As a team we have been reflecting recently as we are about to turn 5 years old on the 6th October. To think we are 5 years old is such a surreal feeling for me probably more than anybody. I remember when I came up with the original idea of Boredom Buster Bags seven years ago but life was hectic with uni and I thought I was to young at the time to manage and do something like that. Then when I was stuck in the hospital after surgery in 2012 I decided uni was over and I would take the leap of faith and do it.
I can still remember my parents reaction when I told them what I was intending on doing, there was definitely a mixture of surprise, fear and terror on their faces but you could also see they wanted to be supportive. I have to say my parents have always been supportive of anything I wanted to do especially when I was a child but this was not "Charlie wants to ride a horse" this was 'Charlie wants to run a company.' I was twenty one and at the time I thought I knew what I was doing but oh my days was I wrong. Muffin's did not just grow steadily as I had intended it to it exploded and the demand for it was much higher than anyone could ever anticipated. Within six months of us starting to send out the Boredom Buster Bags we had decided to start adapting activities, running tea parties and the end goal of Muffin's House was already starting to form. Within the year we had raised £5,000 and became a registered charity. Sometimes it all feels like a lifetime ago and sometimes it feels like it was yesterday. One thing I knew though was Muffin's no matter how tough things might get I loved it.
People often ask me 'do you enjoy your job' such a simple question but the answer is far from straight forward. I guess I think about it from two very different view points. Firstly I love my job, it is the best thing in the world to do and it hardly ever feels like I am actually working. But then I wish my job did not have to exist. Some people look at me like I am crazy when I say this but let me explain. I wish social services could do more, I wish the NHS had more money to help the children and families we work with. I wish we could live in a world where no illness or disability existed. I wish everyday the children we work with did not have to die. Sadly none of this will ever be the case and there's very little point in denying it. So Muffin's and other organisation have to exist to pick up where the other services leave. So my answer to the question is yes I really do love my job but I won't pretend that there are times when it gets tough. There are times when you cry, there are times of anger but most of all there are times of laughter, fun and happiness. And it's these times that keep you going when times are hard.
It's very strange to think that we have adapted so many activities over the years, gymnastics, ice skating, bike riding, rock climbing, doughnuting and the list goes on. People honestly do think we are mad when we tell them what we do and that we take children with complex needs to do all these physical activities. In reality it's not hard to actually do. And no we are not mad some would say we were stupid and off our rockers, we say we have faith in our Muffin's abilities. Although I won't deny there are not times when we wonder whether or not we have taken on to much but our attitude of 'it will be fine' always works out well in the end. Yes the physical effort once your doing the activity is hard going but to work out how to adapt things, it just takes a little out of the box thinking. Some of my fondest most heart warming memories over the past few years has been watching our Muffin's do things not even their parents would think was possible. Some of the funnest generally involve us getting messy in particular one of volunteers who had not worked with our Muffin' before was a little to slow and didn't get out of the way quick enough when one of the children launched shaving foam and paint towards him. He was covered head to toe in orange foam as-well as the walls and floor. Although I will admit clearing up wasn't quite as fun as watching that happen. None of the services that Muffin's has offered over the past 5 years is rocket science. Muffin's does not fit nice and neatly into a box and we never intend to. We will keep testing and crashing down the barriers that surround our wonderful Muffin's.
Muffin's has taught me so much in such a short space of time. I have always been thankful for what I have but Muffin's has made me even more aware just how precious life is and what a privilege it is to grow older. Some people hate the idea of getting old but I don't. Ok so I don't want the wrinkles but who does? But life is a gift and as you get older, you are given more life experiences. I think about our Muffin's who have passed to early who will never grow up, never get married and never see more of life and the wonderful experiences it brings us. Life is a privilege and it is denied to so many so early treasure it and never take it for granted.
