Communicating Though Technology

Like many people on the autism spectrum my little man has a fondness for his PC and more so the Internet. But its not just a hobby, Interest or even an addiction! Its his voice, the great one within… The one he can’t seem to use to express himself in the real world.

I’m not saying that Little man can’t speak, because he can! He is very verbal (ask our neighbours, the bus driver or even the postman)! Its just that little man struggles to put some of what he needs to say In the right set of words. This can lead to frustration, misunderstandings and a degree of sadness.

Of course I’d always heard about both children & adults with Aspergers having some type of connection and in many cases, great knowledge when it comes to the world of computers, many children branded as little whizz kids. I didn’t think much about this, that was in till my own child took to the keyboard.

I’ve never had to really ever teach little man something more then once when it comes to computers. I remember his interest at a young age. He was eager to know what all the fuss was about and couldn’t wait to explore cyber space. At 12 years old my son can now show me a thing or two when it comes to using a computer especially when it comes to windows (yes, its true, once you use a Mac you never go back).

Both the existence of computers and the net has opened a whole host of doors for children like Little Man. I’ve noticed that online his much more confident, fancying himself as something of a comedian at times. He loves talking to others about the world of Mind Craft, making Youtube Tutorial videos and sharing his love of wrestling and transport.

Its simple, the computer has no string of facial expressions to understand, it doesn’t constantly change its tone with every mood, it won’t ever demand you stare at it in order to prove your paying attention… Its your connection to the world and those in it. Its a place that lets you express yourself without fear in a way you know how! No ones looking at you and even if they are its through a web cam which according to the little man is an extremely cool invention (his words not mine).

As your child gets the most out of their new communication tool, they also learn and discover all there is to know about it! Little man has no issues when it comes to making spread sheets and presentations. His a massive fan of power point software and seems to understand where every file lies on his PC (even those he has no access to).

It allows him to write at speed instead of lagging behind as he struggles with his fine motor skills when doing things the traditional way. Whether his working on a new movie trailer for his youtube channel or sending that occasional funny tweet that makes everyone laugh, his expressing himself without fear… His learning, communicating and experimenting all at the same time.

All the above is fantastic, making me a very proud mother. However, though I think its great, as his mother I still feel its important he learns the communication skills required to use away from the computer, out there in the big wide world. That’s why together along with his school Little man is thought communication and social skills that we encourage him to use both on and offline.

So… Will I be at all surprised if my son grows up to get a job that involves computers, the net or both?

No… I think its looking pretty likely don’t you?

Look What I Found!

Little man has always had a very keen interest in transport from around the age of two. His now 12 and is still studying the ins and outs of trains and buses, though he also now loves WWE wrestling just as much!

Sorting through some papers yesterday I came across a card little man had made me when he first started school (mainstream year 1). He was around 5 or 6 years old at the most! Here it is below…

He doesn’t really like to engage in art as he struggles with his fine motor skills so does almost everything on a computer. That’s why the above card is even more special to me. He has even coloured his picture, something he now refuses to do in fear of not being able to keep the colours within the lines of his drawing.

And look whats inside this cute train card….

A lovely message to mummy (that’s me) though I think looking at the handwriting, it wasn’t little man who wrote it! Plus there is a very cute picture of the little man himself in the school playground.

Here’s a close up…

I love unearthing these little hidden treasures. Children provide us with the most wonderful memories. This ones definitely going in the scrapbook!

Big fat Yawns

Yes, I’m tired… I look like poo and feel like it too. The past few weeks have been anything but leisurable.

I’m laid here on the bed blogging from my mobile, I can’t even be bothered to turn the Mac on as that would require me to sit up and right now that feels like an impossible mission.

So… An update! Little man went back to school last week having been off for an entire week with a sickness bug and a very sore cold sore (when you have Aspergers and a string of sensory sensitivities a cold sore is highly unpleasant) whats more his sleeping pattern became highly erratic which affected us all as a family.

Now I’m used to little man not sleeping to the early hours but something had to give. Little man wasn’t sleeping throughout the night at all and come the beginning of this week there was no signs of this getting any better. Having spent another entire night awake Little man started to settle down and become sleepy at around 6am. I, however had other ideas and decided I couldn’t take another day nor night of it and instead of crawling to my bed like I so wanted too, I instead used what little energy I had left in me, keeping the little man awake.

