Coeliac disease and bad advice

My son was diagnosed with coeliacs disease when he was 5 years old, he’s now 14.  His father, my husband, was diagnosed the year before, when he was 33 years old. Apparently the disease is not hereditary…..just an amazing coincidence!Since my son turned 8 years old we’ve battled (understatement) with his compliance.  He has resisted in any which way that he can, he’s developed a needle phobia (not ideal for someone who MUST have yearly blood tests), he’s dug his heals in with the dietician and he’s even become angry at the disease itself and could often be heard saying “why me”?  

Years have passed and still his opinion of the disease has not changed.  Consultants and dieticians have come and gone, he’s received help for his needle fear but still he flips out and the staff become frustrated with the length of time it takes to take blood.  Every year we have the same lengthy battle. As a mother I have tried everything to try and make ‘life as a coeliac’ better but boy it’s a struggle.

My son’s diet is very healthy and gluten is removed from his diet (or at least it is when he’s at home and in my company), I have to trust him to be sensible when he’s at school etc.  Having said that, whilst we were recently on holiday in Greece, it was very hard for my son to resist the pasta bar (his favourite meal) and as someone (me) who follows a diet (slimming), I completely understand how difficult it can be to avoid temptation. So, rightly or wrongly, we allowed him to be a little naughty on holiday.

Thankfully, to our amazement, he suffered no ill effects from straying off the diet…..there were no loose stools (sorry for the details)!!! However sadly, on our return, the ill effects have come in the form of advice from other’s, to be more precise…..grandparents!

My son happened to mention to his grandparents today that he believes he no longer suffers with coeliac disease due to the lack of symptoms experienced during his holiday. My father-in-law, with his limited knowledge of the disease, decided to repeat a story he first told my son when he was first diagnosed at 5 years old…… The story goes like this…..

“I had a friend at work (1970’s) who had celiac disease, he completely cut out wheat and hated it so he started eating it again, he wasn’t poorly so he return to the doctor who told him he’d probably just grown out of it.” The first time I heard him tell the story I told him 1) you can not just grow out of celiac disease 2) medicine has moved on a bit since then 3) his friend may have been either wrongly diagnosed or misinformed by his GP and 4) pleased don’t fill my son’s head with false hope.

So as you can imagine, I’m really chuffed to hear that he has told the same story to my son again!!!  My son is now even more convinced that it’s true, “see it can happen mum….i’m cured”!!!

Why do people feel like they have the right to impose their opinion and beliefs on to others? Why are they not working with us? And more importantly why are they trying to harm my son….their grandson?

Its terrible behaviour and I’m so shocked I’m not sure how to handle it……again. My husband tells me to ‘just let it go’…..really?

My son’s blood appointment is in a few weeks then a month after that we are back to the dietician, so the timing is just great!!!

Advice needed please.

Caroline x 

Brit’s abroad

We are embarking on the final three days of our family holiday in Greece and on the whole I can confidentially say, after allowing ourselves to fully relax, that it has been an amazing holiday and one that we will remember fondly. 
We have so many pictures, videos and memories to take home with us this coming Sunday, memories that we will treasure and talk about for a long time.

Having said that there have also been disappointing aspects of this holiday too. These disappointments all centre around the Great British tourist.  I’m not labelling all Brit’s here…..thankfully the people I’m talking about seem to be the exception and in the minority but wow some really have disgraced themselves, from foul language, spitting, arguing, shouting, bad table manners, respect for others and staff…..just to name a few examples. 

One Brit in particular, who really does deserve the award for the most disgusting behaviour, is a young father who is currently holidaying with with his young family and friends.  He climbed the leader board of shame last night after telling my 14 year old son to “f**ck off to the other end of the pitch” during a friendly football match arranged by the hotel entertainment team (designed for kids aged between 8 and 15).  The father was a spectator and took it upon himself to get involved, unnecessarily.  I mean come on…….what!!!! 

After the incident occured (out of my supervision) my son returned quite a taken back….he wasn’t at all sure where it came from or why it happened and was unclear what he did to deserve it.

