Authors Electric

It was my younger daughter’s birthday this week. She turned eleven and was beyond excited. What fun, you probably think. Well, it was but only marginally so. Miss E was the first to actually get excited about something ahead of the day. It was for her fourth birthday, I think, that I tucked her in and she wriggled in her little bed. “I’m so excited about my birthday tomorrow; I don’t think I can sleep!” I just stared in shock. For years we had had no anticipation, no excitement for birthdays or Christmas. Holidays were way too stressful to cause excitement for anyone but me. We never had the ridiculous o’clock wake-ups by bouncing kids announcing their birthday had arrived. Of course, we had happy faces once presents were found, although that brought a different kind of stress. We had thrilled-looking faces when the cake was handed out although singing happy birthday was incredibly traumatic and accompanied by utter terror from one of the children. Now, nine years later he actually...

Susan Jane Smith, B.Sc.            Do you believe all children in the world deserve and need the following  (extracted from my book “ Emotional Health For Emotional Wealth ” )?              Freedom from fear.           Freedom from inflicted physical pain – that means no hitting or kicking them;  no burning them (including stubbing cigarettes out on their bodies), not being knifed or shot.           Freedom from imprisonment in their homes (no shutting in cupboards or cages, no tying up).           Freedom from neglect – not living with inadequate parents/carers who do not provide three nutritionally-balanced meals every day. Not living with drug takers or alcoholics, not having to take care of an adult who is physicall...