He wasn’t impressed and bad tempered was an understatement but in order to get him so tired that he’d have no option but to sleep that night I had him feed and dressed ready for school at 8.30am… Despite an entire sleepless night.

Some may say I’m evil and I guess in a way, yes I am! Yet it worked. Ok , he didn’t have the best day at school and my guess is he didn’t feel none to lively, neither, but he got home, ate dinner with half closed eyes and fell crashing into his bed at a somewhat alarmingly early 6 PM… Something I thought I’d surly never see!

Still, this hasn’t erased all his problems when it comes to sleep, he still struggles greatly…. Nonetheless, what it has done is remind him of the pure yucky feeling that comes with a day at school when you haven’t rested your eyes or mind for over 24hrs… And no one actually wants to feel that poo do they?

With this his been more eager to try to sleep at a reasonable hour. Its not been a 100% success story but when one wants to rest their mind it does become that much easier. With this there has been a slight decrease in the nightly antics! These include… Acting out his favourite WWE superstar entrance scene, talking non stop WWE to ones self and that of his constant note jotting on ideas for Mindcraft builds at crazy O’clock! I think maybe his trying to have a catch up, I just wished my body clock would now jolt so I could join him and do the same.

So… Now I’m yawning big fat yawns. Looking at the mess around me (seriously, there’s a fair amount) I think to myself… “Sod It” and instead I’ll bid you all a good night (or should I say good morning)?

Being Driven Crackers

Wow… Little man is driving me crackers. This evening his done nothing but talk about wrestling to the point I’m almost smacking my own head against the wall!

His overly obsessed now, I truly never thought anything could come as close as his transport obsession! Obviously I was wrong.

The worst part is how his interest in wrestling is keeping him awake at night again. His back using the melatonin but as usual its not providing much relief. Worse still school inform me that his acting very out of character. It’s been reported that his been saying pretty bizarre stuff like “He would be more popular if he went to prison” this was said as he was asked why he was misbehaving… Another one of his answers was “He gets more respect and makes more friends this way!”

School enquired if it was his medication that could be causing such behaviours… I didn’t think so, but now I’m sat writing this I’ve come to realise that he does actually have more unsettled school days following a night on melatonin.

Anyhow… Back to the obsession that is wresting.

Recently little man discovered a competition on the Internet that is centred around his interest in wrestling. The good think is that the competition doesn’t only relate to his interest but also in that of literacy… Something he is actually reluctant to engage in.

In order to win his dream prize of meeting his favourite wrestler and watching a live show, he will need to complete a number of literacy and wrestling related tasks.This is great as it will encourage him to do literacy but he refuses to let me share it with his teacher. Yet, his literally talked about this competition non stop and has been demanding that we get started right away.

Last night I was in bed sleeping when I was suddenly rudely awaken at the crazy hour of 3.55 am by the little man. His reason for this was to ask me a question, one that apparently couldn’t wait until a sensible hour! The question was “Mum, How many people do you think will enter the competition and how much percentage does this give me off winning?” I swear if looks could kill… I was livid, not that the little man could tell because he just keep asking… On and on and on…

Its not only the competition that’s kind of grating within my slowing brain, its also the non stop noise that comes with having a wrestling mad 12 year old son. Sometimes I could swear we’re experiencing an earthquake (regardless of the fact we live in the UK). The banging and crashing about is just unbearable. I find myself screaming at the top of my lungs for him to cut it out but 99.9% of the time he cannot hear me above his own noise pollution.

I have heard the same tune, the same cheers, and the same sodding intro that all accompany his favourite wrestler into the ring a million times. If its not blasting through the TV speakers its being played full whack on youtube and if its none of the above you can bet your life on it that his mimicking every word therefore commentating the whole intro from memory.

I can look little man dead in the eye and tell him “Sorry son but I couldn’t give a monkeys backside about whatever his name is” yet he will take no notice, continue feeding me with not so fascinating facts on his favourite wrestler! I try to show an interest, I really do but actually it scares me to try as once I’ve started I’m quickly wishing I hadn’t as hours later I’m still trying to break free.

I dunno… Maybe as he ages these obsessional interests will be more self controlled. I hate the thought of him being a young man who totally dominates an entire conversation based around his own interests. Its just not healthy… He could lose out on friendships and relationships.

