Yesterday, for those who may not have seen already from the abundance of social media posts, that it was something we have named PDA Day.
The 15th of May was used to mark PDA awareness all over the world and it was something that we used to celebrate as a family.
I would have liked to have been able to have used this opportunity to share more posts and to get back into contact with my MP, Sir Mike Penning, who last year tabled an Early Day Motion on PDA after the awareness march.
For anyone wanting to read about the march then here is a quick link, plus the further details about the EDM can be found here.
However, my eldest daughter with PDA is struggling a great deal at the moment, so my priorities have to be dedicated to meeting her needs.
So, yesterday seemed to go with a bang!
Before I start, I must include a link to the wonderful PDA Society video, that launched ahead of the day, aptly titled Demand Avoidance of the PDA Kind.
Many professionals and parents will find this new resource useful as it helps to really explain the profile, using words from those who experience demand avoidance, which has already resonated so much in the PDA community.
To view the film please follow this link.
Fundraising events were held in many areas of the U.K. – a few that I saw from my social media handles (but there were plenty more and do drop a link in the comments below so I can share them!).
My lovely friend and fellow blogger Steph Curtis, from Steph’s Two Girls, arranged a coffee morning that raised some funds and the buzz from other parents was eclectic.
Both Steph and I had difficulties yesterday with our two girls school refusing, so in order to go, we both needed to bring them along.
Any anxieties they had were momentarily distracted and the girls began to share some wonderful quality time together:
It was lovely to watch them engaging and it was a pleasure for us to finally meet Sasha, who was warm and funny, I hope that one time we will get to do this again.
Another good friend of mine from the PDA community held a fundraising event which was a huge success:
The South Bucks PDA Support Group is run by Hilary Harvey, who is also one of the trustees from the PDA Society; the group has had an amazing success so far (I am also one of their members). For anyone thinking of creating their own group, this link to a post on this subject may be useful.
There were plenty of other posts appearing in news feeds, which I can’t mention them all, but this post made me smile as Lana looks so proud of her achievements:
Politicians even got involved to raise PDA awareness, a big shout out to Ed Miliband and Edith from this post that was shared widely:
Also, I particularly liked this post with Patricia Hewitt, who has been an active PDA campaigner up in Scotland and is a valuable member of the PDA community:
So, back to home and we used PDA Day as an opportunity to celebrate; to come together as a family and share positive messages to one another.
I printed off some PDA Star certificates and gave them to two of my daughters so they could write them out in secret (I wrote them one each too).
Middle sibling got one for helping my PDA’er to feel calm and for all of the wonderful things she does to help our family.
I was awarded one for supporting my eldest when she gets bad dreams and for giving her the ‘healing bubble’ (a visualisation and breathing exercise we do when she is having a panic attack).
She got one for, and I quote her little sister as she scrawled it down on the certificate, because “you always make me larf.”
The festivities continued as we had my niece over for a pizza and a play date, which meant I got some quality one to one time afterwards with Boss Baby.
It seemed to work by celebrating PDA Day – the children talked about it as a positive thing and I’m sure that shared consciousness has the desired effect to make it something worth celebrating.
Last but not least, my daughter made a quick video, which we put into our Instagram stories (link here to our Insta handle). She awarded a PDA Star to our lovely volunteer for helping her learn to sew (she does a whole lot more than that!!), but she wasn’t prompted so this recognition was even more heartfelt.
PDA Day 2019 was a huge success and there are events lined up still to come, such as the PDA Action Conference this Saturday, but this tweet summaries the donations so far:
Details here from PDA Society
If you would like to donate to the PDA Society, a charity that is run voluntarily by parents or adults with PDA, here is a link to support them further.