Stretching, adapting…

Every household with minor children is adapting in big ways right now.

School is happening in the kitchen! How’s it going, Moms? ‘Feeling pretty good about grade 6 Math?

The kids are home. Like, they’re home all the time. Alllllll the time. No sports, no music lessons outside the home, selective playdates.

So much online everything. Maybe a little parental guilt about the amount of screen time that’s happening, too.

Teachers and doctors and coaches are stretched the limits of creative Zoom classroom-ing.

It’s a lot. The most resourceful and creative parents I know are feelin’ the pressure.

…and just managing

In the last few weeks I’ve heard the phrase, “We’re just managing.” A lot. There’s not much sparkle or curiosity. Folks are really tired of being flexible and rolling with it all. “I’m lucky because my kids get along well, but do we ever need to get away from each other!”

We’ve settled in for this long and wildly unpredictable ride. We’re doing all we can to maintain normalcy and learning and play. And some of our fellows are struggling under burdens that go beyond boredom and sibling squabbles.

Children’s charities are here to help

Are you a family (or loved-one to a family) that has children facing into unique disruptions during the pandemic? Mental and physical illness are exacting parental challenges at the most secure of times. If you, or your dear ones, are parenting children with complex needs, these are difficult times, indeed.

Our children’s charities list has been growing for years. My quick count shows that we have 174 actively receiving gifts through Donate a Car Canada right now!

Visit our charities page to discover a cause that resonates with you. You’ll find education-based works. There are so many organizations reaching toward sick kids. Focusing on food and housing insecurity, charities are meeting felt needs. There are even children’s charities dedicated to giving children access to sports.

When you donate a car

Choosing a kid’s charity as your vehicle donation recipient means cash in hand for that cause. We’ll do all of the work of pick-up and processing for your donated car, truck, van, motorcycle, etc. We’ll get paid for the vehicle, and then send the net proceeds on to your charity of choice. Tax time will be made a little gentler when you’re reminded of the gift you extended to kids in un-gentle times.

Help making a quick-pick

Kids Help Phone Children’s Treatment Network Because I am a Girl Bullying Canada Children’s Bridge Foundation

Your local foodbank/children’s hospital (see our charities page)

Find out more about how all of this works on our FAQ page. Or, give us a call at 1-877-250-4904!

You are also invited to contact and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter! From there, you’ll be able to keep up to date on our program as well as see posts that showcase our amazing donors and charities across the country!

The post Children’s Charities appeared first on Donate A Car.

And here we are. 2020 and in the midst of a pandemic. This question has become the most pressing decision of the summer.

Confusion, overwhelm, outright fear

Should I send my kids back to school? What arises in you when you face into this question with your family?

And do you have a process for discerning a way forward when emotions are high, information is confusing and even conflicting, and all you really wish for is a set routine? Something that feels normal. Familiar. Do you find that your thoughts run away with the what-if-s and how-to-s and I-can’t-even-s of the thing?

You’re not alone

You’ve read all of the information. You understand your options clearly. What now? Are you connecting with other parents? Are your children old enough to participate in this conversation? What is your own gut telling you (she probably knows what you need!)?

Some helps for making the choice

If you need some internal back-up from your own best teacher — your Self — this may help:

• Spend a day holding only the “Yes, I’m going to send my child back to school,” in your mind. Go about the day as if that is your decision. Notice: what happens in you when you stay with that answer. Do the same for the “No way! My kid is doing school at home.” Notice, notice, notice. What does this choice feel like?
• Take a day off from social media. Give your heart and mind permission to step back from the steady stream of importantinformation! and advice. Spend this one day listening only to your own inner voice, attending to your own interior life, as you ask, “Should I send my kids back to school?”
• Ask your Self, “What do I need right now?” In a quiet moment, maybe with your hand resting on your heart, ask, “What does my son/daughter need?”

Your kiddo is going to be ok

Most importantly, remind yourself often that a year of disrupted schooling is not going to make or break your child’s education.

I recall a time in the parenting and schooling of my own three sons where I was gripped by anxiety. Overwhelm. Uncertainty for the future. It was an important time of reflection: I was able to ask myself the question,

What really matters in my sons’ education? What will matter in one year? 5 years? In their adulthood? I was surprised to notice that the thing that surfaced as “most important” was not a university degree. Rather, I wondered if I was doing all I could to nurture boys into men who would be capable, helpful, content, hard workers, good humans. The kind of men who could navigate something as crazily disruptive as a global pandemic.

Schooling was disrupted in our lives for a bit back then. They’re all in their twenties, now, and (having achieved different levels of school along the way…via many non-traditional and traditional paths) they’re solid humans. Capable. Helpful and hard working and funny. The kind of men who handle global pandemics with presence of mind.

No right way – wrong way

What if there’s no wrong way to educate your children during the pandemic? Could it be that the answer to, “Should I send my kids back to school?” is…go for it! Or, don’t. Whatever you decide, don’t make yourself wrong. You’re doing the best you can and they’re going to be just fine.

The post Should I Send my Kids Back to School? appeared first on Donate A Car.

What has this past month been like for you? If you’re the parent of school-aged children you may be feeling a lot of pressure these days. Some of you are working from home while hands-on parenting. Home schooling used to be the practice of a minority (myself included), and is now the norm. If you have a child with special needs or learning challenges, you may have added complications.

Are you finding support in all of that? There are resources available to you. Do seek them out. This is a time for asking for what we need, and leaning into available resources.

Kim Golding on peaceful parenting

My colleague forwarded this on to me just yesterday. It’s from Kim S. Golding, 2015, with an added acknowledgement of Clover Childcare, Norfolk.

This gentle 7-step guide may be a helpful resource for all of us as parents? First, it offers a reminder for us to take a minute to check in with our self when facing into a parenting conundrum. “Calm begets calm; peace begets peace.” So say parenting specialists. That calm begins with us as parents. Take a look at this:

That trusty oxygen mask

The well-worn metaphor of the oxygen mask on the airplane applies here: Mom? Dad? Take your own deep breaths first. Then tend to your kiddo.

One of my practice instructors has patiently reminded me, “When we change the dialogue with which we speak to our self, we’ll change the way we speak to others. As we transform inwardly, we’ll change outwardly.” What does she mean by that? Be nice!

This is the time to be “excessively gentle” (John O’Donohue) with ourselves. And as we turn compassion inward, we’ll find ourselves more able to be patient and understanding outwardly.

May peaceful parenting bring about peaceful kiddos in a decidedly un-peaceful time in history. You’ve got this! And where you need back-up? Reach out. You are not alone.

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