Colour hanging grimly on in Yorkshire. This is an oasis surrounded by unremitting greyness.

Truly dreadful weather day. The wind has been blowing horizontal rain at the back door all day. Currently on the third towel trying to keep the utility room dry. It’s a bit of a losing battle. Let’s hope it’s the only losing battle today. I went to vote straight after the morning’s school run. Let’s leave it as that. Tomorrow will either be a hopeful post or a monumental rant of a post. You have been warned.

I’m writing this as son sits on the sofa watching a documentary on his tablet about Auschwitz. Yesterday he watched a few videos on the plight of the Palestinians. Puts everything into perspective. The fact that the youth of today watch this gives me hope for the future. Let’s hope we leave the next generation with a habitable planet so that they can mould a far better world.

With work for the day completed I set off for a run. Better described as a splash. Wow it was wet. After a few miles my poor hands were frozen so I foolishly put them in my waterproofs pockets for a warm. Rather than finding a haven of warmness they found a hidden pool of cold rain water. Lovely. I’m pleased that I opted for shorts. Not sure I fancied my leggings shrinking. My mind goes back to a mountain marathon during my university days. A six hour night drive to the Highlands of Scotland ready for the 9am race start. Everything was going so well until we arrived and changed for the race. I had forgotten my shorts. 30 minutes to the start time and the nearest sports shop was 20 miles away. The strange looks I was was getting as I walked around the runners saying ‘have you got a spare pair of shorts’. Looking like I would have to sit out the race when my race partner came to the rescue. ‘I can wear my shorts and you can try to use my leggings’. The problem was my partner was called Suzanne and she was somewhat more petite than me. To much laughter on her part I squeezed into the tight leggings. I was the only male competitor running in bright pink. It was also the only competitor that completed the race in with tears. Must admit the constrictor leggings did wonders for my dodgy hamstrings. But since then tight leggings have gone nowhere near my nether regions.

With my wet run completed it was a quick change and off on the school run. As a I arrived a very sodden Son trudged across the car park still in his sports gear. You could see him shaking with cold and the water dripping off his clothes. With the car heating full on he tried to get changed into his dry school uniform.

*****

“You’re drenched why didn’t you get changed out of your wet kit”

I didn’t want to risk it. We only get 5 minutes to change. If we are not out in that time you get a negative from the teacher.

“Have any kids been given negatives”

Virtually every week at least one kid gets a negative. It’s unfair especially as it’s the last lesson of the day.

*****

And another telephone call will be made to school. Five minutes. When I played football it would take me at least 10 minutes to get changed. It took five minutes just to prize my constrictor pink leggings off my butt all those years ago. Five minutes sounds tight before you factor in Aspergers and Dyspraxia. Getting changed does not come easy to him. School have been told this on several occasions by me and in writing by the Paediatrician. So much for the school making positive adjustments to make his school life comfortable and enriching.

It’s the frustration felt by far too many children and their parents. Everything has to be fought for. It’s a battle to get a diagnosis in the first place then the real fight starts. Trying to get any positive adjustments and help. As much as the media try to paint a different story … we are not looking for special treatment … we just want our kids (all kids) to get a fair chance in life. Is that too much to ask for.

*** late addition *** it WILL be a monumental rant….

109 thoughts on “Pink”

  1. I so wish your son could go to a school that cared about education for ALL the students! I dont think 5 minutes is enough time for anyone to completely change clothes unless they start stripping on the way to the locker room. Sheesh!!

    I’m checking the results… dont give up yet… exit polls could be wrong🤞🙏

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  2. I used to think getting a diagnosis would be the end of the battle but it was just the start. In fact, the kids have LESS access to services than they did before their diagnosis as they are no longer in remit of local services eg OT, physio, SLT, psychologist and can only see “specialist ASD team” who are underfunded and a joke.
    Anyway, that’s my rant. I’ve a feeling your rant tomorrow will be epic.

