250+ Handmade Gifts Ideas to Make for Children

250+ Handmade Gifts To Make For Children

If you have a youngster in your life and are looking for something unique to create check out these great links!

Some are quick and simple while others are more advanced and may take a little longer.

I have not added any photos so you will need to click on the links themselves to view each website.

The links include everything from simple print out and cut projects to sewing and woodworking.

I love them all!

I hope you enjoy them too! Read more »

12 Adaptations For Your Physically Challenged Child

We have covered most of the school spoonsavers, mobility spoonsavers and at-home for school spoonsavers in previous posts.

These 12 “spoonsavers” are things we have done for our children at one time or another in order to reduce the amount of stress and pain in ALL of our lives.

A child who can accomplish things on their own is a child with a healthier esteem.

Even if that means making some small adjustments to what society says is “normal”.

I, personally, could go insane trying to help my girls dress, eat and live their daily lives.

Since I struggle with EDS too I try to find adaptations “spoonsavers”  to encourage them to be independent and allow me to keep what little mind I have left intact. Read more »

Transportation And Mobility Ideas For Your Child

Transportation and Mobility Ideas For Your Child

Part 7 in the Helping Your EDS Child Series

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My Children and Pregnancy Loss Stories

My Children and Pregnancy Loss Stories

Due to the fact that not everyone is ready to openly discuss pregnancy loss I posted my 23 year journey of 3 beautiful babies and 7 angel babies on my page tab at the top.

It is very open and honest and may be too difficult for some to read.

However, I did want to provide the link and here it is.

http://thezippyzebra.com/?page_id=360

Please only read if you are emotionally ready to here someone else’s journey into heart break .

I didn’t pull any punches and threw it all out there.

So many miscarriage stories I see seem to be incomplete and I don’t want to rewrite mine so here it is and I hope it will help someone.

Please let me know if it helps you.

One Teenager’s Response to Living With an Invisible Illness

One Teenager’s Response to Living With A Chronic Illness

My teenage daughter was asked to write a narration with a moral for her comp class this year.  She is a senior.  She chose to write not only about her fight to help others understand what EDS is and how it affects her everyday life but how she is not going to let her illness ruin it.

(She is definitely her momma’s girl.)

  This is her paper in it’s entirety with links added to empower others with useful knowledge.

Do Not Be Ignorant

Once upon a time, in a not so far away land, lived a dark haired maiden.  She was your average, all around, American girl, but behind all of that was a different person that no one ever saw besides her family.  Until one day, she could not hide anymore.  She had to show herself to the world, not knowing how people would react to seeing her in the not so beautiful reality.  This is my story asking people not to judge me until they come to know me and my life. Read more »

How To Help Your EDS Child At Home (Part-6)

How To Help Your EDS Child (Part 6)

These are just a few ideas to help make schoolwork a little less painful at home.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions please leave them in the comment section below or e-mail them to TheZippyZebra@outlook.com. Read more »

My Top 10 “SpoonSavers” from The Pampered Chef

My Top Ten Spoonsavers From The Pampered Chef

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Out Of Classroom Spoonsavers (Part 5-Helping Your EDS Child)

Out Of Classroom Spoonsavers (Part 5-Helping Your EDS Child)

Today we will discuss tools and adaptations aka “spoonsavers” your child may want to use outside the classroom.

A rolling backpack and a pass to take it from class to class. 

It is recommended to make sure the handle releases properly without a struggle, can be set at a height comfortable for your child, and that the wheels move well and are secure.  (All problems we have experienced).

Some handles are a t-shape and seem to be harder for some children to grasp.  There are many styles available and can be found at about any larger retail store.  (I just thought the zebra print was fun for an example).

Having the wheeled backpack eases quite a bit of strain on your child’s shoulders, back, and wrists, saving their spoons for other activities.

  Read more »

Classroom Spoonsavers (Part 4- Helping Your EDS Child)

Classroom Spoonsavers (Part 4- Helping Your EDS Child)

This post is designed to share some of the in classroom “spoonsavers” you can use to make each school day a little less painful.  You can find writing “spoonsavers” here and out of classroom spoonsavers here.

Not every child will need these classroom spoonsavers (adaptations).  Please pick and choose what is best for your child.

If you and your child can suggest any ideas that are not listed, please do so in the comments section of this post.

Read more »

Spoonsavers for Writing

Spoonsavers For Writing

Part 3- Helping Your EDS Child

Or anyone with writing challenges.

One of the biggest challenges our children face everyday is the amount of writing required for school.  We have tried multiple “spoonsavers” and are looking into trying others.  None of them remove all the pain, but some of them seem to help.  I can’t guarantee which options will work best for you, but we would like to share as many as possible.  Starting with the least expensive and building up.

This post contains affiliate links at no additional cost to you.  After we began the Zippy (and this article was first written) we added a program to help offset the cost of running a blog.  This does not affect our content or the free reading and info; it just allows us to help pay for a few of the things we need to stay running efficiently.

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