Michelle Worthington's Blog, page 3
October 2, 2020
Book Review: All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton
After not responding to knocks at doors, scrapes on knees and fire alarms at dinner time, I thought it was safer to finish reading it after the boys had gone to bed. My head was filled with white butterflies, white bones, hope, hate, love, life and death. Just as I became Eli Bell in Boy Swallows Universe, growing up as a too smart kid in a shut your mouth Brisbane suburb, so was I Molly Hook, head full of words and infallibly optimistic, no matter what life threw at me. Only Trent Dalton can make you loose yourself in a book like that.
I hate snot. The hardest page of the book for me to read wasn't when the gravedigger's daughter hid with her mother's bones in an open grave, got the beating or saw the rape, it was page 173. It was also the most incredibly moving and mind blowing piece of descriptive writing that I have ever read in my life. In that moment, snot was poetic and graceful. Only Trent Dalton can create characters like that.
The same suffocating pang that squeezed the tears from my eyes when I relived my childhood in Boy Swallows Universe were shed for Molly and Violet Hook. I talked to oceans instead of skies. I spat out pills instead of seeds. I had the monsters in my bed, after I had fed and cared for them all day until they became twisted by drink and darkness. I have carried all I owned and owned all I carried. Only Trent Dalton can see inside my soul like that.
Now, as I check on my sleeping children under the dark sky, I speak softly to it. 'Please don't let anything happen to me so my kids don't end up like a character in a Trent Dalton novel.'
When the blue sky returns, I will ask politely if one day I could write a book as honest and beautiful as a Trent Dalton novel, and I wouldn't even care if it lied.
Highly recommended.
www.michelleworthington.com
October 1, 2020
Guest Blog - Leo's Story by Megan Firster
Everyone who knows me is aware of my love for and connection to Queensland’s only children’s hospice. I wear my hummingbird tattoo proudly, in memory of my beautiful boy but also as a living tribute to the place that supported him and our family throughout some of the happiest and darkest times.
So, of course, when it was put to Hummingbird House families to create a picture that could possibly be used as a token for the Coles fundraising campaign I jumped at the chance. We did have a logistical issue with the brief though. We were asked to create a hummingbird that represented our child, perhaps by using their hand and footprints, but of course my child wasn’t here to squish his little hand into the paint. To trace around his perfect foot with a felt pen. After some discussion regarding the brief we were supported to do as much of the picture digitally as we needed to to include Leo in the way we wished to.
After some assessment we realised Leo’s best footprint was one that was taken by Leo’s kindy teacher as part of my last mother’s day gift, and his best handprints were the ones taken by a caring staff member, at Hummingbird House after his passing. Leo liked to curl his fingers into the palm of his hand so they were the first really nice ones we had.
Leo’s prints were monochrome, so my son Sam, who is my tech support for everything, coloured Leo’s prints digitally to make it look like he had applied the paint to the paper directly. I printed a bunch of them and we all sat down as a family to paint and draw hummingbird bodies in between the handprint wings. Frances, my daughter, is the artist in my family and her hummingbird came more and more to life with every brushstroke. I can’t tell you how elated I was that our picture was chosen, and how proud I am that Leo is continuing on in a way that not only helps raise money for the house, but also represents the bereaved families that are a part of this special service.
Nobody likes to talk about children that have passed or will pass before their time. It’s a sad subject, but one that is so real and so raw for the families that use this place as a sanctuary. It is so important that this facility remains, and keeps providing all the wonderful services it provides, and to do that fundraisers like the Coles one are so very important.
For many families Hummingbird House gives them air – allows them to take a breath when they are living a life that allows no time and space for one. For other families it is a place to remember their child or to make memories with them in their final days. We were blessed to be able to appreciate all of these aspects of the house. We had so many wonderful family memories, laughs over home cooked meals and time engaging with other families going through similar trials and challenges. Hummingbird House was also the place where Leo had his last bath. Devoured his last mouthful of chocolate mousse. Enjoyed his last swim. Was wrapped in my arms for his last cuddle.
Hummingbird House is a unique space for families of palliative children. There’s no other place in Queensland that offers the range of services that they do and they need your help. Please go to Coles between the 16th of September and the 13th of October and buy a token. I promise it will make all the difference to a family just like ours.
To find out more about this year's fundraiser, visit: http://hummingbirdhouse.org.au/home/2020-coles-hummingbird-house-campaign/
Share in the stories of 4 families who created this year's artwork
www.michelleworthington.com
September 30, 2020
Is imagination an endangered species?
Modern children are very good at mimicry and mirroring instruction, but with the current curriculum’s focus on learning outcomes more so than learning pathways, are they losing the ability to think independently and inventively? The important role that imagination plays in creating engagement is being lost and forced literacy ignores the essence of critical and creative thinking: the need for questioning, exploration, and extended discussion around issues that are important to children. Without imagination, are our children equipped to be the leaders of tomorrow?www.michelleworthington.com
September 24, 2020
Putting the 'home' into home reading
With lockdowns and restrictions continuing across the country, it can feel as if we’ve had enough 'family time'. But are we actually spending quality time with our children or just going through the motions of home learning? When we sit to share a book, we’re creating a space to be together, to be available for our child and not distracted by anything else that's going on around us. The agreement to share a book allows us to tune in to what really catches their attention, their emotions, their sense of humour, even what they don't particularly respond to. We can, through the book sharing experience, get to know our children better. Taking only five minutes a day to share a book with your child can go a long way towards facilitating and nurturing your relationship and improving their mental health, as well as your own.www.michelleworthington.com
September 8, 2020
Kids, change, and the power of picture books
Kids, change, and the power of picture books
www.michelleworthington.com
Picture Books can be great tools for you to use to help your child understand change and new or frightening events, and also the strong emotions that can go along with them. When children are able to think about the text and make connections between the new information presented in the story and their store of background experiences, it allows them to be active and thoughtful about their own anxiety. Children can use picture books to make connections between familiar knowledge and incoming information in order to make predictions and inferences about characters, their motives and actions, as well as story events in order to learn that change is a natural and normal part of life.
September 1, 2020
August 27, 2020
August 26, 2020
Reading to Your Child Doesn't Have to be at Bedtime
Reading to your child doesn’t have to be at bedtime
www.michelleworthington.comIt only takes 3 to 5 minutes a day to significantly improve your child’s vocabulary and communication skills. Introduce young children to the value of books by incorporating one book a day into playtime instead of the bedtime routine. Often when we wait until the end of the day, both parent and child are too tired to actively engage. Reading while playing builds a foundation of communication and word structure for your child by helping them to become familiar with common sounds, words and language that you use throughout the day. The time of day doesn’t matter, it’s the connection that counts.