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    1. It’s the same here. Before the diagnosis the council was supportive, after the reality kicks in. In the years since he has had sone funding which basically buys him a mainstream school place and no specialist educational support. The NHS has tried but they are starved of funds. Only going to get worse now.

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  10. Hi. Pink leggings – now that must have been ‘a sight for sore eyes’! Keep the pressure on – it did and still does take me much more than five minutes to change even when in rush!! Have a great day. Goff

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      1. Guess it did! Close family members were in a similar situation that you find yourself in. They had to fight all the time to be able to move forward. It was a struggle but they did get results; even if it was only one step at a time. Best Regards. Goff

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      3. Yes. As I told family members; how lucky their children were to be born into a family who cared: loved: were articulate: knew what had to be done: knew how to set about it: were prepared to sacrifice all and fight for their children. So many are not as fortunate. Happy weekend. Goff

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  11. Pingback: Pink Leggings – A poem by Goff James | Art, Photography and Poetry

  15. I can remember my freshman year of high school when my first class was across the road from the school in a field, gym class. We had fifteen min to get from the field to our next class, shower and dress. A horrible start to the day. The school was three stories and the cafeteria was on the bottom floor. The fifteen minute rule still applied to get to lunch, eat and back into class, fighting up and down stairway traffic. It’s so much easier these days here at least. Can’t wait for the rant😄👍🏻🤗

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  17. Pingback: Sunshine Blogger Award # 15 – Keep it alive

  19. Hey, you wear whatever helps you through the marathon–pink leggings, hot dog suit, bacon necklace….go for it! 🙂
    As for your boy, this sounds like how Biff and Bash have to eat lunch with all their outside gear on because they go to recess from lunch. With all the lining up, getting food, and sitting down, the kids only get maybe ten minutes to eat before they’re shoved outside. TEN MINUTES?! It takes my kids ten minutes just to eat their carrot sticks. Flippin’ ridiculous.

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    1. Over the last 2 weeks son didn’t get lunch on 6 out of 10 days due to school timings. How can this be right. I bet our glorious leaders wouldn’t accept that. How can those pressures create an enriching learning environment for Biff and Bash.

      I thought I looked rather fetching in pink.

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      1. Hee hee! Only certain folks can wear pink, and I bet you’re one of them! 🙂 When it comes to the kiddos, I just don’t know. They don’t seem to mind too much, and at least they scarf down what they have, but that’s because the lunch I pack is always pretty small. But sooooo many other kids hardly eat the lunch tray they get laden with food. It can’t be good for them, and frankly, it’s such a horrid, horrid waste of food.

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      3. To a degree, I get it–we know what our kid(s) need, but the teacher’s dealing with two dozen or so of kids with a huuuuuuuge variety of issues all at once, day in and day out. There’s no pleasing everyone, so you just do what you can without letting kids hurt themselves or others. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I see two major factors in this problem: not enough parents following through at home, and not enough teachers in the classroom. Instead of having a gluttony of administration, we need more people IN the classroom, whether it’s teachers and a team of aides, three teachers co-teaching, etc. How the heck do we expect one adult to keep 24 pre-teens in line? And all the “technology time” in the world isn’t the same as an adult working one-on-one. They keep touting that technology is the cure. From where I stand, it’s been nothing but a placebo.

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      27. Sounds like a good plan! I stopped making it to midnight a loooooong time ago, and since the kiddos go back to school tomorrow, we had them do a normal bedtime. Today will be a relaxing day, cleaning up the basement that’s been a sty since fall. When I was little we used to see a large chunk of my dad’s family because Jan 1st was my great-grandma’s birthday, but that tradition sadly died when she did.

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      3. Much as I dislike people digging George W. Bush, I totally agree that No Child Left Behind did a baaaaaaaaaad number on public education. That’s when funding for schools depended on test scores, and drove many school districts to start teaching for the tests and little else.

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