A Center for Grieving Children

I must share my new favorite thing/place/people; A Center for Grieving Children.

My children's dad has started working a new shift which has resulted in the kids seeing him less often than they are used to. This caused some issues for my oldest. That is when I realized she needed more help than what I was giving her (I probably knew it sooner but being overwhelmed, I put it off.) I had a good chat with my children's school counsellor (something else I should have done sooner) and she gave me a list of resources including A Center for Grieving Children.

I called them and they scheduled a time for me to bring the kids in. At our appointment, one person showed the kids around and told them about it, and then they played. Another person talked with me about the center and walked me through the paper work. They were so welcoming and kind and made it all very easy.

This place is so Amazing! They have groups for children who have suffered loss through death, and groups for kids who are struggling with their parents separations and divorce. We were there for divorce. The kids are split into two groups by age and get to play with and talk to other kids who are going through the exact same thing. They have many fabulous volunteers who facilitate this. My daughter was amazed that every child there had parents who were divorced. It made her feel like she belonged instead of being different.

While the children are playing, the parents meet with a facilitator in another room where they get to discuss their current challenges and support each other.

I am so glad my children and I get to be a part of this.

Saturday musings

When you have a three year old, you get to say things like, "My mouse is missing."  I'm sure most people usually find all of their computer attachments right where they left them, with their computers, but mothers of preschoolers can never be sure.  I don't doubt that in the next day or two he will go straight to the lost item and bring it back to me beaming with pride but for now he's not talking.
   This is why today's post is just my ramblings and not a calendar of what's happening next week. 
   This past week my life has been completely consumed by allergies.  The pine tree outside my house has been dropping insane amounts of pollen.  My allergies have been unbearable and combined with my asthma have made me one sick mama.  I think the trees have finally shed their last flecks of pollen, and by this afternoon I felt almost like myself again.  So I mustered my strength and headed downtown for the arts festival with all three kids in tow.  Going out with kids is always a gamble, but today it paid off because they were extremely well behaved(not a usual occurrence.) We had a fun conversation on the way about how if you took away a true artist's paper, she would still find a way to create art.  The kids had some great suggestions such as drawing on boxes, and painting with pollen on the sidewalk, and other fun creative things they have done before (of course no one mentioned rubbing food on the walls.)
  My favorite thing about the arts festival was watching all the vibrant happy people, both the artists and the people who were there to enjoy the art.  It was just the type of environment that stirs the creative soul, and awakens sleeping dreams.  I have a lot of dreams, most of them still sleeping seeds, not allowed to grow out of fear they will die before they bloom and bear fruit.  Well, I took a couple of those seeds today and planted them in a sunny little spot and watered them.  I can't wait to see what happens.