Anxiety and why therapy dogs would be good in schools

    We share a common theme with dogs us humans, we are born into families and have a natural instinct to nurture and care  for each other.There are leaders in our families whether it be a male or female,one or both is the hunter and gatherer,the protector and the helper.Dogs are wired with these natural instincts and so they are natural companions.Am I saying all dogs could be companions? maybe if they have strong loving masters who treat them with love and respect,for this is the code of the dog world.
    We have discovered that dogs were domesticated in Belgium over 33,000 years ago long before any other animal.They are loyal,and accepting.They don't see race or difference,they don't set out to hurt someones feelings or make fun of their shortcomings.
    A child at school with anxiety is a target to be bullied,as in my child's case. The bully can sense the child's fears and make the situation worse. A dog can also sense fears and if trained in that particular area can help ease the situation by a nudge or affection. I have seen a young teenager with hair pulling tendencies helped by a therapy dog,each time she reached up to pull the dog would jump up and nudge her to pet him.Eventually she was able to grow her hair back.
   Dogs can also teach the bullies to respect others by just showing compassion, I wish to bring this into our schools ,to show that in the dog world there is no wish to harm or to pick on;but to love and nurture.
 I also wish to bring to light children who are exposed to goodness and love are then in return shown goodness and love. I wish for children to have therapy dogs they can bring to school to help fight their anxieties and overcome their fears
 .Do you remember your first day of school? remember how nervous you may have felt? making new friends? or meeting new teachers and classmates? for children with anxiety disorders this is their world everyday. Think about how you feel when you see a new puppy how it brings everyone together in conversation as well as smiles on each face. This is the gift I wish to bring each day to schools around the globe.

Healing the bullies hurts and hearts

      I want to touch on the ugly topic of bullying.
Why do children feel the need for power  when they reach a certain age? Is it because they have none at home? Granted in high school where my oldest son attended  puberty and popularity ruled. Not much different from when I attended high school and you were labeled by everyone as being either popular, the punks or the jocks.
 My son who was a sophomore and in a band didn't dress much different than his peers he chose to have long hair and  was verbally abused with sexual innuendos thrown across the lunchroom and within teachers ears.
 When this was brought to the attention of the principal and the counselor the boys were not confronted but instead, my son had to write all the humiliating words and actions down on a piece of paper for documentation. It was disgraceful that the boys who had done this had more power even in this situation then my son. They were brought to the office only after my son had written his complaint and as most if not every child accused of doing or saying something wrong,fully denied anything to do with the situation. This went one for three months,fighting with the school,trying to get someone to do something and my son getting more and more depressed.Mornings were difficult as he stayed in bed and told me he wasn't going to school,even though I pleaded with him for hours at a time.
 Finally,  on his 17th birthday, he told us he was not returning to school. How could we blame him after all went on,the school frowned on us,I could not believe how insensitive they were at school and how easy it was to turn a blind eye.
Today our son is a well-mannered and talented young man who  goes out of his way to help people. He is very successful in his music career and we are proud. He  got through some serious depression  with lots of love from his family and friends he has started healing.
 Our youngest  daughter who is now 12  started getting bullied in 2nd grade, same situation. The vice  principal was a tyrant and barely even acknowledged there was anything wrong. My child started losing weight, stopped eating and barely slept. Without going into details we pulled her out at the end of the year with some medical problems due to being bullied and having an  anxiety disorder, she is now in her fourth  year of being home schooled.
    Both my children have extremely large hearts and were taught to love others,they were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our daughter was picked on verbally for being petite. Such nonsense.This must stop!
I work with animals and have owned a dog walking company in my area for over 12 years now. My goal is to try to bring dogs into the school to heal the riff between bullies and children. Whether they have special needs,ADHD,ADD,  are shy ,suffer from anxiety. Also to bring compassion into the schools to show bullies that in a dogs world everyone is treated with respect and love. Compassion needs to be taught and brought back into our schools. Many children who bully are lonely,feel unloved and helpless.Maybe there is no one to talk to about their problems or their day. Many parents have to work today to make ends meet and so family life is on the back burner. I desperately want to start a program and be involved in making a change to end the vicious cycle of bullying. 

Believing in uniqueness and difference

           I spent a lot of time as a child with my parents being comfortable and happy growing up in the picturesque parts of new England. I had tons of friends and loved school activities such as drama and chorus,school was hard for me as concentration levels and noise did not mix and my grades showed it..
.I felt secure as a child until my father passed away coming home to us after his father's funeral in 1978.
   My mom and I had never been close and being adopted at a young age we never really bonded. She never embraced my differences and sadly we spent a lot of times at odds.
  We always had my dad as the go between which I know now was not fair to him and may have caused many disagreements. I still miss his love and compassion and many times I find myself talking to him about things only he would understand.  

I now am a mother to four children two sons and an older daughter,three whom are grown and a nine year old precious daughter who has asbergers and ADHD.
When my other children were small they had some issues such as concentrating and forgetfulness, but I just thought it was over stimulation or tiredness.. Today many kids are diagnosed with disorders that may explain why and how they see things or respond differently then we do.
  I always stood by my kids and encouraged them to be their own persons and not to let society dictate who they would become.One is an artist, another is a musician and our oldest is working on a bachelors degree in sports marketing.
  I am not sure if the labels doctors are putting on children are fair or correct or if all the over stimulation of cell phones,computers and video games.are contributing to some issues.
 As for asbergers in my own situation, I believe taking a medication while I was pregnant to keep my pregnancy may have contributed to some issues or God just made my daughter uniquely different.I guide Maddy along in our daily lives so she is happy and enjoys her childhood. I don't put the pressures of society on her by home schooling for now,exposing her to christian friends and family who don't see the differences but embrace them. We have found a wonderful family of students and faculty at our local Artios Academy.Their motto is Art,Heart,and Smart.as well as outside activities that bring our daughter joy.

