No Shampoo

I’m going no shampoo again. I’ve done it a couple of times before, but with limited success. Over the years I have found that no matter which shampoo I used, my scalp itches. It is so annoying, I just want it to stop. A couple of years ago, I read about going “no shampoo”. The theory is that the more we wash our hair, the more we need to wash our hair, because shampoo strips all the oil from our hair and then our body responds by producing more. I did find that I had gradually worked up from washing my hair once a week, to twice a week and was finding that wasn’t enough. So I decided to stop washing my hair. The blog I read suggested just stopping, and only using water on your hair, it promised that if I could hold out for 12 weeks, my hair would be terrific. Well I held out for 4 months and my hair was just lank and oily. It was a total disaster, well not quite total, my scalp felt better than it ever had. So I went back to shampoo and found I could now wash once a week, and my hair was fine, so partial success.

After a while I tried again, this time with carb soda and vinegar. The blog said mix carb soda with water and use it to wash your hair, then rinse in vinegar. Again no success, my scalp felt great, but my hair was lank and oily. So back to shampoo. Next idea was to try conditioner only, total failure this time, my hair was lank and my scalp still itched. I gave up on the idea of no shampoo and bought myself some really expensive salon shampoo that my hairdresser promised would not itch. The itch remained. I was getting desperate. I thought about going no shampoo often, but knew it would lead to lank oily hair, so I decided I just had to suffer the itchy scalp.

Then inspiration. I realised I had diluted the carb soda too much. I had been putting a teaspoon into 250ml of water, it had dissolved and basically had no power left for my hair. So I changed the plan. 1 tablespoon (or there about) into a container, and about the same vinegar into another, take them to the shower and mix just before I used them. I put just enough water in the carb soda to make a fairly runny paste, probably a couple of tablespoons, then put it in my hair. I could feel the granules in my hair, but best of all it tingled on my scalp, I could feel it reacting with the oil and water in my hair. When I rinsed it out, my hair felt clean. The vinegar rinse was very effective and now my hair feels good, and my scalp, after three washes, no longer itches. I have found the solution to my hair problem. No shampoo is definitely the way to go.

Back to School

School resumed this week. The kids were very excited to get back to see their friends and to have a change from being with me all day. We had a bit of an exciting beginning, I’d spent the whole holiday thinking that school went back on Tuesday. So we had a relaxed weekend, planning to spend Monday making sure everything was ready. Just before bed on Sunday a friend from Perth mentioned her kids were starting back on Monday, I just thought we were starting later because we are country folk. Then Monday morning, I wondered, so I checked last years newsletter, and surprise, surprise we were starting that day. So I roused the kids out of bed, and they rushed into their clothes, I packed their lunch boxes and off we went. Luckily everything except the tissue boxes was already organised. Monday I bought the tissues and they took them in on Tuesday.

They have all had a great first week, enjoying their new classrooms, with new expectations, and enjoying seeing all their friends. Amber and Lily are enjoying the new challenges of harder classes and higher expectations, Techno Boy is wishing he could spend his days at home, free to do as he wills. On Friday Techno Boy’s teacher pulled me aside in the playground to tell me that he had homework, apparently his teacher is very organised (yes I should have known as Amber had him for two years) and gave out homework on day one. Lily won’t be getting any homework until next Tuesday, and of course Amber in High School has homework from day one, but at least she does it (with a lot of prompting, she’d rather read).

Possum and I have been having lots of fun, going to the park each morning after we drop the kids off. I’m looking forward to flying start so he can have some structure every week. He loves it, and so do I. The biggest thing is that we miss the kids, it gets lonely during the daytime with just the two of us at home. Still we have lots of fun in the park and at the shops, but I’ve got to do some work sometimes, and he wants me to play with him as he misses is brother and sisters. Then they come home and just want to chill, and he’s excited to see them and wants to play. Hopefully we’ll sort this out soon.

Weight Loss

At the beginning of this summer I was horrified to find that I had put a lot of weight on over the winter. I tried on my size 14 bathers, and they didn’t even come close to fitting, so I bought a new pair, size 18. Looking back I realise the size 14s weren’t a good fit last summer, but I know how I gained that weight, too much chocolate and all day snacking. So I realised that there needed to be a few changes to my lifestyle.

Mum is currently doing Jenny Craig, she is really happy with the weight loss, and suggested that I should do it too, she even offered to pay. I was tempted for a moment, but having seen Mum’s weight yoyo over the years as she went from one diet to another, I knew that I had to do something different. So I sat down and thought about what had caused my weight gain, and it a simple formula, too many calories in, and not enough out. So simply too much food, not enough exercise. I read the information that came with Mum’s food, and she suggested calorie controlled eating, but you know calorie counting just seems too hard, and not likely to succeed. So I developed a really simple program of eating less and doing more.

My basic plan is very simple:

1. 3 meals and 3 snacks each day – so no more snacking whenever I am awake, once I have had my 3 snacks that’s it.

2. Smaller serving sizes – less food on the plate, stop eating before I get full

3. Start exercise again – I found my yoga book and started yoga again. I love yoga it makes my whole body feel good. Once the temperature drops to something reasonable I’ll start using the trampoline and build up to about 20 minutes a day.

4. Go dairy free – although I don’t really know if this has helped with weight loss. However, I feel a lot better without it, I used to feel bloated and be very gassy, not any longer, so looks like I’m dairy free for good.

5. Get used to the slight feeling of hunger. I used to snack all day, so I never felt hungry, now when I feel hungry I know it means I’m ready for some more food, and that I’ve been a good girl and not snacked all day. So (a little bit of) hunger is now my friend.