Nonetheless, with his great ability to learn combined with his social skills training provided by school, I’m hopeful that all will come good in the end.

Check out Little Mans wrestler inspired face paint…

Our Dream Of A Sensory Room

When I saw the home makeover competition being run by Tots100 & ratedpeople.com I knew I had to enter it!

You see, the prize money of £2,500 to makeover a room in your house would enable us to do things that are currently far beyond our reach. My home is far from perfect, in fact its not in particularly good shape at all. I won’t even show you pictures of our half missing ceiling in the living room (yes its fell down twice almost killing us) and I’m still waiting for the second repair. However its not repairs for my living room that I have on my mind, nor is it the thought of a beautifully decorated home… No no! It’s actually the children’s rooms, especially that of the little mans.

It pains me to show you any pictures of my sons room. It’s horrid and its current state is not helping his sensory needs or that of his sleeping problems. But as I’m seriously struggling to pay for this room to be fixed up (on top of others) I feel I actually cannot afford to miss this opportunity and therefore must. Firstly let me explain some of our issues. We discovered his ceiling was actually made from Polystyrene which is a serious fire hazard so needed ripping down. Of course it was hiding something! His walls are also crumbling and the housing fixed the floor board by covering it up with rubbish hard board which has staples all over it.

Ok… I’m doing it I’m actually uploading the horror for the world to see…

Little man has Aspergers Syndrome with sensory processing difficulties within all areas of his senses. His also a very poor sleeper. For us this would be so much more than a nicely decorated 12 year old boys bedroom! It would be our sons sanctuary, a bedroom come sensory room! This is something that would make a significant difference In his life and that of ours, his family. I honestly believe it would improve his extremely poor sleeping pattern and therefore mend mine a little.

I have so many ideas when it comes to the creation of Little mans sensory room. It would be an environment that provides him with a very laid back, chilled out space. It would be filled with things to help relax him, therefore enhancing his moods, providing sensory stimulation and importantly a great nights sleep. We know sensory rooms are a key part of little mans school routine and we know such a space could change a lot of behaviours and difficulties. I’ve tried my best to make it as inviting as possible but in all honesty at the moment its a poorly used space that as you can see, isn’t fit for use… A few sensory lights are all he currently has to jazz. It up

Below are some of my ideas…

Colour: its very important for us to ensure little mans room is very visually inviting. Bright colours are something that form a big part of this vision.

Foam mats: Little man is really into WWE Wrestling at present and its a very intense (special) interest. This means that he is forever acting out the moves displayed by his favourite wrestler. He currently has no carpet and the noise is unbelievably loud. He throws himself around the room like crazy regardless of the hour (neighbours have actually felt the need to knock at 4 am). The mats would be perfect for his sensory room. He would be safer (less bumps and bruises) and our house may just stop vibrating giving us a pleasant relationship with the neighbours!

Teen style: Its important that regardless of little mans needs and that of his room having a sensory element to it, his room still has that stylish WOW factor about it. He is 12 years old and well on his way to becoming a teenage boy. He wants a room that don’t only provide sensory comfort but looks the part too! This is why I’ve chosen the super cool sliding door wardrobe, he would absolutely love this.

Mood Lighting: A massive part of any sensory room is its lighting.The lighting in the collage background above is LED night lighting which I know he would love. His a big fan of the lava lamp and the one above would fit perfectly. As you can see from both the above image and that of the one below, a variety of mood lighting is the key to the creation of a great sensory room.

Cool down area: With the addition off some cushions, bean bags and a little dim lighting you find you have created the perfect chill out space. What’s great about a sensory room is how you have the one room yet a number of different spaces within it. A sensory room is designed to be calming and inviting. But it can provide a space designed to stimulate the body and mind. The chill-out space in itself would be the ideal place to help little man shake of any stress or simply recover following a meltdown.

Hammock: The hammock would help little man with the difficulties he experiences due to his out of sync vestibular sense. This means that he often experiences poor body awareness (where his body is within space) A great way to describe this feeling would be to imagine what it feels when you go on a fairground ride that throws your body about in all directions, lifting your feet of the ground at speed or dropping you from a great hight. A hammock or swing would actually work as a therapeutic aid as well as a relaxing space.

The sensory curtain in the above picture is fantastic. Little man recently saw one like this at an expedition and instantly took to it! It’s a very tactile curtain and would be an ideal feature for his very own sensory room.

