Kristin and Kindness

One Woman's Story of Sharing Love and Lessons... At the end of a baseball bat.

5 Things You Should Bring to your IEP Meeting

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5 Things to Bring to your IEP Meeting

Yearly, children with special needs are required to have a meeting, which involves going over their goals and progress on their individualized education plan (IEP.  This can also be called an Admission, Review, & Dismissal (ARD) committee meeting in Texas.  You, the parent, have a lot of rights, and I hope that you take advantage of them.

I have attended ARD/IEP meetings at a total of 6 schools with countless administrators, teachers, and professionals.  We have had good meetings, bad meetings, and some meetings where more than one person leaves in tears.  I’ve got some tips so that the person who leaves crying isn’t you.  IEP meetings are intimidating.  You are one person with 10 other people on the other side of the table.  For most of the meetings I’ve been to, the team is already there when I get into the room.

You need 5 things to make this a success:

1. A recorder.  A small handheld recorder like this one (affiliate), or an app on your smartphone is very important.  In Texas, one party recording is legal, but it is common courtesy to let the school know that you are recording.  Ahem.  I have saved all of the recordings in more than one place.  They have come in extremely handy.

2. Something to drink.  Not only does it keep your throat soothed while you’re talking, but it gives you a delay tactic.  I always bring the largest bottle of water I can find to meetings.  Before I open my mouth to say something, I take a drink.  It can give you that extra second to let your brain catch up to your mouth.  Or your emotions.

3. Pen and paper.  You need to take notes.  Even if it’s just things you want to talk about, or things you want to ask about later, document parts of the meeting.  You may or may not look at them later, but it’s important to jot down things while they’re fresh.

4. Someone to be in your corner.  My husband attends all ARD/IEP meetings with me.  Here’s a brief list of the people who will be on the other side of the table:  principal/assistant principal, general education teacher, speech language pathologist, occupational therapist, special education teacher, special education coordinator, counselor, licensed school psychologist, etc, etc.

5. Your patience.  It can be extremely hard to attend an IEP meeting where you hear just how badly your child is behind his peers.  There will be times where all you want to do is take your kid and hug them tight because they aren’t just a diagnosis.  Sometimes, through all the reams of paperwork, people forget that.

Preparing to face an ARD/IEP meeting can be stressful, but a little bit of preparation goes a long way.  If you’re a special needs parent, what tips would you add?

Free Ride to the Polls – Election 2016

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Free Ride to the Polls

Every year, the political rhetoric on Facebook gets worse.  And every year, I offer free rides to my friends who might need one in order to exercise their right to vote.  So far, I haven’t been taken up on it.

However, this year, I thought I’d appeal to a wider audience.

NOTE:  This is a non-partisan post.  No bashing the candidates.  No matter your feelings about either one of the presidential candidates, you should still get out there and vote because local elections are important.

If you need a ride in the Greater Houston Area, here are some resources.

  • METRO is offering free rides on October 29th, November 4th, and November 8th for all registered voters from 7 am until 7 pm.  See the flyer here.
  • Sutliff and Stout are offering free ride rebates for the first 1000 submissions.  See more details here.
  • Uber is offering free rides via their site Voterdrive.us.  See more details and sign up here.

If you have any questions about what to bring to the polls in Texas to vote, or where some of your candidates stand, please visit the League of Women Voters of Texas election guide.

If this post has helped you, I’d greatly appreciate a like or share!

InstantPot Recipe – No Soak Red Beans and Rice

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InstantPot Recipe – No Soak Red Beans and Rice

Before developing this recipe for the InstantPot, I couldn’t find a good recipe for red beans and rice in the InstantPot that didn’t involve soaking the beans.  I love a good pot of beans.  White beans, black beans, red beans, they’re all good to me.  However, my lack of planning can get me in trouble and I frequently decide to have beans too late to soak them. InstantPot to the rescue! I purchased one in February and I love it. After being afraid of it for a month, I got over my fears and started using it. Now, I use it at least once a week.

My crock-pot and I have been friends for many years, but the InstantPot is just so much faster!

Try this recipe the next time you need dinner on the table in about an hour.

1.5 lbs dried red kidney beans, rinsed and sorted through
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1 tsp pepper (I used smoked, but regular is fine)
1 carton veggie broth
2 cups water
1 splash of Worchestershire sauce (probably 1.5 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon creole seasoning
1 rope of beef sausage

Add all ingredients to InstantPot. Cook on beans/chili mode for 40 min. Use natural pressure release.

Serve over cooked rice.

Why I Won’t Buy From The School Supply List

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Why I Won’t Buy From The School Supply List

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I’ve already seen it.  Post and counter-post.  Complain and complain about the complainers.

Must be July.

And school supply season.