Simple and so far successful, in January I managed to lose 3 kg, although I’m not aiming to do that well every month. My real aim is a new lifestyle so that I can be healthy and once I reach my natural weight I hope that I’ll stay there. However, this has dropped my BMI to 29.7, so instead of being obese I am now simply overweight, the website I looked at seems to think I need to lose another 15kg to get to my healthy weight. Time will tell.

Religious Education in State Schools

I just found out that after a three year break, the Christian Churches in our town have been asked to provide Religious Ed for our primary school. It made me think about religious ed in state schools.

When Amber started school 10 years ago, I asked other parents if we had religious ed in our school and they said no. I also asked a staff member and they said yes. So I decided to offer Baha’i classes to the school, if Amber had to do religious ed, I would rather she learnt about our religion than someone else’s. I did basic training, and put a letter in the school newsletter inviting parents to send their kids to Baha’i classes as an alternative to Christian ones. The first year I had two students, Amber and a boy a year older than her. Over the next few years the numbers gradually increased, until I had half of Amber’s year six class, and less from the younger groups. Still about on third of the school were doing Baha’i classes. The school council decided to cancel religious ed, which was very convenient to me, as I really didn’t have time for the classes when Possum was born. Still Amber learnt a lot about the Baha’i faith and I am looking forward to the opportunity to refresh Techno Boy’s memory and start teaching Lily in a formal situation.

The primary school enrolment form has a tick box on it for opting out of religious ed, but I don’t think many people tick it. Last year I found out it doesn’t matter whether you opt in our out, the year six/seven class had scripture and Techno Boy attended even though I had opted him out. We were not informed that the students were doing RE, I only found out when he brought some work home, and I asked him about the class. I opted him out after that, and pointed out that I had opted him out on his enrolment form. His teacher apologised, but I suspect that most students just do it, unless they know they aren’t meant to.

Holiday Swimming Lessons

I really enjoy the summer swimming lessons. It is a great break in the holidays, some time with scheduled activities. But the real thing I love is that it makes me get the kids out of the house in the morning, and we have fun together at the pool. The other thing I love is the fact that I get a chance to sit with other mums and talk. We chat about anything and everything, it is so relaxing to just natter. No specific topics required, just anything that comes to mind. It is a great chance to get to know other mums and to meet their kids. I love the fact that kids from all the schools in town get mixed up together for swimming lessons, so when they hit High School they know someone other than just those from their primary school. I love the inclusiveness of it all, everyone in together.

I also enjoy the opportunity to see my kids learning new skills and working so hard to swim better. The other advantage is if I can see them having problems I can work with them between lessons, or I can ask for extra coaching for them. Techno boy has trouble swimming, he isn’t kicking properly, so I asked for extra coaching and he has improved out of sight in the last few days. I just love watching Lily learn to breath while doing freestyle, she has gone from trying to breath under each arm, to successfully breathing under one. I am also enjoying watching Amber learn to rescue people and do first aid. But most fun of all is taking Possum into the water with the other three kids and just having fun. Holiday swimming lessons bring so many wonderful memories for all of us.

Of course the best thing about it is that they are all learning to swim, so hopefully in our swimming obsessed country they will be safe in so many situations.

Sea Change

Five years ago, my brother decided it was time for a sea change. He would consider a tree change, but the sea was better. After some thought he and his partner decided that a caravan park would be the go. They looked into it, but couldn’t afford to buy one, well who can? So they changed plans and 3 years ago decided to buy a business in Broome. Lovely climate, who wouldn’t want it. They own the business, the corporate body owns the units, they manage accommodation and get a percentage. Sounds great, but it keeps them very busy. It would be so much easier if they owned the whole thing, whenever they want to change anything they have to convince the owners that it is a good idea. They need to refurbish the accommodation, they have lost one star, and need to fix it up to get it back. Yes I think they were done, the previous owner allowed it to run down and milked it for all it was worth, and then exaggerated everything to my brother. So he’s gone to Broome to relax and have family time, and he’s working harder and longer than ever before.

He came down to Perth last week, and we all caught up, it was great. Except he spent the morning on the computer doing business, yes he can’t even have a holiday without having to run the business long distance. At least his partner gets a break from cleaning rooms and other housekeeping duties, but the business manager is always on duty. So much for a sea change. Still we had a lovely time catching up, the kids always enjoy spending time with him, and its great to let him meat Possum again. My brother is such a good Uncle, it is so sad he lives so far away, we just can’t afford to visit him, have you any idea how much it costs to fly 6 people to Broome, way too much.

Building Boats

Parenting is a lot like boat building. You work really hard for a number of years to create a seaworthy vessel, you get help from others along the way, but basically it is your responsibility. Then one day, the boat is finished and you have to have faith that you have done a good job, set the boat off on its maiden voyage, and trust that it will come back to you for repairs and assistance.

The analogy goes further though, there are many different types of boats, large ones, small ones, motor boats, sail boats, paddle steamers, you name it, someone makes it. Then there are different things to make your boat from, be it wood, metal, fibreglass who knows what. Each of these different boats requires a different technique for building, and some just can’t be built the same way. Just like boats there are so many different types of kids, and they all need individual attention, and all need to brought up different ways. And at the end of the day, you still have to set them sail and let them make their own way in the world.

What brings this on, well Amber is about to turn 15, and starting in year 10 this year. So I realised the other day that that means in 3 years she’ll be off to make her own way in the world. I have to be prepared to send her on her way, and hope that I have done a good enough job rearing her that she manages and succeeds in the wide world out there. I’m not ready yet, but then we’ve still got 3 years.