Those that know us as a family, know that I am the proud mom of an adhd kiddo. We have been seeing a therapist to help us with all sorts of problems like the electronics addiction, bedtime routines, and helping our daughter when she gets upset. My spouse was less than enthusiastic about going and doesn't really believe in therapists generally but he does go and is willing, when harassed, to put the advice we get into practice. Some ideas work better than others, of course, but this is no exact science, this is parenthood. Our latest adventure was in the bathtub.
This particular voyage encountered rough seas when we received our water bill. It was definitely an attention getting figure, to quote my spouse "You'd think we still had our pool!". Thus we began to look at our water use. It is well known that my lovely, brilliant daughter is not famous for her attention span. This is a very pervasive problem. I will frequently find her on her bed, reading when she's supposed to be getting ready for a shower. Once she finally gets in there, she would spend most of the time singing into the shower head, putting on a rubber duck musical, or wiping down the glass doors with body wash!
I had been trying to think of a "something " we could use in the shower to fix the problem but I was a bit stuck. Our therapist helped me to put the idea into more concrete terms and helped us to come up with a plan to get our little squirrel to focus and stay on task. We had tried phone timers but with only limited success. The next idea was to give her majesty a hard candy to suck on while she's showering and when it was done, so was she. This helped a little. The best idea so far, for us, has been the waterproof picture.
My friends know I have a voice for accounting, my artistic skills are a close second. I tried to draw a front and back picture of a general human figure and regrettably, that was just what it looked like. My husband went online and found a good picture that didn't look like a medical textbook and printed it for me. I wanted to make it look a bit less like a chalk outline so I decided to change the head to a picture of a character from one of our daughter's favorite video games. I'm no expert on copyright laws but I'm glad this thing isn't leaving our bathroom.
Once I had our segmented body, freakishly large head and all, taped together and cut out, we took it to Staples and got it laminated. Unfortunately, now when you take a shower, there is a segmented body hanging there, staring at you, waiting for you to wash something and turn a piece over. I think I'll start with the head. The things we do for love!
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