A Different Normal
What do I mean, “different normal”? A few years back, I went to a retreat for moms with kids who had experienced trauma and had issues as a result. Two moments really stood out from my first such retreat. The first one happened while we were all getting to know each other. We were laughing […]
Of Hats and Children and This Coming August
So many hats… The teacher hat Like so many of you, I wear a number of “hats” every day. Since March, I’ve worn the teacher hat often. This isn’t foreign to me—I spent ten years in early childhood education—but being Teacher-Mom is a whole new classroom! Two of my students have autism. For them, communication […]
Rehoming: Who’s to Blame?
The story By now you may have read the headlines such as “YouTuber Myka Stauffer Reveals Adoption Dissolution 2 Years After Welcoming Son Home from China.” You may have even viewed the original adoptive parents’ tearful YouTube video about the “rehoming” of their son, Huxley. This video and the story it tells create big feelings […]
Holding Compassion
Blog manager’s note: Carol sent me these thoughts on compassion a little while back, in the height of “shelter-in-place.” I find it speaks to me now, as we all wonder and work toward whatever’s next in a world forever changed by the coronavirus. Learning Compassion One day recently, I was reminded of an exercise from […]
It’s a Pandemic…So Why is My Child So Calm?
Seriously…I don’t get it In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, some parents have asked ATN, “Why is my child so well-behaved?” They are parenting a child impacted by early trauma, and their experience has been that change often heightens the child’s reactive behaviors (more anger, acting-out, raging, withdrawal, etc.) Yet some parents report that […]
Wisdom from a Virtual Schooling Mom
Blog Manager’s Note: I don’t know about you, but I know that I have lost count of how many days we’ve been under orders to “shelter in place.” Although absolutely necessary, this isn’t easy, especially as more and more states make the decision to close school doors for the rest of this academic year. Thankfully, […]
Managing Coronavirus Chaos at Home
How it all got started It wasn’t exactly what we planned for the spring of 2020. Already, life wasn’t very typical, given that we were living in a multi-generational home. Isolating with an eleven- and fifteen-year-old while their mother continued working took atypical to a whole new level. And when our governor (Washington State) took […]
Home School in a Stay-Home World
Blog Manager’s Note: Today’s post is about this strange new world in which we all find ourselves learning how to home school. If you’re like me, the possibility had never even crossed your mind in the days and years leading up to COVID-19! As part of our series on coping with the pandemic, ATN Trauma […]
Activities for the Social Distancing Era
Blog manager’s note: Welcome to the third installment of our Coping with Coronavirus series! This comes to us from long-time ATN Angel Jane Samuel, who shares some activities we can do with and for our kids…and ourselves. I said to my husband the other day, “Life is too much to grasp now. The reality of this […]
Making a Difference in a Time of Dis-Ease
The rise of dis-ease Over the last weeks, we have awakened daily to the rising of dis-ease. The blurry edge between fact and fabrication has brought us to question our questions. It has activated the sort of fear that causes toilet paper to be prized ahead of reason and parity. It has let us feel […]