Ruminating on being a netball mum

Did you play netball when you were younger? Perhaps you still play!

I was an average netballer, "C" grade from memory. I enjoyed it but had no passion for it. My strongest memories are the permanent pleated skirt and the unflattering nature of scungies (see above image)!!

Both Oldest and Middle KAT play and I have now officially morphed into a netball mother having taken on a volunteer role with the netball club committee as VP of the Junior club.

I dumped ballet as I wasn't cut out to be a ballet mum...the buns were the undoing of me. Netball administration however suits my OCD tendencies and so far I'm enjoying it. Must say having jobs to do takes my focus off whether the girls are winning or losing:)

 

 

Fostering resiliance in the KATs

Quote from here

Term two is in full swing in the house of KATcapers.  Oldest KAT is in year 7 and Middle KAT in Year 5 so that also means we have NAPLAN hanging over our heads.

Each time we've gone through this we get the blurb from the school reminding us that the children shouldn't feel stressed or anxious about NAPLAN. 

Heeeeelllo!  What parallel universe do these teachers live in! Oh and can I join them there!?

There's simply no getting away from this locomotive as it steams down the track towards them!! Regardless of Saint Mike and I keeping the focus off it at home, there is more than enough discussion about it amongst their peers and at school generally.

Oldest KAT is not anxious about it.  She's more concerned with the assessments she's undergoing for subjects like Science, History and Design & Technology which is all new to her!  She is going from strength to strength academically and reading, writing and arithmetic is like breathing to her.

Middle KAT on the other hand is a different kettle of fish.  Year 5 is truly turning into an emotional year for her.  She's had the usual surge of hormones (and feet growth) that signals her commencing her passage into young womanhood and this makes for an emotional time whenever any hurdle presents itself.  Unfortunately, schoolwork is a hurdle that is not getting any easier.

Her ability to focus (or lack thereof) has always been a source of worry for us.  ADHD is an acronym that we've toyed with over the years and even had her tested to see if there was anything that needed to be diagnosed.  Our concern has never been about behaviour as she's not disruptive, it's more to do with the feeling that she can lack focus and be "off with the pixies" which affects her learning.

How funny then that just when we're preparing for these weeks of high tension in our house I received an email from Allison wanting to know if I'd be interested in sharing the following information from OnlinePsychologyDegree.net:


For better or worse we're past the point of implementing this advice for toddlers and babies but I think it's got real merit in terms of the way we are trying to raise our KATs to be resilient and equipped to be emotionally mature, independent young people ready to take on the world in whatever way, shape or form their hearts and minds tell them to!

Saint Mike and I make a good team when it comes to adopting stretegies to help get the best out of our KATs.  I'm really lucky that way! For example we decided that we really needed to curb the amount of TV viewing and general screen time that's been going on in our house.  This chart talks about it for babies but it's soooo much harder when they can verbally complain about the no TV or games during the school week!!!

I'd love to know what you think of these pointers?  Do you prescribe to this approach or are following a different one?