Challenged Hope

Grandmother raising Grandchildren with FASD in Hamilton Ontario Canada

Tag Archives: Fiction


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FASD: Consider the Consequences

I didn’t mean to do it!

FASD 2016

FASD 2016. Speak Up, and make this year the last year for FASD.

Consider the Consequences. Individuals with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome don’t always realize that actions have consequences, nor learn easily from their mistakes. Mental disorders are tricky; often causing the individual to either disregard their safety, or not realize there is a safety issue to consider.

One example of this is when children with FAS grow into youths and learn they are not welcome within popular friendship circles. Desperate to form their own friendships, they are often taken advantage of by those who sense their despair. These individuals can be anyone: gang members, drug dealers, sexual predators, addicts, alcoholics; anyone who knows how to use vulnerable children.

The youth has no idea of the perpetrator’s intentions which are to have their selfish needs met. The youth is simply overjoyed to have friends who appear to care and will do anything to keep the friendship alive. Unfortunately, this often involves breaking the law and/or being sexually used, and abused.

Consider the Consequences. Over time, the youth becomes so ensconced in that way of life that any semblance of normality is discarded. Their “friends” encourage them to thumb their noses at the law, use illegal drugs, carry weapons, and do unnatural things to their bodies. The youth often ends up in jail, often for their own crimes but more likely through covering for the criminal acts of others.

Consider the Consequences. If you are pregnant, or are planning a pregnancy, please stop drinking alcohol now. It is the only defense against your child having Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and possibly growing up to a life of crime, loneliness, and despair.

DOWNLOAD FREE from my website: www.twodecadesofdiapers.com: My two memoirs describing my twenty years raising four grandchildren with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Two Decades Of Diapers

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: The Teen Years

My Websites:

www.challengedhope.com

www.twodecadesofdiapers.com

Author, Barbara Studham's Collage of Books

See all of Barbara Studham’s books at http://www.twodecadesofdiapers.com and http://www.amazon.com

 

See All My Books, memoir and fiction, available from:

http://www.twodecadesofdiapers.com

http://www.amazon.com/author/barbarastudham

https://www.store.kobobooks.com

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

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A Sofa Full Of Memories

A New Sofa, A New Era!

Today, I’m getting a new sofa. My old one is twenty-two years old, sagging, food stained, crumb-filled, and most likely a bit smelly. But, oh my gosh, does that couch hold memories! I purchased it way back in l993—one year before I bought a sweet, little, black and white kitten who eventually died at the old age of twenty; two years before I discovered my teenage daughter was pregnant; three years before I took custody of my eldest grandson; six years before I had custody of my next two grandchildren born eleven months apart, and nine years before I was granted custody of my youngest granddaughter.

A sofa full of memories!

That sofa has seen a lot of activity—it’s been jumped on, screamed on, napped on, had food spilled on, climbed on, been vomited on, drawn on, watched tv from, and been timed-out on. It has had baby’s diapers changed on, Christmas and Birthday gifts opened on, and tears shed on (mostly mine).  It’s been dusted, vacuumed, and washed umpteen times. It’s been moved around rooms and moved to another house. But it’s now so uncomfortable that I had to slide a piece of wood under the cushions so I wouldn’t sink down to the floor when I sit. Even visitors avoid it.

So, it lies, a sorry sight, out in the yard waiting to be picked up by the garbage collectors. How sad it looks, as if it knows it is no longer welcome in our home. And sadly, it isn’t.

A sofa full of memories!

I can’t wait for my new sofa to arrive! It’s like waiting for the New Year’s Eve disco ball to drop in Times Square, because a new couch means a new era in life—hopefully a happy one. And, even though, my grandchildren will destroy it little by little, it too will embrace our memories as I continue to raise my grandchildren, write blog posts and books, and advocate for those with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Its only consolation being, by the time it reaches twenty-two years of age, I will most likely not be around to replace it!

Some Of My Books

All available from

http://www.twodecadesofdiapers.com

http://www.amazon.com/author/barbarastudham

https://www.store.kobobooks.com

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Other fine ebook distributors