As for the bed, again i’ve taken into account his need for a stylish space as well as a sensory one. This bed is fantastic! It continues on the bight colour theme what with its striking green wood and very modern design. It’s also a great bed in terms of storage (something his room is currently lacking). I’ve also chose the funky tall unit with brightly coloured storage boxes to store all them wrestling figures and truck loads of Lego.

One of my favourite aspects of a sensory room is how tactile they can be. Little man is very tactile defensive and needs a lot of tactile input to help him adapt and improve his tactile sense. Given he loves Lego the idea of a Lego wall is a great one. It’s very tactile and will further enhance his imagination.

I’ve really enjoyed pulling my ideas together for this challenge. I’ve had them floating around in my head for the last few years and although certain elements have slightly changed (like chosen items and colours) the overall desire to create such a wonderful space remains very much the same.

As a self diagnosed pin head, pinterest is yet another place you can find more of my sensory and autism related boards! I’ve also created one especially for this competition. You can find it by clicking Here

So… There you have it… Our current dream of a sensory room and some very shabby existing interior.

Please note: If like myself you are wanting to create a sensory room, I recently discovered a post on a blog called PlayPennies on creating sensory rooms on a budget. Really worth a look.

Disclaimer: This post is my entry into the Tots100 and RatedPeople.com Home Decor Competition.

Little Man finally Has His Birthday!

Yes, his been driving me mad for months. Anymore birthday talk there was a danger my head would explode. But we got there in the end and god how thankful I am that we finally did.

Yesterday my not so little man turned 12 (god I feel old). He woke up early despite sleeping during the silly hours and was beaming with excitement. He doesn’t like unwrapping so he was given his gifts in a bag and his face lite up with the sight of a Playstation 3.

I also brought him the much awaited (so I’m informed) FIFA 13 which I had to Pre-order at our local supermarket. This along with a few other games, an additional controller and some other accessories made up his birthday list.

I was really surprised that he didn’t kick off when the door knocked and it was time to go to school. But given the fact his favourite teacher had also brought him a game probably explains why.

Once home he had friends over and the roars could be heard coming from his bedroom as they all took it in turns to battle the birthday boy at FIFA or Wrestling.

We then had a special dinner of a fry up (yep, not my idea of special but certainly was the little man’s). We then sang happy birthday before tucking into some delicious birthday cake.

Birthdays in our house are often a little odd when it comes to the little man. He normally requests some pretty odd presents and can normally be found playing with his gifts in the strangest of fashions. Whats more he can often be found doing so alone.

This year the occasion was somewhat more “typical” for the birthday of a 12 year old boy. He invited his cousin and the boy next door over to the house to play. He even encouraged his sister to join in (though this didn’t last, it was a good start).

There was no birthday meltdowns to be seen and I for one was feeling pretty relieved that there wasn’t. On the whole the day was perfect.

We did experience one little problem mind you. The whole excitement of the day didn’t wear him out as I would of hoped it would. The little man went to asleep at an alarming 6am this morning (and before you ask his Playstation was not in play during the course of the night). As a result the little man didn’t go into school today. I tried desperately to keep him awake once it was gone 4 am but I failed miserably.

His now awake and won’t be playing his game till after tea (I don’t want him to associate time off school with having fun). We have therefore had some tears this afternoon, but given I’m writing this in a reasonably silent house, here’s hoping we’re past that.

So, that’s another year and another birthday. Don’t be surprised if in 6 months time, you read that the Little man has been banging on about his 13th birthday. Seriously, this starts happening around May so you’ve been warned!

The stepping stones to independence

As my child takes another huge step in his life’s journey I feel my heart burst with pride.

Little man has come so far in such little time. If you asked me 2 years ago if I thought he would be at the place he is now, my answer would have been, “probably not” considering how bad things were once upon a time, this fact alone should be a comfort for any parent who are now stood in the shoes I once stood in.

We have some incredibly tiresome days, ones filled with rage and anger, others filled with anxiety and disappear.

Yet, one needs to understand that like anything in life, we take the rough with the smooth. Ok, at 4am when his well past that tired stage when his running around pretending to be a wrestler, crashing and banging as he repeatedly throws himself off the backs of the sofas, before gathering up speed and darting from one wall to another, roaring and shouting as he mimics those overgrown kids that consider themselves men on WWE, I do feel a rather sorry for myself, the siblings and even our poor neighbours.

