Short and Sometimes Sweet

I sometimes get annoyed when parents come to collect their children and remark about them having paint or something on their clothes! In my humble opinion, young children should be dressed comfortably and practically rather than fashionably! My annoyance comes from the fact that I believe in MESSY PLAY!                                        I have spoken before in my blogs about my battle with depression. Some days I live with it, others it lives with me. Part of my battle includes the famous OCD.Yes, I am that soldier. When my children were a lot younger they would be seen in public only if their clothes, hair, toys etc were scrubbed until they shone. Our house was a shrine to cleanliness and anti bacterial products. There were no ornaments, instead we went for the "minimal" look! Lots of therapy later, and here I am advocating getting messy! When I was in college many years ago our tutor brought out lots of flour, oil, salt and water and told us to make playdough...WITHOU

Have you ever learned anything by rote and was able to say it word for word in front of a teacher and then sat down and wondered why? I've never understood why teachers encourage this kind of "Learning" because it's my experience that very little learning actually takes place. Sometimes children come into my school and all the parents care about is that they can say their numbers, or they know their colours when they've actually never learned what it feels like to say, jump in a puddle, or run barefoot in the grass?                                                       I am a great believer in what I call "Experiential Learning". It's kinda like when someone shows you how to do something, but it's only in actually doing it you really know how. We're all individuals, with different levels of intelligence (In my case it depends on the day, time etc) so how come in school we're all taught the same way, at the same pace? In 1983 a theorist c

Sometimes at this time of the year, we miss those who are no longer with us. I have been quite upset, as we had another Christmas/New Year without my Mam. We didn't always get on. We weren't always best friends. We worked through our issues, and I'm glad to say that we couldn't have been closer in the end. Anyway I found comfort from my friends and family. And in various poems and prose. I thought I'd share this one. “You can shed tears that she is gone, or you can smile because she has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back, or you can open your eyes and see all she's left. Your heart can be empty because you can't see her, or you can be full of the love you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. You can remember her only that she is gone, or you can cherish her memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn