First mega step! - Work Experience at 14!
Miss O has many issues with authority, anger, focus, timekeeping, clumsiness, and messyness at school and home so I was dreading her initial spell of work experience which they do fairly early at her school.
However, work experience this week, despite all my concerns, has gone well. She got there on time, each morning with much cajoling from us. I helped her to arrange it in a local hairdressers where she has been going most of her life. She looked smart and adhered to their dress code - amazing! She has learnt to answer the phone politely, make bookings, use the money till and card machine, make tea/coffee, wash hair with the appropriate amount of shampoo(!), do hairstyles, prepare brushes etc. and done a lot of cleaning! I would not have believed it unless the manager had told me! I went in one day and she washed my hair very nicely.
She did text a few times - it is too hard, it is too boring - but we responded positively or ignored and she stayed each day.
She has filled in her work experience journal nicely with supervision by one of the salon girls and has got photos of some of her work. Wow!
She gained a few tips and a free hair do and, as she finds verbal praise hard to take, we have given her a card to say how proud we are of her and a shopping token. She liked this and has card displayed on her bedroom wall.
Second Step - Socialising
Miss O has always found it hard to make and sustain friendships, particularly at school. She has also never got on well in "clubs" despite support from the leaders. Miss O now has a strong friendship with a girl at school in the year below and for the last 3 weeks they have been attending and enjoying a singing club, she announced on Friday she'd be going at least twice in half term! Despite being nervous on first attendance, the prescience of a friend has done wonders.
A boy, vetted by me, of course(!), is also on the scene - watch this space!
Third Step
Initiating cleaning and tidying!!!!!!
Miss O is not renowned for cleaning up after herself,to put it politely, but she never fails to surprise me.
We were going to be giving a lift to a friend of hers. I heard the Hoover going outside. To my amazement she was cleaning and hoovering the car completely spontaneously, she claimed it was "RANK" and no friend of hers could travel in it! She had assembled various cleaning products, rags and rubber gloves. We have had to go through the rubbish bag she put "rubbish" in as she was not very discerning, but the car has a lovey smell now and shiny mirrors!
Thoughts
What a great week, we've had. As I said we are really proud of her, although I always have the little gremlin in the back of my head saying "don't get secure....it won't be like this for long....it will be awful again soon..." I need to bank positive days/weeks like this to look back on when days are more cloudy, and think of the future more positively.
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