Evenly the smooth part does come through, and although it normally last far shorter than that of the rough… It’s a delightful place to find yourself in.

Despite the issue we’ve been experiencing with Little mans reluctance to eat a packed lunch as opposed to something he can heat in the school microwave (this is no longer allowed) His still coping outstandingly well with all these major changes that have taken place.

I can slowly see the pieces coming together. His growing up and with it his learning the skills of independence needed to go with it. Yes, I worry he will have difficulties in adult life, but then again what mother doesn’t? Finally… I feel progress is being made and It’s this progress that fills me with hope for my little man’s future.

Here’s to another great week, next week…. I’m told positiveness is the key and I hope that this key opens many doors for little man.

Crafting with kids – Glass and Porcelain Painting

Over the last week I’ve been doing some really fun craft projects with the children.

And guess what? Even the Little man has been getting involved!

I wanted to do something that each child would find both interesting and fun, something we could do together as a family regardless of everyone’s differing interest. I needed the activity to apply to each child’s interest, something they really love therefore needing little if not any encouragement from mum! Basically participating because they want to.

Little man is by far the hardest of my children to engage in any type of activity, especially that of arts and crafts.This basically means that when thinking up an activity I always need to think outside the box! More than not my ideas are inspired by little mans overly intense interest (aka, special interest). This used to be just transport, however, WWE (wrestling) and Lego have now been added to the list.

The idea I had was one that meant little man could incorporate anyone of his interest (all three if desired). It was important for me to have him involved. Throughout this years summer holiday little man hasn’t shown much motivation towards anything we’ve done.

Alice-Sara would also love this free style idea as she’s naturally very creative and engages herself well when drawing or crafting.

So… Just what was my idea for a fun and engaging art project?

Plate Decorating: Yep, that’s right! Having done something similar as a child as part of a school project (using a much more complicated process mind you) Plate decorating is actually a lot fun!

I’m not taking about drawing a picture onto a paper plate… Oh no!
I wanted the children to have something of a keepsake. I wanted them to have something they could keep for a long period of time, looking back on their creative flair with pride. As mentioned I did something similar at school (well, it was at nursery actually). We were given a special type of paper to take home. We were instructed to draw our design on it and then bring it back once complete. They then sent our designs of to have some company transfer them onto these plastic plates. I was 4-years-old and remember that activity like I did it just yesterday. My Grandmother had my plate displayed on her living room wall up In-till the day she died.. I think my father has it now!

The above was the inspiration for my idea, though I wanted to do things a little differently from back in the eighties so went shopping for some plain white dinner plates which I found easily enough in a local pound shop meaning I got a total of 4 for the bargain basement price of £4.

Later that evening myself and the two eldest children sat down ready for work. Little man was reluctant to begin with but once I’d explained there were no specific designs, he could design as he liked he was more willing to try. He doesn’t like colouring because his a perfectionist and finds it hard to stay within the lines of his drawing. This is due to his poor fine motor skills and often causes him problems.

As we were drawing our designs directly onto porcelain plates we need to use some special types of pen (normal felts would just rub away). For this we used Brilliant Porcelain Paint Pens, Acrylic Deco Pens and I also used on mine PicTixx 3D Glitter Pens all from the fabulous Baker Ross.

The children had fun and even sat by one another for a full 10 minutes before bickering (believe me thats a long time)!

Little man’s design was focused around his interest in wresting and this mostly consisted of a selection of different words written in different colours. As some of you may know, little man stopped writing for a good year and a half of his life, only doing so on a computer. To see him now writing and of his own free will, is most pleasing.

Little man didn’t spend a great deal of time adding his design to his plate. He did lose interest pretty quickly! As I’ve previously stated, his very hard to engage. Nonetheless, I’m dead proud of his contribution to the project and love his wrestling plate.

Alice-Sara designed a Monster High plate. This consisted of the monsters high logo with a couple of funky eyes placed on either side. She then added some funky lips and fangs before finally adding lots of different coloured speckles to finish off.

I absolutely loved it.

The pens are really easy to use as opposed to using paints and brushes. By using the pens the children have a greater control over their design. Alice and Little man mainly used the Brilliant Porcelain Paint Pens on their plates. The only thing you must ensure is that they don’t press down to hard as then too much paint gets released and the design will run. Once the children had both finished their plate I sealed their designs in the oven at 160’c.

