Hello all, my name is Amelia. I am a fine artist and part of a wonderful kinship family. When I was 16 my Mam became a permanent carer to her two grandchildren; eight years on and we’re all still together along with our beloved little dog, working as a team, happy and settled in our unique home life. The children also have two other younger siblings who live apart from us, but we spend lots of family time with them. I love the noise, busyness and laughs in a house bustling with children. I would never have imagined life evolving in this way, especially whilst doing my exams and helping with night feeds, but despite all the challenges I wouldn’t have it any other way. I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and it has been very challenging over the years, especially throughout my years of study from GCSE, A Levels to my degree; but it is caring for the children and helping my Mam that has forced me to face this and push through it: putting a child’s needs before my own. I certainly would not have managed to force myself out of bed on difficult days and achieve the things I have without the children in my life.
Supporting a child, watching them grow and their personality develop, and seeing the world through a child’s eyes is an incredibly rewarding privilege. If anything, time is going too quick and the kids are just growing far too fast! Recently, shifting from aunty to at-home teacher was quite an experience; along with helping my Mam and the kids with all the IT woes during lockdown. Yet we sort of loved lockdown – spending quality time together doing jigsaws, arts and crafts, cooking and gardening. It was a special opportunity to do these lovely activities with each other. Our lives together feel so normal and natural now that we don’t feel part of a kinship ‘arrangement’; we’re just a family and belong together. We’re a functionally-dysfunctional family that looks forward to the future together.
We absolutely love Christmas – decorating, crafting, cooking, eating, watching Christmas movies – just spending time together in our cosy festive bubble. If I could choose anyone in the world to live with and to share in these bizarre days it would be this wonderful family that I have here. I cherish every crazy day.
Get crafty for Christmas
Some of you may have already met Amelia through one of her recent craft videos we shared over Halloween (see here). Amelia has just created a series of three videos teaching you how to make some advent bunting. You can watch part one of these videos below and find the rest of the series on YouTube.
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