A Letter To Our Village

Today is the end of week three of the Brain Balance program.  It's hard!  It's time-consuming!  We're super busy! I knew this going into it and knew we would need to get as many people on board as possible.  For those who may embark on a similar journey at some point, I thought I would share a letter we sent to our friends and family.  It has been a huge blessing to have those around us know what we are doing as a family.  The love and support we have received is incredible!  I highly recommend enlisting the help of those around you so you are not alone on this journey.  Here's the letter we sent to our friends and family.

Hello friends and family-

I apologize for the mass email, but it’s the easiest way to inform you of some big changes in our family.

Preston will be participating in a very intense therapy program called Brain Balance the next six months.  We are very excited, but nervous about this big undertaking. It is a major commitment, but we feel strongly that it is the best thing to help him continue to progress developmentally. It includes home exercises three times a day and therapy in the South Jordan clinic three times a week.  Dylan will be joining him for the at-home portion of the therapy so both boys will actually be participating in the program. 

It also requires some pretty drastic lifestyle changes.  For the foreseeable future, OUR WHOLE FAMILY will be eating a diet that is GLUTEN-FREE, DAIRY-FREE (CASEIN-FREE), SOY-FREE AND PEANUT-FREE.  We want to make sure everyone who may interact with our children knows about this change in our diet because I’m guessing the kids will be less than excited to turn down treats they come across in different settings.  If you know in advance of an activity that may include any of our children, please let me know.  I am happy to provide food and/or snacks for my kids so they do not feel excluded.  I suppose having us around is now similar to attending the zoo.  Here is our official sign:

PLEASE DON’T FEED THE MONKEYS (aka: our children)! 

Our children also have VERY limited screen-time.  If my kids participate well in the program, do schoolwork and chores all week, they will get to have either 30 minutes of computer/video games or one movie (up to an hour and a half) per week.  That’s it!  They love playing and I’m sure will still welcome playtime with friends, but any time spent with friends will have to be completely screen-free.  I will be monitoring their earned screen-time at my home on Friday evenings and we will probably invite friends to join us on occasion for that. 

I know this is a total pain for everyone involved.  It requires a lot of effort!  We’re secretly terrified of such drastic changes. ;)  But we’re 100% committed!  Raising a child takes a village.  We’re asking for the help of our village to make this program as successful as possible. Let me know if you have any questions.  And thanks for being part of our village.  We're incredibly blessed!

Love,

Maria and Marcos