3 days, 1 hr ago by mum4teens
Life, ADHD and Working from Home!
Do you ever wish you could stay home and be a full-time Mum and still contribute to the family income? I did.   Every single day.  Let me tell you my story..... I was a young girl in a small town with a good office job which I loved.  Life was good and definately not boring.    I married in March 1991.   The wedding day alone is a story in itself and could possibly be perceived as an omen.  lol.   I was 26 years of age.  We were looking forward to starting our family as soon as possible however this wasn't to be.   For some reason my hormones were out of wack causing me to be infertile....................temporarily as it turns out. I had my first child in June 1992, a son.    He was a beautiful baby weighing 9 pounds.   I didn't think he would be so big as I was sent on early leave due to the baby not growing.   Complete bedrest for 2 weeks obviously fixed that problem.   He was also 3 weeks overdue, which no-one except myself was concerned about.   I had taken maternity leave for 12 months to care for him with the intention of returning to work after 6 months.   My husband wasn't the best of breadwinners.  He had had many jobs in past 18 months, the longest lasting 6 weeks.   Unfortunately he also owed alot of money in particular his parents who demanded I return to work early.   Hence the 6month maternity leave.    When Alex was 5 weeks old, my MIL told me I needed to get casual work as her son (my husband) wasn't working and they wanted to be paid what he owed them.   We also had had a few irrate people knocking on the door demanding payment.   As my husband obviously wasn't capable or interested in working long enough for us to pay them back anytime soon, it was up to me to return to work.   I took on a casual job as a shedhand, sorting beans.   This was only for 3 days a week, tho there were times when I was called in unexpectedly.     My mother looked after the baby even tho she lived 45 mins away.   After the bean season was finished, I had a week break before going back to my office job.   Luckily one of the shedhands was beginning a new venture as a Family Day Care Mum.   Alex was her first charge.   She saw his first steps, decided his daily diet, heard his first word and got called Mum.    I kept telling myself that it didn't matter. In 1994 I had my second son.   I was even more determined to stay home and be a full-time Mum to both my boys.   I had resigned from my office job instead of going on Maternity leave and the in-laws were not happy.   My husband still couldn't keep a job for long but was slightly improving the time frame.   By the time Ryan was 6 months old, it was again obvious I needed to find work.   This time I was lucky and found a job as a Girl Friday for a dietician.   He conducted monthly clinics in various towns throughout Queensland and employed someone in each town to run the clinics; from finding a suitable office, advertising locally to taking appointments.   This could be done at home except the 1 clinic day a month.   Woo Hoo.   I could be there for the kids.   This was perfect.   When Ryan was 1 year old, I needed to increase my income.    I found an employment as office assistant, 2 days a week.  the boys needed to go to daycare.   Ryan went to family day care and Alex went to a daycare center.  Everything was fine, I could still keep the Dietician's job too.   My husband even got a new job and stayed there for several months.   We were slowing paying off his debts.     With Christmas coming up tho, money was again a problem.   I got extra work as a cleaner.   It was hard work and definately not my ideal job.   Spring cleaning other peoples homes was the last thing I ever wanted to do and it wouldn't be for long. Famous last words.   In December 1996, I had my third child, a daughter.   My husband resented her.....even to the fact that he would go fishing with his mates and leave her unattended until I came home after taking my eldest son to school.   This happened twice and I never left her in his care again.   By the way,  each time he said that he was at a neighbours and forgot the time.   It wasn't until years later that I found out that he had been fishing......in a boat.....5 miles or more from land. When Rhiannon was 18 months old, I needed to find work again.    This time, I wanted to be home for the kids as much as possible and with the daycare fees being expensive, a home-based business was a better option.   It was just a matter of finding one. A friend introduced me to UndercoverWear Collections and I became a consultant for 5 years.   I really enjoyed party-plan, tho it did take up more time than I anticipated, which also caused friction with my husband.   Funny that! Just before Rhiannon turned 3 years old,  the kids and I moved to Townsville.   Being a single Mum was hard, but not impossible.    We found a house in a quiet street.   I enrolled the boys in a nearby private school.   Life was good.   A couple of months later, my husband followed us to Townsville and managed to charm his way back into our lives.   Away from the influence of his parents tho, he became more reliable with employment and more self-sufficient financially.    I continued my party plan business for a few more years until I had enough.   The kids now attended a nearby state school.  Once Rhiannon began school, I needed to work again.   To be able to find instant work with school hours, I went back to cleaning.   In a way, it was a good move.   My husband and I separated in 2004.   Without the cleaning work, I would not of been able to pay the bills.   We divorced in 2006.   Party Time!  In 2005, Ryan was diagnosed with ADHD.   In a way it was a relief to have a reason for his behaviour but I didn't like the idea of my child on speed based drug s.   