Fosterman’s Fostering Blog.
The Social Worker called me at 9:05am for a catch up on what had been said by James (name changed). She was aware of some of what had been said from previous conversations with James but there were other parts which were new to her.
With the current situation it was unlikely that Mum would be going to rehab any time soon and her current behaviour was ‘inconsistent’ to say the least. Mum had been warned about not contacting James or the house for any reason but wasn’t adhering to the requests.
It was hard to know what the best policy was, moving forward, other than to just deal with each situation as it arose and to shield James from as much of it as possible.
Blogging and Caring for James.
The days seem to be merging into one. There are so many articles in the press about the effects that lockdown is having on the mental health of young people.
I suppose I am luckier that some because my job is to care for James and I work from home. James was staying in contact with his friends, Paige and school via Zoom meetings and I hoped that would alleviate any boredom or lack of face to face contact. I was also trying to keep him occupied by taking him out for exercise and getting him to help with chores.
I had shown him how to use the washing machine and he already knew how to use the kitchen appliances. I had already talked to him about practical issues such as household finances, owning a car as well as working for an employer.
When I was a young man at school we used to be taught these things. We had a subject called Commerce which taught us about all sorts of different financial matters, we also had Car Maintenance which showed us the basic of looking after a car.
Ok we also learnt Latin, which I have never ever used in any form, but we had practical lessons to teach us about adult life.I’m not sure that these types of subjects are taught anymore, but they should be.
I decided to get the weights out of the garage, to use in the garden, to try to keep fit. I did some exercises while James was doing his school work and, when he had finished, he came and joined me.
I showed him basic weight exercises and we decided to make it part of our daily routine. For some reason he drew the line at Yoga! I had tried Yoga, on lockdown, to try and keep fit and used a YouTube video to learn as many moves as possible.
I showed these moves to James and, of course, he could do them easily because he was young and supple, not middle aged and full of creaking joints. I was looking at joining this Peloton exercise thing that’s advertised on the TV but once I saw the price I decided not to.
So new daytime routine is: up at 8am, breakfast, schoolwork, lunch at 1230, exercise, school work, walk and then chores and dinner. Evenings, at present, consists of football and more football. All looks good to me.
Fosterman – A Blogging Foster Carer.
