Playgrounds

It has been school holidays this week in Adelaide- one more week left and back to school again. I’ve been working Vacation Care which I find more fun than the normal everyday Outside School Hours Care. And really it should be, because who really wants to go to school in the holidays! Yesterday we went on an excursion to the St. Kilda Adventure Playground. I haven’t been there for years, and although I was the ‘adult supervision’ it was fun (and secretly I wanted to go down the big slippery dip). I remember going there when I was younger and having a ball. Well done to the City of Salisbury for continuing to develop and expand the playground in a time where it seems that lots of the fun (and risk) has been removed from adventure playgrounds because of soaring Insurance Premiums.

I find the whole concept of going to school in your holidays weird to get my head around (even though I work in the industry). I grew up in a time and place where most of my peers mothers were stay at home mums and it was the dad that went to work. Maybe once or twice- a day here or there- I went to a school holiday program, and I particularly remember hating being at one program. School holidays were the time when I could hang out at home and do things with my family. Now before you all yell at me and say that it is a different time, not all families are the same, and mortgages need two incomes to support them etc, etc, I know. But I do wonder what a child loses when they can no longer just hang out and do fun things at home.

Last week of term

Hooray it’s the end of term! Eleven weeks makes for a very long term, tired teachers and tired students. Nothing like 2 weeks of holidays to recharge the batteries!

It was another good week, yes again tiring, but I’ve also been doing split shifts with my OSHC work this week too. Have been trying to use my Choice Theory training in my interactions with the children. It was great when the Principal walked into my office in the middle of me working with children to see us working on the Total Behaviour Car- she could back up what we were doing and continue to encourage the children to take responsibility for their behaviour.

I’ve been thinking lots about choices the last couple of days. In the past 18 months and my journey in and through depression and anxiety I have finally seen that I do have choices, and that I can make choices for myself. For me, depression was a place where I felt frozen and out of control, controlled by my circumstances and my out of control emotions. Mind you, they were feelings that I had pushed and pushed down, and not dealt with. Well, finally I’ve had to deal with them. Anyway, now I’m starting to see the responsibility that is linked with taking control, with making choices, especially when there are things that I don’t necessarily want to do, but that I need to do. There’s probably nothing new or life shattering in that, but for me it is something that shows me that I’m moving and changing and growing and still questioning. And that’s good.

Jane

say goodbye to another beautiful soul

got the sad sad news of a young male suicide today…

makes me sad, makes me angry

that family has suffered so much already

seems more and more to me that knowing we have choices is really important

Christian Pastoral Support Worker

Well we have our new name.  No longer School Chaplains (well not until term 3).

Does it feel clumsy?  Yes.
Does it feel all wierd?  Yes.

In the end, it doesn't really matter what we are called.  What an awesome privilege to be able to work in the school system and support the staff and families whose children attend.

Well here goes…

I didn't think that writing my first blog would be so hard.  One more blog in a world of millions of blogs.

Is going to take me a while to get my head around all of this, but I'm willing to give it a go.

 For those of you who don't know me, I'm a single 30-something year old chick who currently juggles 5 part time jobs.  I love music and reading.  And I'm discovering lately that I'm becoming more and more passionate about child protection and other issues relating to children.

There's more to me… but that's all for now.