In the latest episode of the this family life I chat with Merridy who lives Hong Kong with her husband and four children aged 15, 12 and 11 year old twins. Her youngest son Thomas has cerebral palsy. He is a twin to Sophie and when they were born sadly he suffered a hypoxic event which resulted in brain damage. When he was around 18 months old he received the official diagnosis of CP: Level 5. Tom uses a wheelchair and an eye gaze device for all of his communication and schooling. He attends main stream school along with his sister Sophie. Merridy’s husband is a Boeing 777 commercial airline captain and travels constantly for his work, a bonus of which means plenty of opportunities for them to travel as a family.

With such a family set up, Merridy has much to share and just some highlights of the wisdom you will pick up:

• The importance of friends in an ex-pat community
• Managing homework and technology with kids
• Tips for travelling with children with special needs
• Apartment living with kids

Blog posts mentioned in the episode:

• Letting go
• How to create a weekly schedule
• Children’s Routines

Other useful links:

• On Becoming Babywise – Gary Ezzo, Robert Bucknam – for the baby stage of parenting Merridy recommended this book.
• Yes, Your Teen is Crazy!: Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind – and this book for the teenager stage of parenting which, I also highly recommend.
• Project 333 – for reducing your number of clothes

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Listening to podcasts

If you have never listened to a podcast, don’t worry it is simple and there are a number of ways you can do it. I wrote a detailed post with screen shots that you can find here – How to listen to podcasts, or you can follow the brief instructions below:

• on iPhone/iPad/iPod – it automatically has the Podcast app downloaded on the iOS devices. Look for it on your device, open it up and search for this family life. Once you have found it click subscribe and from that point on all new episodes of the podcast will be automatically updated for you.
• on Android – there are a number of apps you can install to listen to podcasts on your Android phone. Podcast and Radio Addict is free and will keep you updated once subscribed.
• on computer – you can find the podcast here on iTunes and listen directly on your computer.
• the player below! – you can always hit play on the player below and listen directly.

I would love your feedback on the podcast and if you enjoyed it, it would be tremendously helpful if you left a review on iTunes. Leaving a review makes it easier for others to find the podcast and hear the amazing wisdom these parents have to share.

Thanks so much for listening!