BEWARE OF Eric's Portfolio Site. They took this post and is passing it off as their own writing in his comments. I am not sure if this was an accident or some kind of glitch. I replied to the comment (my post) to ask them what was going on. Can anyone tell me if stuff like this has happened before? I don't want my personal writing to be stolen. I don't mind if it is reblogged because it is seen that I am the writer. I am disturbed about this. Update: WordPress has removed the plagerism for me.

My first computer existed way back in the olden day times. I can't tell you what make or model it was, as I did not care about computers the way my partner did. He would often build computers for fun and then donate them to a program called Computers For Schools. When we were moving from the house we rented from my parents, my mom decided that Joe was a hoarder. Whilst helping us pack she took all of his computers to the dump, which deeply annoyed my partner. She also took boxes of really great quality children's clothing that our kids grew out of to the dump. This bothered me a lot because there was a family I was planning on giving that clothing to. I know she was just trying to help us purge. Her heart was in the right place. 

For the younger people reading this, back then, computers were dial-up for the internet. You had to wait for what seemed like ages while your computer made these very distinct sounds. You couldn't use the phone while on the internet unless you had a separate phone line. When the World Wide Web was invented, I became more interested in computers. I would research any illness I was currently afraid of. When my son was having behavioural problems in school, I researched endlessly to try and find out the reasons. He was later dx with Autism. I used the internet to research ways to help him and shared the information with his EA, an educational assistant who had power and control issues, often setting our son up for failure. 

I became very passionate about advocating for children in daycares and schools. I saw that so many of these unwanted disruptive behaviours could easily be prevented with a few accommodations and a change in childcare workers' attitudes toward children they found challenging. I did a lot of typing up of proposals on those now ancient computers. I wrote a proposal for my town's daycare, which resulted in yearly funding that goes partly towards a sensory room for children when they become dysregulated. To this day, the daycare is still receiving this funding. I am happy with myself for being able to effect some change. I also helped my friends write letters to the principal when their child was mistreated at school. 

It was ever so upsetting to constantly be called to pick up my child from daycare or school because he would have a massive meltdown that, naturally, staff would be unable to cope with. I understand, and they are not to blame, of course. But what frustrated me was that when I broke down the behaviour and where it came from, I saw that these meltdowns were often preventable. 

And many adults become triggered by children and react to them in ways that make the situation worse. That is a whole other story. It is a story that still upsets me when I start remembering times when adults caring for my son engaged in power battles with him. Boundaries are important. Don't get me wrong. But the way they fought with him, was like they were also a child. One time, his worker sat on his chest, saying, "How do you like that?" I only know this because my friend who volunteered at the school was walking by his room and saw it happen.

I charged into the principal's office; I was crying and extremely upset, of course. But you know, the principal was more concerned about who told me, than the fact that it happened in the first place. I would not snitch on my friend tho, no matter how hard the principal tried to get it out of me. I asked if my son's EA had taken Non-Violent Crisis Intervention because that is a requirement for people working with children who have behavioural challenges. She had. But it didn't help her, obviously. It makes me ever so angry to remember those times. She was using a hold on him that is not allowed to be used because it is dangerous. Holds are a last resort and are not aggressive. You must be calm, so the child can regulate their emotions. Ugh! Goddamn it! I've taken this course as well, and that is not a hold that should ever be used. 

Anyway, yeah. The ancient computers were where I typed up letters to the school and school board, trying desperately to advocate for my child. It was where I researched ways that the adults in my child's life could help him stay regulated and calm. It was exhausting, and did not glean the results I was hoping for. I digress. I also became addicted to playing solitaire on the computer. My son used it to play Freddy Fish. 

Then downloading music became a thing, so that was something I did on the computer as well. In the early 2000's I became obsessed with researching my family history when my college instructor assigned us the task of building our family tree. I researched long after the assignment was handed in. I made it as far back as the 1400's. That is how obsessed I was. My partner and I were competing, because he became interested as well in discovering his roots. He made it even farther back than I did.

I also met distantly related family members during my research. I met my great-grandmother's relative, who had so much information on her. You see, we never knew anything about her because she had abandoned her family for another man. My grandpa and his siblings were left without a mother. But this lady spilled the tea on my great-grandma. What happened was, she was having an affair with a handsome womanizer. The two men had a knife fight over her and the womanizer won. They fled to Utah where great grandma started a whole new family. 

It was not a fairytale ending for great grandma, Anna. Her new husband was an alcoholic womanizer. It was said that the women would all run inside whenever he was on the streets. Apparently, my great-grandma was an eccentric old lady and was very funny. I wish I could have known her. In reality, many of our ancestors were colorful characters. They can't all have been boring people, right? I made a binder for my mom, of her family tree. She was ever so happy and proud. I included pictures I'd managed to get off of distant relatives and the stories that I'd been told. 

Anyway, I've predictably gotten sidetracked off of the goddamn topic. I'm just saying that computers back then were kind of exciting because information about all sorts of interesting things was just beginning to be shared with the world. Of course, there was also ample amounts of misinformation being shared as well. That hasn't changed and probably never will.

I think I am done with this topic now. Thank you ever so much for reading this.