Some of my favorite quotes

"Turn your face to the sun, and the shadows fall behind you."   -- Maori proverb

"Every child is gifted.  They just unwrap their packages at different times."  -- unknown

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Take time to come home to yourself every day."  -- Robin Casarjean

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." -- Robert Brault

"Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." -- Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful."  -- Annette Funicello

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." (Albert Einstein)

"The only way we can be there for our children is to be there for ourselves." (Anonymous)

"You've developed the strength of a draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil ... you are the mother, advocate and protector of a child with a disability." -Lori Borgman

"Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it." -Bill Cosby

"The central struggle of parenthood is to let our hopes for our children outweigh our fears." (Ellen Goodman)

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." -- Robert Brault

"Perseverance is not a long race. It is many short races one after another." - W. Elliot

"If you think you can or you think you can't, either way, you'll be right." -Henry Ford

"Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see further." -Thomas Carlyle

"Courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway!" -John Wayne

"Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace." -Dalai Lama

"Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same." -Franz Peter Schubert

"What lies behind us & what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Children remind us to treasure the smallest of gifts, even in the most difficult times." - Allen Klein

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter the way you meet them." (Phyllis Bottome)

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." (Mother Teresa)

"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength." - Christopher Reeves

"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world." - Heather Cortez

Mood Charts and More

There are online ones at http://www.moodtracker.com andhttp://www.psychtracker.com. Mood Tracker is the one I've used all along with Honeybunches. There are also several different paper ones to chose from including:

http://www.toolboxparent.com/Documents/moodchartbetsy.pdf?

This one has some good mood charts beginning on pages 25. I didn't read the article, just peeked at the mood charts.http://www.bcss.org/documents/familytoolkitweb2010/FTModule5LowRes.pdf
This is another one by Julie Ward:http://www.healthyinfo.com/consumers/ho/bipolar/Mood.Diaries/Mood.Chart.4.Boys.pdf
http://www.bpkids.org/learn/library/instructions-for-kimberlys-mood-chart
http://www.bpkids.org/sites/default/files/shellysmoodchart.pdf
http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/content/backgrounders/psychiatry24x7-nd.emea_com/blank_chart.pdf
http://www.manicdepressive.org/images/moodchart.pdf

Pill Swallowing Tips

Throughout the years I have compiled this list of pill swallowing tips I thought others might find beneficial:

Applesauce has worked best with Honeybunches. Here are some other tricks:

There are several tricks to help others swallow pills that parents on this website have discovered. Here are some that others have used with success:

Practice with swallowing tictacs
Hide the pill in the middle of marshmallows
Put the pill in some jelly, applesauce, pudding or yogurt

Make it fun/exciting

Red tic tacs: (Go into bathroom; Mommy places one on her tongue and swallows it; admire the red dot left on Mommy's tongue; then the child gets to try)

Disguise the drug: put the drug in a food that the kid likes. Some use ice-cream, jelly, chocolate syrup, applesauce, frosting, etc.

Spoon trick: Put the med into applesauce, jello, pudding or jelly; offer the child the spoon while still holding it, kid opens mouth and tries to consume the yummy stuff while you KEEP THE SPOON in their mouth. End result is that the kid looks at you like you are a weirdo but they have to suck the yummy contraband off the spoon and they are focusing on the SPOON in their mouth, not the med.

Bribe trick: Give the kid candy, computer time, tv time, cash, whatever it takes for each dose. Cost to parent is less than the cost of parental therapy for the battle."

My favorite educational resources

I have struggled to get my boys the accommodations they need in school to get them a successful education, so I know how hard it can be to deal with the school system. This all can be so frustrating and overwhelming. I have spent countless hours researching IEPs and regulations about special education to get my sons the help they need. Some of the books about special education that I have found helpful are:

Wright's Law Special Education Law, 2nd Edition by Peter W. D. Wright & Pamela Darr Wright (Wright's Law also has a website at http://www.wrightslaw.com/bks/selaw2/selaw2..htm)
Wright's Law From Emotions to Advocacy by Peter and Pamela Wright
The Complete IEP Guide by Lawrence Seigel (**This one is my favorite because it is easiest to read and has many sample letters**.)

There is also a new book called Swivel To Success "Bipolar Disorder in the Classroom. A guide to helping student's succeed"by Tracy Anglada that is written for teachers. The website http://www.bpchildren.org/bookstore.html states: "SWIVEL to Success" is based on a teacher workshop developed by BPChildren to help educators understand and assist students with bipolar disorder".

Some websites that I have found helpful with alot of information about Special Education are:
http://www.thebalancedmind.org/learn/education-issues
http://www.concordspedpac.org
http://www.specialed.us/pl-07/pl07-ieppro.html (This one is the easiest to understand)
http://www.ldonline.org
http://www.bridges4kids.org
http://www.wrightslaw.com
http://www.familiesofkids.org/education.html#L006
http://www.schoolbehavior.com/Files/tips_mood.pdf. http://www.schoolbehavior.com.