We are coming to the end of our first week of fourth grade

What a blessing to be able to freely home school this year, last year compared to doing virtual  education and boy was it like being in prep school. 
Third grade to me was fun and memorable but not to our daughter who was recently diagnosed with ADHD and asbergers. We have had quite a two year struggle with understanding her many wonderful qualities as well as quirks(being over stimulated and sensory sensitive) that can make a day quite interesting.
  Our first decision to home school was due to Maddy being made fun of in second grade and afraid to go to school because the adults as she put it were not helping at all.I don't remember children being so cruel and rough in judgement.
   I am thankful for the choice to home school,my husband was not a big fan when my older children were small,but because we are older and times have changed he has been very receptive.
  Getting back to our week,so far we are doing some multiplication reviews from last year as well as simple spelling and story writing. Our favorite thing so far is reading and reviewing the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder,clearly she was home schooled and look how wonderful and adventurous her life was. My daughter can relate to Laura as a young girl and we have tried some of the cooking recipes such as butter making and biscuit cutting which resulted in some yummy eating.

I hope to inspire other mothers and fathers to not be afraid of home school to know most of all your children could benefit from finding out who they are and who they will become through love,guidance and perseverance using the life skills you will be teaching them. 

Finding your child's passion through activities

    This year has totally opened my eyes to the great things that come with home schooling.Our daughter is in fourth grade and wow are we busy! but we remain focused on what is important,supporting her love for swimming and wanting to go to the Olympics one day.
    After spending many hours at our pool this summer Maddy has asked when she can swim with her coach and teammates  back at the local YMCA..
 Over the past few summers we noticed how much our daughter enjoyed swimming and how it seems to come easy to her. It also is one thing that helps her relax and cope with her ADHD.The water is also a good sensory calmer as the pressure helps her feel secure.. Being nine she has already found her passion and it's a skill she can treasure forever..

Cataracts in dogs

           Every year millions of animals are affected by a common disease known as cataracts,a clouding of the eye lens starting small in the pupil and progressively increasing in size causing blindness in one or both eyes.
Most cataracts are hereditary inherited by a parent or ancestor, some come from injury to the eye or diabetes. I have three clients with aging dogs who suffer with this condition,they seem to have high functioning qualities and only a few set backs. Mostly walking down stairs and being out at night affect how they might react. Often cataracts occurs in aging dogs and the surgery can be quite expensive and cost from $1,500-$3,000.00 depending on extent of cataract if both eyes are affected or type of surgery. The lens is removed and replaced by a new one the same surgery as a human would have. Commonly dogs live to a ripe old age just fine without surgery and it doesn't even seem to bother them or change their personality. Three years ago I had this surgery as a result of inherited cataracts, it changed the way I looked at things. I didn't realize what colors I had been missing or how clear something really looked. Dogs are amazing,they can function with cataracts and adapt much better than us humans. So much of our lives are through our sight, we need it to drive or to fly a plane unlike dogs who rely on their sense of smell to get around. 
 Many dogs are put down or brought to a shelter due to small medical conditions from owners who don't educate themselves about the cataracts.Knowledge is power and power can save an animals life.

Why you should move when you feel stuck

 I have many days where I want to stay in the darkness and bury my dreams.  

 I  only get up for my God who calls my name He says "Get up and try!move and I will be there to lift you up you are not alone."
 I know when I was trying to start my business there were many days I felt stuck and no doors seem to be  opening I didn't know where to turn. Maybe you feel this too and you just want to throw your hands up and say "forget this I give up!" But listen closely to your heart  and a word will come to you, a gentle touch or a whisper and you will be able to move on. Don't be so ready to run or to give up. Sometimes the things we want in our lives can be like climbing a mountain with no end in sight.
The days after Katrina I began to climb the biggest mountain I had ever climbed. My husband was in deep despair his beloved home of New Orleans was going through a major disaster a place where he played and lived with his brothers. He lost the place where he had worked for over 20 years as it had flooded out. I know as the head of our family he felt defeated and was afraid for our futures. We had a baby who was always ill because of the stress of having to be in our car as we drove back and forth to Louisiana and Atlanta. Our oldest son was a senior in high school and the thought of quitting school was there in his mind. Our beautiful daughter who was 15 at the time took it very hard, I watched the joy and light fade from her eyes as she left all her friends and family back home. Our youngest son was 12 and had just made 3rd chair in band he also was trying to get a deal with a skateboard company to sponsor him and his friends skateboard designs.All of us were going through our personal struggles and most of our family was in a state of anger and depression.
 We had many days where the darkness was so overpowering it threatened our families very core. As days passed and we began to feel the love of others surround us complete strangers began to reach out and we no longer struggled alone,each step was still difficult but had more purpose The mountain top was becoming more clear and we began to try to walk together as a family once again.
This did not happen overnight this climb has taken a better part of 6 years and we still are waiting to reach the peak. Even when the darkness seems to be the most present look up and you will find light. Walk on and you will find faith, get up and you will find passion in your purpose. My most sincere gift I can give you today is not to throw your hands up but place your hands out and touch another s life; who might be climbing the same mountain as you.