A Blog About a Bloke-Living with WHS

The notion of  Learned Helplessness  is extremely interesting to me at the moment. Perhaps because I have been confronted with it in some form, and have had to really reflect on what it means for my child with a disability. So what is it? There are many different thoughts about it, and you can click on the link above to read a summary for yourself, but essentially, the idea is that people will only try at something for so long before they give up and just accept that this the way you do things, so therefore don't seek to learn that task. 'Learned helplessness' refers to 'the feeling that no amount of effort can lead to success' (Eggen & Kauchak, 1999, p. 412). People may feel powerless and ineffective in certain circumstances. If this feeling is generalised to new circumstances, then people may exhibit learned helplessness (McInerney & McInerney, 1998). Learned helplessness leads to shame and self-doubt, with the eventual result that people give up wit...

On Sunday, Braeden was baptised into the Catholic Church. Given that he is 4 years old, he was pretty excited and he was hoping to meet God. I couldn't deliver on the God part, but it was a really special ceremony and Braeden loved every part of it. Why did we leave it until now? Well, mostly because we just haven't had the time. But, to be honest, the timing was actually really good, because we felt as though he actually understood what was happening.  Despite Braeden being quite nervous (oh gee where does he get that from?), he really enjoyed being the centre of attention for once. We were extremely proud of him.

Source: wanelo.com via Sara on Pinterest So I learnt a little something on Friday night. Time to really up the security on this blog. So, there will be some changes in terms of my photos, but it will make it harder for people to copy them and then use them elsewhere. Because basically, one of my photos was copied from this blog and put into a video that someone has created and posted on You-Tube. There was no link back to my blog and certainly no one had asked for permission. I have since learnt that this is illegal. You are not able to post photos without permission or without a direct link to where you found the photo. I could track the person down (and given I have their IP address, that is pretty easy) and have them charged with theft. Obviously I am not going to do this. The video that has been made is about WHS and has been created to educate people. I am not against that. It is good etiquette though to at least attempt to ask permission if you can. Or at th...

Source: goo.gl via Minerva on Pinterest Anger is an interesting thing to watch. Moreso, when that person is non-verbal. Actions, I have found, often speak more than words. Take this afternoon for example: Ryley, who was my non-violent child, brought over a book for me to read. He often does this, as it is his way of asking to be read to. I was busy cooking tea and told him to wait. He pushed the book into my leg. I told him to wait. He threw the book as far as he could throw it and threw himself on the floor at my feet. He then proceeded to try and pull me down to the floor. And then there was another example. Probably not even 10 minutes later, he went into where Braeden was happily creating things out of boxes. Ryley decided he wanted one of the boxes and snatched it off Braeden. Braeden protested, naturally, and grabbed it back. Ryley picked it up and tried to break it, discovered he couldn't, so threw it. To be honest, I have never seen Ryley act l...

This god awful photo of me was taken just after I finished my 4km run for breast cancer. The main thing is, I finished it! Excuse the slightly frowning look as I am trying hard to breath. For those that suffer from anxiety (like me), it is sometimes really difficult to do things that challenge you. Hell, it is sometimes even hard to do things that aren't a challenge normally. Part of the reason I really wanted to do this run, was to prove to myself that I can do anything I put my mind to. But geez, I almost didn't get there. The thing about anxiety is that once the physical symptoms start, you mind starts working overtime trying to figure out whether you are going to 'fight' or 'fly', otherwise known as Fight or Flight Response . This is where it gets hard. I was absolutely fine until I woke up at 6am on Sunday morning and started feeling anxious. That was ok, I am used to that. My boys gave me some beautiful things for Mother's Day and I s...

Source: Uploaded by user via Carrie on Pinterest Never say never.

Source: google.com via Beth on Pinterest I have been writing this post in my head for days now. Writing, erasing, rewriting, and finally now actually typing. When you have a child with a disability, they say the early years are the hardest. You are often moving through the stages of grief, whether you know it or not, and you are faced constantly with medical and health issues and figuring out a way to navigate through your new reality. Most people find support through Early Childhood Intervention. It could be through parent support groups, learning groups, or professional support. Then you transition out of the comfort of support at your fingertips and head out into the world of school and...well...life. When we first had Ryley we didn't realise that our life was going to be so radically different. We moved in and out of stages of grief, and left the friends behind that didn't support us. This felt good. Empowering even. Our new normal was ok. But th...

It's funny, but a lot of people arrive on this blog by searching for 'sheep are cute, sheep are beaut'. Goodness knows why they end up here. Anyway, if you do, HELLO! This weekend at the farm we settled 12 Merino Ewes in. We got them at a bargain price (if we were to sell them we would get at the very least double what we paid for them). We had to do some quick fencing patch ups, but overall they have settled into their paddock very well. The aim is to get them in lamb and increase our mob. Unfortunately, the inverter that converts our solar and generator power blew up, so we effectively have no power. We do have 3 gas lights in the house at least, so weren't completely in darkness. So the next step is to try and find someone who specialises in stand alone solar power to come have a look and tell us what we need to do. I expect it will be costly. Ugh. So there is the Farm Update! Have lots to write about this week. Several hot topics in my draft box bei...