STATE SPED TIMELINES:
http://www.copaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/State_Eval_Timelines_Updated.pdf

Increasing teacher awareness of Bipolar Disorder:


http://www.thebalancedmind.org/learn/library/an-educators-guide-to-pediatric-bipolar-disorder
http://www.thebalancedmind.org/sites/default/files/edbrochure.pdf
http://www.bpchildren.org/files/Download/Educator.pdf
http://www.studentsfirstproject.org/documents/Bipolardisorderfactsheet_000.pdf
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder-in-children-and-teens-easy-to-read/index.shtml
http://www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/bipolar.pdf
http://www.familiesofkids.org/education.html
http://www.visualspatial.org/Kids/vslkids.htm

My favorite resources for raising a child with Bipolar...

My favorite resources for raising a child with Bipolar Disorder:

The Balanced Mind Foundation website has some information I have found to be very helpful. "About Pediatric Bipolar Disorder" http://www.thebalancedmind.org/learn/library/about-pediatric-bipolar-disorder is a very informative article has information on the diagnosis, prognosis, first steps of what to do when you find out a child you love has BP, finding a doctor, goals of treatment, medications, therapy, parenting a child with Bipolar, education, support for parents and more. Getting Started http://www.thebalancedmind.org/learn/getting-started is a great section of the website that helps parents get support for themselves, build a proper treatment team, expand their knowledge of BP, and look at how a child's illness affects his or her education.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder-in-children-and-teens-a-parents-guide/nimh_bipolar_children_parents_guide.pdf
National Institute of Mental Health issued this publication recently. It is very detailed and includes a ton of information I believe you will find beneficial.

Books about Bipolar:
Some of the books which I found very helpful are:

"The Bipolar Child" by Demitri and Janice Papolos
"The Ups and Downs of Raising a Bipolar Child" by Judith Lederman and Candida Fink MD
"Bipolar Kids Helping Your Child Find Calm in the Mood Storm" by Rosalie Greenberg MD

Websites about Bipolar:
The following websites may be helpful with increasing your and your families knowledge about Bipolar Disorder:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/index.shtml
http://www.bpkids.org/flipswitch CABF now has a Teens and 20s section called Flipswitch
http://www.dbsalliance.org
http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_bipolar_overview
http://www.nami.org/
http://www.mha.org/

Websites about helping a loved one with Bipolar which may be helpful:

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/bipolar_disorder_family_friends_support.htm
http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_helping
http://www.healthyplace.com/bipolar-disorder/support/twelve-things-to-do-if-your-loved-one-has-bipolar-disorder/menu-id-67/
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/02/22/8-ways-to-help-your-bipolar-loved-one-cope/

Wishing and Pain (Two poems)

WISHING: written by me aka seekingsunshine

Wishing for a boy
That I never ever knew
Wishing for a school
That could see the best in you

Wishing for more sunshine
In cloud filled skies
Wishing for happiness
When you long to die

Wishing for happiness
When your heart is filled with pain
Wishing for the hottest sun
To dry up all your rain

Wishing you could play
Like other kids do
Wishing they would make you happy
See the best in you

Wishing you had other children
To whom you could relate
Wishing you could get what you need
Them to understand; to educate

Wishing you could be treated
Like the good boy that you are
Wishing they would see
You are my shining star


All the wishes I could wish
Never wanting to change who you
Mommy loves you forever
I see the best in your heart so true



Pain (Written by me aka seekingsunshine)

The pain in your heart
Others could never understand
They never held you close as I did
With your heart beat as their marching band

They were not with you
When you were scared of everyone in sight
They were not with you
On your first day afraid of light

They do not know
The feelings that you hide
They do not know
All the confusion and terror inside

They did not hold you
Hourless nights as you cried
From all the terrors
You had inside

Cars falling of bridges
Train crashes
Being eaten by sharks
Buildings burned to ashes

All filled with blood and gore
You wanted so desperetly
To suffer from them
No more

They were not with you
For your four hour rages
They were not with you
For all the first stages

They do not understand
The choices we make
They do not understand
Why we even medicate

They did not have the sleepless nights
As they watched your every breath
They did not have the five hour rages
Watching you suffer from your internal fight



They do not see the sadness
Deep inside your eyes
They do not see the happiness
You have trapped inside

They do not see the happy boy
Who makes my world so bright
They do not see what I see
They do not see your light

Advocating forever
Until others understand
Never giving up
Until all our know ledged in our land

My son with Bipolar (Poem)

My Son with Bipolar (Written by me aka Seekingsunshine)

God looked the whole world over
He chose me to parent a son who is bipolar
To love him when he’s filled with fright
From the terrors that horror him in the night

He knew we were strong enough
To deal with the storms inside his brain
To help him be calm
In all his hearts rain

He looked for the one who would love this child
Try their best to turn his frowns to smiles

To make the sun shine on the cloudiest day
To knowledge others about the condition
Especially
When nobody will listen

He looked for patience understanding and love
He looked for advocates better than a judge
The special child is a gift from above
Inside his madness; He is filled with much love

The love that can not escape through the chained bipolar gate
Inside his rapid changing mind
Racing manic, rage, and sad
There is a little boy Who needs help to be glad

God looked the whole world over
To choose me to parent a son with bipolar