My Daughter: The Self Advocate

Jillian is only 4 and I’m already stressing about the teenage years. She seems to be light years ahead of her age sometimes! Both of the girls were asked to participate in a focus group to help make the Holland Bloorview’s Ronald McDonald playroom even better than it is now. (And that says A LOT!)

The girls were very excited to attend a meeting. (That’s how I explain my volunteer work there since they can’t always come with me. I tell them I’m going to a boring meeting. :p) After chatting over some pizza, the children were asked a series of questions about the playroom. What they liked, what they didn’t like, accessibility, new ideas, etc. When Daniel asked if the girls would like to participate, I wondered just what Jillian would come up with. She didn’t disappoint either!

Upon picking them up, I heard very excited stories from the back of the car. They were eager to share with me what they did, but I didn’t really hear what my children said about the current state of the playroom (ie: things they like/dislike/suggestions) I did however hear it from Daniel who informed me that Jillian was upset that the doll house had been moved (quite observant… I didn’t even notice) and expressed her feelings on the water table and easels. She knows she shouldn’t “w” sit, but it gives her the most stability. She also knows it’s not safe to “w” sit on chairs, so she couldn’t really use the water table or easel.

Fast forward to last week. I walked by the playroom only to see 2 GIANT boxes. I asked Daniel if we were going to start building forts! He said something along the lines of I should know what was in those big huge boxes. Alas, I didn’t. He then filled me in on one last thing Jillian told him. I guess she told him that she was sad she couldn’t get into the ball pit, unassisted. Hell it was even hard for Lauren to get in there! So- all because MY kid said she couldn’t use something- it made a huge change in the playroom!