Every year, I post the same thing to my personal Facebook.  I don’t buy and send everything on the school supply list.  Some years it has included such things as toilet paper, red pens for the teacher, dry erase markers, and paper plates.  This year it’s mostly reasonable for my second grader, but some of my friends didn’t have the same experience.

My friend J, who has twins going into 5th grade needed 25 glue sticks.

Each.

In a regular class of 20, that is 500 glue sticks.

Where are those going to be kept?  Much less kept neatly?

No.  I have one kid in college.  One who is going into 11th grade.  And one who is going to be a second grader, even though he’s been in school for 5 years.  That is almost 30 separate school lists.  If I bought every single item on every one of those lists, I’d be broke.

No.

I know schools are underfunded.  I know teachers have to buy school supplies.  I KNOW there are kids who are underprivileged, whose parents don’t know how to shop the deals.

But that can’t be my only concern.  I have to worry about my own kid and my own budget, and my own sanity.

So, if your school supply list includes duct tape and paper plates and toilet paper, I’m out.

And I won’t apologize for it.

Parenting – You’re NOT doing it wrong

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Parenting – You’re NOT doing it wrong

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It’s hard to be a good mother these days.

After all, everywhere you look tells you that you’re doing it wrong.  From Facebook horror stories, to Pinterest worthy projects that ALL of the best moms are doing, there are a million and a half sources of THE BEST way to raise your children, all the while reassuring you that you are the WORST mother ever.
This blog is not one of them.  I want to reassure YOU that you are doing the best you can.  Parenting ideals change so rapidly, that all you can do is the best that you can do.
Way back in the dark ages, when I started raising children, there was no Internet to tell me the best way to do things.  I relied on my family and limited knowledge and instincts to raise my first two children.  I was a single mom, who worked full time, and sometimes went to school at the same time.  I could only do so much in the 168 hours a week, 24 hours a day that I had.
However, now that my older children are mostly grown at ages 20 and 16, I can reflect upon motherhood with a little bit of clarity that first time moms of little ones aren’t granted.
Did my oldest two suffer because they doesn’t have a book signed by each and every one of their elementary school teachers?  Or a hand-painted mural depicting their growth?  Or any one of a thousand different craft projects that I had neither the time or money to create?
No, but they do have a healthy respect for each and every single one of their teachers.  And do you know what else they have?  A healthy work ethic because I wouldn’t and couldn’t hand them everything on a silver platter.
When my oldest first went away to college, there were more than a few boys in his dorm who were unable to wash their own clothes.
My kids started learning how to use the washing machine by the time they could reach the buttons.
And that’s okay.
Responsibility and chores never hurt a healthy child.

Biracial Hair Primer for Moms

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Biracial Hair Primer for Moms

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My daughter has the most gorgeous hair.  Everywhere we go, people want to remark on it (and touch it, but that’s a subject for a different post).  Her hair has always been a series of trial and error, for both techniques and products.  I had a drawer full of stuff that just didn’t work for her hair when she was a baby, and now that she is 16 and managing it herself, I have a few tips that I’d like to share with moms who might be as clueless as I was.

  1.  Listen to other moms when they are giving you advice.  While they are not your child’s mother, there is a good chance that they have been there, done that, and will save you a lot of time, money, and hassle.
  2. Don’t be afraid to try new products.  It’s just hair; it will be okay.  Some of the stuff we’ve used the longest was the stuff I picked up on a whim.  Currently, my daughter is using this shampoo and leave in conditioner.
  3. Buy the good comb and brush.  Trust me.  Buying a cheap comb that will only break while you’re doing hair is not worth it.
  4. Set up a routine early.  Yes, I know it’s a pain.  I spent hours parting, braiding, and combing hair before there were tablets and iPads.  The VCR was my friend.
  5. Set up a station that has everything you might need.  For younger children, that’s rubber bands, barrettes, balls, beads, etc, in addition to your comb, hair cream, sleep caps, and brush.

 

Why Kindness?

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Why Kindness?

Once upon a time, there was a woman who liked to blog.

She blogged about coupons, deals, and dealing with special needs.

But, she didn’t get to rant. She didn’t get to be herself.

So she started a new blog.

Once upon a time, there was a woman who liked to swing a baseball bat.

And, she loved it SO MUCH, that one of her sweet friends bought her one.

With her name on it.

And it was named Kindness.

Welcome to Kristin and Kindness.

Let’s talk about diagnoses

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I have written and posted a lot on my other blog about youngest son, J.

J beach

But this is a new blog, with a new direction, and maybe a new audience.  I meant to have a lot of posts queued up and ready to go before I posted.  As you can see, this blog is bare bones and basic.  I’ll be adding more bells and whistles soon.

However, someone posted something on Facebook that set me off, so away we go.

Let me tell you about my son.

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