I found this random piece of a wooden post and decided that it would make a good talking stick. I feel that a talking stick will do some good for my son because he's having trouble understanding the dynamics of a conversation. Or, should I say that I think he understands mostly but refuses to engage in a proper conversation. Yeah, that's more like it *chuckles*. At this point in time, he is repeating everything that we say and refusing to answer questions. He has recently started answering our questions such as "Are you hungry". Before a few months ago he would never answer such questions with a yes. He would say no, but if the answer was yes he would just repeat the question. We finally got him to answer these questions with a yes or no, but in the last 2 weeks he has started repeating again, and if it's a question he's not use to hearing he refuses to say anything at all in any form of an answer or even a repeat. I don't completely believe that he doesn't understand. I just feel like he's being silly or pretending something. I had thought that being around other children in head start would help improve is interactions with others and us, but it seems to have made things worse as far as the things that he says to us and how he treats us (however unwarranted).
My Idea was that maybe a talking stick would help him to grasp the concept that we should interact and treat each other with more respect when talking to one another, and that we must give one another their turn for speaking. I used sharpy permanent markers for the talking stick, and when considering whether or not to use paint I remembered that he's 3 years old and that the paint probably wouldn't last. So I chose permanent marker. Of course, nearly every object is a magickal one to me so I used runes and theban script to express what I thought the stick should represent. The largest rune on the front (second image from the left) is a bindrune used for finding answers and truth. The theban script around that bindrune says "Telling the Truth is Imporant". At the top there are 6 different colored lines and each of the have a repeat of the rune Ansuz which I have used to encourage communication. There is also a larger Ansuz on the revers side of the bindrune. I tried to make it as colorful as possible, and since my son has a hard time expressing himself I decided to put some little faces that he can point to in the case that he doesn't know how to tell me how he feels. They say, "Happy, Sad, Angry, Confused". I'm really hoping that this will help him to express how he feels in a comfortable way to me.
I'm waiting for the right opportunity to try this stick out with him and see how he reacts, but it should be soon because I have started my vacation yesterday and am off work for the next week. This makes me very happy since Samhain is coming up very soon. I'm sure I'll be making a post of our happenings! Until then, Blessed Samhain everyone!