During 2004, he had problems at school which seemed to be as much caused by the Teacher and Deputy Principal from reports of other children at school.   The Deputy Principal even picked on Ryan without due cause, in my presence.    I transfered Ryan to another  state school.     Initially he showed great improvments until the next year.    After being called back to school every day to either settle Ryan or to take him home, I gave up the cleaning work.    Ryan was unable to stay in his classroom and would constantly take off.    Apparently he found that he couldn't read or keep up with his classmates and felt stupid because he couldn't concentrate.   the School requested I collect him each day at lunch time so I tried to home school him.   It didn't work very well,  probably because I expected him to just sit and do his work.   So we tried to help him by me attending his class for the middle session each day and reading the work off the board so that he could write it down and keep  up.    That worked for a term, tho very embarrasing for him.    Finally the school decided that unless he go to Youth and Mental Health and be assessed, he would not be able to attend school.   Years prior, I had had Ryan at Youth & mental health to be assessed, but they could not find any problems.   I also had had the Behavioural Officer at the first state school assess him,  according to her, he was just a boy.  I had also taken him to the University Post-Graduate Physicologists.   According to them,  he needed counselling. Anyway with this new threat of the current school,  I rang Youth and Mental Health,  unfortunately they had a waiting list of 18months, but referred a doctor who specialised in childrens behaviour.     We went to the doctors and she got Ryan, myself and Ryan's teacher to do a Conners Test. This showed Ryan to be ADHD at a very high level.    He then was assessed by the school guidence officer for his IQ and learning ability.  He was also assessed by an eye specialist as to whether he had any eye problems or deslexia.   The Doctor was positive that Ryan was a bright student,  however the ADHD masked his abiltiy due to the difficulty in concentration.   She recommended he take Ritalin.  Like I mentioned earlier,  I didn't like the idea of speed based drugs for kids,  diagnosed or not. During this time, I was again looking for a way to earn an income and because of the issues with Ryan, I needed to be home as well.   Party plan was out as I didn't have anyone to mind the kids.  What to do!! Why not use my computer?   I answered an ad on the computer about working from home, and then promptly forgot about it.   A week or 2 later, I received a phonecall from someone about my inquiries.   They were from Herbalife,  after hearing what they had to say, I was very dubious.    then I received another phone call.   This time the information I received rang a bell.   I knew it would work.   the business was Melaleuca.    I tried the products............they were fantastic.   I tested them out throughly.    The business side was slower to come admittedly,  mainly due to other commitments I had at the time as well as lack of finances.   But I kept at it as I knew it would take me longer to do than some.   It has certainly improved our lifestyle and our health.   I decided to try the vitamen supplements instead of Ritalin for Ryan.   Unfortunately the school would not accept them.  It was Ritalin or similar.   Ritalin it was.    There was a huge change in Ryan's behaviour at school and an improvement on his report card.  His behaviour at home settled down.   The side effects was that the poor kid couldn't eat during the day as it supressed his appetite.  He certainly made up for it at home tho.   He was also one of the oldest kids at school in 2007, but was one of the shortest kids in his grade.  He also hated having to go to the office each day to take his Ritalin.   We tried Long Acting Ritalin & Concerta (both once a day type tablets), but he suffered huge nose bleeds.   Apparently this is not a noted side effect but as he rarely suffered nose bleeds prior or while on the short acting Ritalin, that was the only possible cause.  In 2008, Ryan became a high schooler.   First Term was great.  Few clashes with students and teachers.   In Second Term tho, Ryan started to wag school and skip classes.   the School asked for my assistance and tried to give him incentives to stay at school.  Unfortunately nothing worked.   He had gotten to the stage where he just refused to go to school at all.   Drives you nuts huh! Well,  I figured if he won't go to school,  then school will come to him. I had home schooled Alex part of the previous year.   I registered him with Charters Towers distance Education and we commenced Home schooling.   As I had gone back to working outside the home, it was a bit difficult but we did it.  With a bit of help from a tutor.   At the end of 2008 I resigned from my outside work to become a full-time Mum again.   My Melaleuca business has reached the stage that I am able to do so.  2009 I will continue to home school Ryan,  run Alex to work, take Rhiannon to school and run my business.    It will certainly be a full year.          

1 wk, 1 dy ago by terriandco
Look out lol, figured out how to work my way through the dashboard
Starting to understand more about blogging. Huge fun and for someone like me who could sometimes talk the leg off a chair, so tap in touch. bye.

2 wks, 1 dy ago by whineklubb
Just to let everyone know the date for the next Whine Klub: Sat 28 February 2009 @ The Carnegie's Wines: Dan and Sarah - Champagne Luke and Lauren - White Luke and Kylie - Red Mike and Karen - Dessert

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