I also got in on the action and having no idea what I wanted to do, I just messed around a little. I ended up with this funky enchanted forest design that I doodled around my twitter handle.

I also used PicTixx 3D Glitter Pens that can be applied to almost any surface and even washed at 30 degrees (I’m also currently using these on a pair of jeans I’m customising for my daughter) in this case I used the PicTixx to add a little sparkle to my plates finished design.

We also decorated some glass with Deco and Porcelain pens and though we haven’t quite finished yet here’s a little taster of how it’s going.

This made a lovely evening of crafting and the project is easy to do with really effective results.

You don’t have to buy new plates to personalise, you could always up cycle old ones you already have. I’m currently doing the same with some old jam jars and a vase thats seen better days (I’ll be sure to share with all once I’ve finished).

Recap; What we used for both our plates and glass painting.

Large white plates from pound store (£1 each) (brought 4 so total £4)
Old jars and glasses we already had in the cupboards
PicTixx 3D Glitter Pens from Baker Ross (5 pack) £9.99
Brilliant Porcelain Paint Pens from Baker Ross (6 pack) £10.99
Acrylic Deco Pens from Baker Ross (6 pack) £10.99

Baker Ross online store can be found on line. Just click Here

Half Term Battles

So yesterday was another one of those days. Woken early I had lots to do, firstly there were the kittens, two would be leaving us and although I knew we would all be a tad dishearten, there was one person in particular whom I knew would find the adjustments a little tough to take! Yep… The little man!

Little man was playing in the garden when the first kitten left… I thought it would be better this way! It wasn’t like he wasn’t aware he was leaving, he had said his good byes and gone of to play on the trampoline! Still preparing for the event didn’t make things that much easier and as expected Little man cried for a rather long time! He called me names, told me I was evil for taking his Bellas babies away!

The turn of kitten number 2 came and despite him knowing that we could visit this kitten as she would be living with my sister he still branded me a cat napper. “A cat napper indeed”

Change is always hard for little man, his become attached to these little furry balls of cuteness and his certainly been dreading their departure.

Children adjust, that’s what we are told, I know this is true we all adjust as human beings because we have to! It’s just that sometimes it takes the little man that bit longer and in the meantime his certainly not the easiest of children to live with.

During the early hours, Bella (the mother to the litter) is pacing, she’s crying and hunting for her babies! Little man showed no intention on sleeping instead informing me that he was cat sitting! Yes… Cat sitting! I dont know who’s worse, Bella or Little Man? I’m sure they both felt I was going to steal the remaining two kittens during the night as both wouldn’t leave the room and Bella was continuously carrying her kittens around the room before trying to stash them beneath my bed.

I do love the connection little man has with our cat Bella, yes it sometimes feels like a kick in the guts when he shows her more affection than me… His mother, but he just has a different connection with animals which in many ways is beautiful.

Another thing that seems to have affected little man is not only the half term but that of the extended bank holiday weekend. Like many of us tend to do, the little man is getting his days mixed up. The whole thing has thrown his body clock into overdrive… I guess it’s kinda of like jet lag. The half term can often be disastrous and the fact it’s another bank holiday today won’t help!

The queens jubilee seems to have taken over the television and the little man is getting somewhat tired of it. Plus it’s messed up the bus timetable so we will definitely not be going anywhere that requires such a mode of transport for the remainder of the day!

I would say that luckily the little man is now sleeping but it’s 2.30 pm and this just makes it harder for him to settle tonight! We often find any sort of bedtime routine that we have put everything into establishing goes to mush once any type of school holiday hits.

One thing the little man has been focusing on, which I guess makes him feel that bit more relaxed, Is that of his special interest. Transport and Lego are a bit part of his life and now his added wrestling to the equation his had plenty to occupy his Busy mind… And mine!
Admittedly he has been driving me a little bonkers with his Lego master pieces which largely consists of buses and wrestling rings and that of his constant re-enacting of wrestling matches which involves lots of banging and crashing (headaches are a continuous part of my life these past few days)! However his interest have saved us from any major meltdowns and have been my secret weapon for reinforcing good behaviour, so, yes they have their up sides.

Here’s hoping the rest of the half term runs smoothly and we don’t face any back to school battles!