On By justmymomsenseIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Before we start, there’s no need to pack your tent, sleeping bags or s’mores ingredients, because I’m referring to a different kind of Camp.

On second thought, you should never not pack s’mores ingredients.

Camp, a family experience company, currently has five locations in three states: New York, Connecticut and Texas. Each location is based on a different camp experience:

  • Base Camp: Explore and discover the wonders of nature, arts & crafts, sports, theatre and fun.
  • Toy Lab Camp: Test and shop for the best toys of the season.
  • Travel Camp: Explore the wonders of the world.
  • Cooking Camp: Explore the evolution of food; from farm to our kitchen table.

You can learn more about Camp by visiting camp.com and by listening to the Magical Mommy Monday Podcast, with special guests Counselor Dan and Counselor Matt!

My work history includes experiential marketing and retail, but hearing about Camp, blew anything I knew out of the water. Being a mom, I love immersive experiences for the whole family and that’s exactly what Camp provides. The best part is, if you’re not near a location, you can take part in their virtual experiences. Unfortunately, I haven’t visited a Camp location yet, but it is on my To-Do list so stay tuned for a follow up!

You can also shop their educational based products in person or online. Here are a few products that stood out to me (descriptions pulled from camp.com):

Fat Brain Dimpl Duo

For 12+ months, one side has silicone buttons embossed with different shapes, with their matching words labeled in English and Braille. Flip the whole thing over and the buttons are smooth, and the words match the colors.

Mad Mattr

For ages 3+, not only is Mad Mattr perfect for creating calm, relaxing and imaginative fun, it’s also great for strengthening fingers, hands, wrists, and more.

Fat Brain SpinAgain

For ages 12 months+, this toy is designed to combine the early developmental benefits of stacking with the thrill of watching colorful discs that corkscrew down, down, down the pole. They can make a rainbow, arrange pieces by size and shape, or just go rogue like some kind of twisted toddler. 

Camp.com is full of Sensory, STEM and Educational toys and books, you definitely need to check out all they have to offer.

You can follow @CampStores on Instagram and Facebook. You can also subscribe to Camp on YouTube for past virtual experiences, as well as Music Mondays!

*I am not affiliate of Camp, nor am I sponsored by Camp. I just think it’s awesome!

Happy Earth Day!

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Picture it: 5 AM in my house (said in my Sophia Petrillo voice):

‘J’ wakes up, comes into our room and excitedly whispers IT’S EARTH DAY IT’S EARTH DAY!

Do I love how into Earth Day he is? YES

Do I love how he wants to learn more about helping the environment? YES

Do I love that he wanted to buy the Earth a gift? YES

Do I love that he acted like it was Christmas morning and woke everyone else up? No, no I don’t. But hey, ya win some ya lose some.

‘J’ has been learning about Earth Day this week in school. He’s learned all about reducing, reusing and recycling. Watching all of this reminds me that each generation gets smarter. It’s awesome being a fly on the wall to watch it all.

‘J’ and his sister were all in for some Earth Day photos. We worked on arts and crafts by reusing various materials and planted some flowers in old coffee cans. How did you celebrate Earth Day?

L to R: Creating the earth with a paper plate, paint and a ziplock bag, Making flowers out of recycled paper, planting flowers in old coffee cans

A Sensory Evaluation: Take 2

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During his Kindergarten year, ‘J’ received Occupational Therapy at school. His Occupational Therapist (OT) was awesome and we stayed in contact to keep each other in the loop. However, occupational therapy in school typically focuses more on fine motor skills (ie: handwriting) and whether or not the student cannot focus in class. ‘J’ was doing great in both of these areas. Unfortunately, the school could not provide more assistance when it came to sensory difficulties. They did not have the space or types of therapies to assist students in this way. It was recommended that ‘J’ would not receive OT for 1st grade.

Knowing that ‘J’ struggled with lighting, sounds and still had separation anxiety during morning drop off, we had him evaluated by an outside OT. He was evaluated at the end of February, 2020 in the areas of Touch Processing, Visual, Oral, Movement and Motor. Without going into specific details, he received scores under the categories of “More Than Others” or “Much More Than Others.”

It was recommended that ‘J’ receive occupational therapy for help reduce sensory sensitivity in the area of auditory, touch processing, visual, oral and sensory seeking behaviors. There would be focus on strategies to help reduce anxiety in social settings, to make him become more comfortable with challenges and to adapt to given situations within his life.

We were able to have two sessions with his new occupational therapist before everything shut down due to Covid. In the meantime, I came up with a Sensory Diet (pictured below), bought some fidget toys to assist with the sensory bin and luckily it was spring which meant lots of opportunity for outside play.

Like everyone else, we had to adjust our daily life. Although we were looking forward to have ‘J’ get started with occupational therapy to focus on his challenges, we did the best we could without it.