Five years has nearly passed and it's been a crazy journey with low points and amazing highs and I would not change it for the world. The team who work at Muffin's dedicate so much time and poor so much passion into the organisation. They are what makes Muffin's and without them you would not have the incredible services that we are able to offer. I had the idea but they are what makes that idea a reality each and every single day and I could not be prouder to have such a wonderful team.
Thursday 28 September 2017
Monday 18 September 2017
'they can't do that'
We have been quiet on our blog lately, sorry about that but we have been so busy time has run away with us.
So what have we been doing? Well the summer holiday's were jam packed for us on top of our usual home visits, office work and meetings we had extra activities running keeping us a very busy Dream Team. All of our little adventures including visits to the farm and Thames Valley Adventure playground were certainly easier to do then our usual events. You see what people do not often realise is that we cannot just go and book any facility anywhere to do all of the activities that our Muffin's want to try. We have a very positive, happy attitude and believe our Muffin's can do anything and everything they want to do. But that's us and although we can see the potential that our Muffin's have shining out of them, sadly other people do not. Our mission has always been to make all activities accessible but this would be an awfully lot easier if we had everybody on our side. But sadly the world, facilities and venues are not often prepared for disability and illness. So what does that mean for us? It means our team spend large amounts of time looking around different venues, taking our positive attitude with us hoping that we can change people's way of thinking one by one.
We finished the summer off by going doughnutting, now doughnutting when it first came up on our list of things the children wanted to try I had no idea what it was. I had to Google it, and the first thing I saw was a speedboat with a person in a inflatable ring attached to a rope speeding across the water. I will be honest my heart skipped a beat and my stomach sank. It was obvious doughnutting fell into the category of not just difficult to adapt but into 'we must be mad to be doing this' category. Ok so no need to panic or pretend that it had ever appeared on our new activities list. But instead a bit more research couldn't hurt. And that's when we came across doughnutting down a dry ski slope. An inflatable ring that the children sit in and they get pushed down the ski slope. After the shock of seeing the speedboat this was a bit of a relief if we are honest and suddenly my nerves went and our mission to adapt everything was shining bright again.
So 18 months ago we set about trying to find a centre that would be able to accommodate us. Oh my word it became clear after visiting two centres that the challenge was on for us to do this. At first glance of seeing the ski slope you might think how do you get children who cannot walk up that ski slope and down again? And honestly even with our 'can do' attitude renewed we were slightly stumped when we confronted with this. However determination and motivation certainly set in when one centre refused point blank to allow us to go, this sadly we are all to use to and we expect it when trying to adapt something new. The second centre agreed we could use their facilities, great we thought finally things were going in the right direction. But then came the bombshell as we were then told we should accept that 'some children just can't. What on earth is wrong with these people?! How can they offer for us to use the facilities but have this appalling medieval outdated attitude? Well they were told tactfully that we were not interested and suggested they should go on to our Facebook page and take a look at the videos and photos of the children 'who just can't.
It's funny just how this one comment made our team so angry and so disheartened but so passionate and determined all at the same time. How can people still in the 21st century still think this way? How can people still be so judgemental? It made us more determined than ever that we would adapt this activity and we would do it. We were going to show the world that our Muffin's, can!
After looking at several centres we were trying our last centre who finally got it. They admitted they had never really had a group like Muffin's use the centre before but they were up for the challenge. YAY we had found a centre with the right attitude, we had made it through the first hurdle. What a massive relief. Now came the second part how were we going to get our Muffin's up that ski slope?! Conversation's between the team came up with an answer that actually was pretty simple, the children can sit in the ring and we can drag them up the hill. All we needed is a team who were willing to do this? Could we rustle up a team who were up to the challenge? Of course we can! Dream Team to the rescue once again. I am always so ridiculously thankfully we have an incredible team who get stuck in and take on every challenge with a very happy and positive attitude.
With our marvellous Dream Team willing to put in the work we have just run our second doughnutting activity day and oh my was it worth it. The sheer joy, giggles and happiness shining from our Muffin's is incredible to watch. To of been able to give our families this opportunity and to of made memories makes us have the best job in the world.