Realistically, as a parent of teenagers, I can not be sure of how my kids behave outside of my supervision….any parent that believes they know every aspect of their teenagers lives is, in my opinion, delusional.  Having said that neither of my children like confrontation (other than with each other) and will go out of their way to avoid it in every situation…..so I’m fairly sure he didn’t do anything to provoke this attack, especially as he’s happily participated in this activity for the last five evenings without any drama.

After discussing the incident further I decided to let it go and move on but reminded my son that he came out of it looking like the better person.  For a father to talk to someone else’s child, actually any child, like that is disgusting and he should absolutely be ashamed of himself.  What a top guy you are and oh by the way my son will turn out to be a much better person than you will ever be!!!!

Rant over……phew that feels better…….

I’m not going to let other people’s behaviour taint our overall enjoyment so I will let it go now…….but be warned I’m watching 👀

Caroline x

Outside my remit

We are now 7 days into our 11 day break away in Greece and despite our negative start with ‘the teenagers’ they seem to be finally embracing the break.
I never realised that,  in order for our family to gain the absolute most out of our holiday in the sun, it would rely so heavily on 1) my teenagers making friends, 2) them buggering off and playing and 3) the family spending as little time in each other’s company as possible….boy we really are a sociable family. 

Anyway, the kids have, thank the Lord, made friends and they are finally beginning to enjoy themselves which in turn means we, as their parents can also begin to relax too…..aah peace & quiet.

It would seem the pressure and responsibility of trying to entertain teenagers in 30 degree heat is just a smidge outside my mum remit…bad mummy!!

Right where’s that sun lounger!? 

Caroline x

That bloody Xbox!

We are now 6 days into a 11 day family holiday in Greece ….and it sounds terrible to say it but I’ve realised that my kids are boring.  They walk around with faces that look like they’ve been slapped, they don’t smile, they don’t laugh and they certainly don’t look like they are the life and soul of the party…..no wonder they’ve not made friends this year!!

Is it all down to hormones? How much can I blame their hormones for the reason their knuckles drag along the floor?….I’m sure I can see divots forming!!!

Boy it’s making me angry.  How spoilt are my kids?….I didn’t think they were but now I’m beginning to wonder?  

Family holidays abroad aren’t cheap, as we all know, and I’m frustrated that they’re not making the most of it, especially as we won’t be abroad again for,at least, another 2 years. I’m beginning to boil inside with the lack of enthusiasm from them both, they would rather sit in the hotel room surfing the net!!!……not sure that’s really worth the expense of this holiday!….aaaarhh 

I’ve named this post ‘That bloody Xbox’ because that’s what my kids class as ‘fun’, I’m worried they’ve lost the skills to truely enjoy socialising and PROPERLY play (without any technology involved).

Am I expecting to much? Should I resign myself to the fact they’re no fun? Or should I just say “oh they’re teenagers” and let it wash over me and let them waste the holiday experience? 
Advice and options gratefully received.

Caroline x

Downtime with teenagers

It’s been 7 years since we went on an “aeroplane holiday” but thank god we now find ourselves in Rhodes….wow we needed the break.
It’s been a long time coming (not to say we’ve not had a holiday in the past 7 years as we’ve visited many resorts in the UK and France) and the excitement has been building for months.  Picture it… a family of four spending 12 days together in the sun with no pressures or responsibilities surrounding  work or school…how relaxing it will be, how wonderful….bring it on….I can’t wait.

Now reality….

I don’t know why but I stupidly expected my children to get along, I thought they would laugh, chat, enjoy each other’s company but I was wrong.  My bickering children have just packed their squabbling behaviour into the suitcase and brought it along with them to the Greek island…..how delightful!

I don’t want you thinking I’m a soft mum as that’s simply not true. I regularly discipline my kids but when it comes to finding a method to end the bitchiness, the squabbling and the nastiness I struggle and i’m not embarresed to admit it….I really do feel like I’ve tried everything and am out of my depth….so if anyone has any radical methods/ideas please feel free to share, I will be ever so grateful (obviously I have tried the usual methods).

Since we’ve been on holiday (4 days) they have been warned and removed from our activities but still the sniping continues. It’s not full on nastiness towards each other at the moment just niggling comments.

Next year I shall be heavily researching activity camps/borstals so me and my husband can enjoy a peaceful holiday on our own!!!

Help and advice needed!!

Caroline x