Eat the Cake First
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A resource for parents, advocates, magic makers, friends, providers, and healers caring for kids living with complex and chronic medical conditions.
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Finding Magic, Whimsy, & Gratitude
While Caregiving a Sick Child Is Essential
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I have a kid living with a rare, often debilitating and complex medical illness. On our journey, I have gotten a lot of advice - some of it good and some of it, let's just say well-intentioned. One of my favorite pieces of advice has been to let my daughter "Eat The Cake First". Simple , brilliant, and effective - guaranteed to preserve the magic of childhood.
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You can read more about my family in this Today's Parent magazine article
"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." - Viktor Frankl
HOW TO INFUSE MAGIC & FIND GRATITUDE
IN UNEXPECTED PLACES
...from rollerskating down hospital hallways in super hero outfits to gratitude scavenger hunts
Choosing Gratitude
I never ever thought I would be the mom who would bringing pom-pom's and the Troll's soundtrack into radiology for a pre-procedure dance party before the Versed (a medication used for anesthesia) kicked in and sedated my daughter. I didn't even know what Versed was; nor EMLA, nor MREs, nor Buzzy Bees.
I cannot change that my kids have had to live with illness nor that medical system is, for the most part, emphatically bureaucratic and sterile. But I can choose how I react. And I can create a shroud of magic and a cloud of humanity to change my child's experience of chronic illness.
I choose to be grateful for the small moments, count my blessings, and look for the good as much as, and everywhere, possible. And I find ways to put beauty and magic into as many moments as possible.
I cannot change that my kids have had to live with illness nor that medical system is, for the most part, emphatically bureaucratic and sterile. But I can choose how I react. And I can create a shroud of magic and a cloud of humanity to change my child's experience of chronic illness.
I choose to be grateful for the small moments, count my blessings, and look for the good as much as, and everywhere, possible. And I find ways to put beauty and magic into as many moments as possible.
Offering Resources
This is a collection of ideas and experiences - collected by me and others as part of our on-the-mom training as parents of children with chronic health conditions. These are strategies and tools to successfully keep the magic of childhood alive by "eating the cake first" while balancing all the medical/healthcare stuff and the impact it has on everything from biopsies to birthday parties and breakfast to bedtime.
Basically how to become a "momologist" - the job no one wants, but you have.
Basically how to become a "momologist" - the job no one wants, but you have.
FOR SOME NITTY-GRITTY AND NAVIGATION RESOURCES- AKA: "WHAT TO EXPECT-WHEN THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS" - PLEASE CHECK OUT KIDS&CAREGIVERS.
THE BIG PICTUREHaving a really sick kid is horrible, because there are some things we cannot make "all okay". Sometimes we can influence how what happens next occurs. |
WHIMSY - "HOW TO'S"Unlearn ' the "good patient/caregiver" mindset and start infusing all those medical encounters with magic and fun |
GRATITUDINGRegain a locus of control with some simple gratituding techniques |