My Story,
I have been a respite foster carer for 5 1/2 years and love it! I have had many kids, some just once but also many regulars.
I have a few things that I make sure of before having kids for the weekend. Because it is ‘their’ weekend I don’t do any housework and pretty much the weekend is devoted to them – something I know as a parent you can’t do every day. I try and prep food as much as possible.
My other big thing I like to do with kids is have ‘adventures’. So whether that is exploring the Gorge, visiting the Museum or Agfest if it is on, Airtime or rock climbing at the Penny Royal or Kids Paradise for the littlies, visiting the local park or playing a board game or crafting at home. I have an old point and shoot camera that I give to kids and let them create their own photos and kids often go home with sometimes 100’s of photos on a disc or USB.
One thing I am pretty strict with is there is only two choices of drink in my house – milk or water. I don’t have any lollies but do have dark chocolate so as a treat I have found kids absolutely love my dessert of melted dark chocolate with pure cream stirred in to make a chocolate mousse 🙂 Kids that come to my place get bacon and eggs for breakfast or blitzed berries, pure cream and Greek yoghurt. When we walk out the door they have a lunch box full of veggie sticks, cheese, fruit and nuts for snacks and meat/chicken and veg for dinner. That’s not to say we don’t have a burger (bunless for me) and milkshake for lunch sometimes. It is amazing how a child’s behaviour can be so much better when they just eat real food.
I’ve had kids from 5 months to 14 years and enjoyed every single one!
I highly recommend being a respite foster carer and love seeing all their different personalities, watching them grow and being just a little part of their lives.
This above photo is a stock photo and doesn't depict the family in the story below
