As soon as someone is diagnosed with any form of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, or Vascular Dementia, they lose friends and family. Even people who were once close to them may stop coming over to visit. People with dementia often end up becoming more and more isolated because their family and friends don't know how to communicate with them. Family … [Read more...]
“Look at My Butt!”: How I Reclaimed My Right To Wear Whatever the Heck I Want
My life has been plagued by people telling me what I can and cannot wear. They tell me not only what is supposed to look good on my short, pear-shaped body, but more distressingly, what I have to wear to be “acceptable.” I've been living a life of “good girls don’t wear that” as a youth, to “successful women don’t wear that” in college, to “female ministers don’t wear that” … [Read more...]
Hugs Not Required: Respecting Children’s Bodies and Boundaries
The Body is Not an Apology promotes radical self love and body empowerment. If we are to truly advocate for these values, then we need to not only do this work for ourselves as adults, but do it for children as well. We adults struggle with these issues mainly because of the culture we were raised in and how the adults in our childhood treated us. Knowing this, I believe we … [Read more...]
Embrace Your Own Beauty Standards: Corseting and Radical Self-Love
When I went to my first corset booth at a Steampunk convention, I was very embarrassed. I had only seen corsets in the media on very thin models, so I was sure that no one would make a corset big enough to fit me. The artistry of these handmade, steel-boned garments was amazing, though, and I had to inquire about them. At the booth were men and women, of all shapes, assisting … [Read more...]
10 Tips for Introducing Disability to Kids
As parents, there are so many things that we need to help our kids learn. I think every parent or guardian has had a similar experience of the first time their toddler saw someone with a visible disability. Maybe the child saw a person in a wheelchair, or someone with dwarfism, and they pointed and stared. Perhaps the child said loudly, “Look! What is wrong with that person?” … [Read more...]
Lovingkindness: How To Deal With Parenting Mistakes
In the ten years of raising my son, I have made a lot of parenting mistakes. These missteps range from small things, such as not knowing my son’s school schedule and missing school events, to bigger things, like being so depressed that I cannot even get him to school some days. I could write about any number of my parenting mistakes, but by far, the biggest mistake I make is … [Read more...]
Long Live Yoga Pants, Leggings, Nipples, and Camel Toes
I have an entry in my journal from high school about my dilemma over telling my Mom that I needed a Miracle Bra. The costumer in a play I was in suggested that I go get a Miracle Bra from Victoria’s Secret so that I filled out the top of my costume better. I knew my Mom would not like that idea, but I loved it. I was fourteen years old, and it was the 1990s, a time when … [Read more...]
What I Teach My Son When I Say I Am Fat: Practicing Self Love for Our Children’s Sake
This piece first appeared on the author's blog, Bipolar Spirit, and is reprinted here by permission. You can read more of Katie's work on her site RevKatieNorris.com. In When Your Mother Says She's Fat by Kasey Edwards, the author writes a letter to her mom about what she learned when her mother insulted herself about her weight. What Edwards learned struck a cord for me – and … [Read more...]
The 10 Most Important Things Kids Living with Someone with a Mental Illness Need to Know
Being a mother and living with a mental illness, I get many parents asking me if and how they should talk to their kids about mental illness. When I tell people that yes, they should talk to their kids and be honest with them about their loved one with mental illness, many parents insist I am wrong. They assume kids can not handle learning about mental illness and that they … [Read more...]
Where is My Son? A Glimpse into Living with Dementia
On Tuesday, I woke up with a start. I checked my phone and saw that it was 11 am. I immediately panicked because I thought I’d slept through my alarm and had not taken my son to school. I called for my son to come into my room, but he did not come in. I called again, with no response. I got annoyed because I figured he must be in his room with his headphones on. I went into his … [Read more...]
6 Things We Want Sophie and All Little Kids to Know the Next Time They Feel Pressured by Barbie or Anyone Else!
Facebook was ablaze yesterday with a sweet little girl named Sophie who was being interviewed by her father in the wake of a blue nail polish and Barbie debacle. Sophie was upset and imploring her daddy to understand that she was unduly pressured by those sneaky Barbies to paint their nails. We felt such compassion for sweet Sophie that we wrote her a letter we hope she … [Read more...]
Mental Health is As Easy As Learning to Tie Your Shoe
In the art program I created for people with dementia, Creative Connections, I use a Montessori-based approach to making art activities accessible. The Montessori system is assumed to be only for kids, but I have come to find that it works with people of all ages and abilities. There are many components to the Montessori philosophy, but one main aspect of Montessori is the … [Read more...]
Doctors Don’t Know It All: Being My Own Best Mental Health Advocate
I have been in treatment for mental illness for seventeen years. When I first started taking medication for depression, I had side effects that were severely affecting my life, and the medicine was not making the depression all that much better. We went through many different medications, but my treatment mainly consisted of arguments with psychologists who did not believe I … [Read more...]
Pretty Tired of Pretty
My eleven year old son suggested I write about the word pretty. I asked him why, and he said “Because my mommy is pretty.” Immediately, I panicked and knew I could not write about that word. That’s how I knew I had to write about it. As an adjective (according to Google search), pretty means “attractive in a delicate way without being truly beautiful or handsome.” As a … [Read more...]