Oh and to the centre who said "some children just can't" we have 3 simple words to you YES THEY CAN!!!
So what have we been doing? Well the summer holiday's were jam packed for us on top of our usual home visits, office work and meetings we had extra activities running keeping us a very busy Dream Team. All of our little adventures including visits to the farm and Thames Valley Adventure playground were certainly easier to do then our usual events. You see what people do not often realise is that we cannot just go and book any facility anywhere to do all of the activities that our Muffin's want to try. We have a very positive, happy attitude and believe our Muffin's can do anything and everything they want to do. But that's us and although we can see the potential that our Muffin's have shining out of them, sadly other people do not. Our mission has always been to make all activities accessible but this would be an awfully lot easier if we had everybody on our side. But sadly the world, facilities and venues are not often prepared for disability and illness. So what does that mean for us? It means our team spend large amounts of time looking around different venues, taking our positive attitude with us hoping that we can change people's way of thinking one by one.
We finished the summer off by going doughnutting, now doughnutting when it first came up on our list of things the children wanted to try I had no idea what it was. I had to Google it, and the first thing I saw was a speedboat with a person in a inflatable ring attached to a rope speeding across the water. I will be honest my heart skipped a beat and my stomach sank. It was obvious doughnutting fell into the category of not just difficult to adapt but into 'we must be mad to be doing this' category. Ok so no need to panic or pretend that it had ever appeared on our new activities list. But instead a bit more research couldn't hurt. And that's when we came across doughnutting down a dry ski slope. An inflatable ring that the children sit in and they get pushed down the ski slope. After the shock of seeing the speedboat this was a bit of a relief if we are honest and suddenly my nerves went and our mission to adapt everything was shining bright again.
So 18 months ago we set about trying to find a centre that would be able to accommodate us. Oh my word it became clear after visiting two centres that the challenge was on for us to do this. At first glance of seeing the ski slope you might think how do you get children who cannot walk up that ski slope and down again? And honestly even with our 'can do' attitude renewed we were slightly stumped when we confronted with this. However determination and motivation certainly set in when one centre refused point blank to allow us to go, this sadly we are all to use to and we expect it when trying to adapt something new. The second centre agreed we could use their facilities, great we thought finally things were going in the right direction. But then came the bombshell as we were then told we should accept that 'some children just can't. What on earth is wrong with these people?! How can they offer for us to use the facilities but have this appalling medieval outdated attitude? Well they were told tactfully that we were not interested and suggested they should go on to our Facebook page and take a look at the videos and photos of the children 'who just can't.
It's funny just how this one comment made our team so angry and so disheartened but so passionate and determined all at the same time. How can people still in the 21st century still think this way? How can people still be so judgemental? It made us more determined than ever that we would adapt this activity and we would do it. We were going to show the world that our Muffin's, can!
After looking at several centres we were trying our last centre who finally got it. They admitted they had never really had a group like Muffin's use the centre before but they were up for the challenge. YAY we had found a centre with the right attitude, we had made it through the first hurdle. What a massive relief. Now came the second part how were we going to get our Muffin's up that ski slope?! Conversation's between the team came up with an answer that actually was pretty simple, the children can sit in the ring and we can drag them up the hill. All we needed is a team who were willing to do this? Could we rustle up a team who were up to the challenge? Of course we can! Dream Team to the rescue once again. I am always so ridiculously thankfully we have an incredible team who get stuck in and take on every challenge with a very happy and positive attitude.
With our marvellous Dream Team willing to put in the work we have just run our second doughnutting activity day and oh my was it worth it. The sheer joy, giggles and happiness shining from our Muffin's is incredible to watch. To of been able to give our families this opportunity and to of made memories makes us have the best job in the world.
Oh and to the centre who said "some children just can't" we have 3 simple words to you YES THEY CAN!!!
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