Why we shouldn't tell our children that they LOOK beautiful.

I have a bit of a bug bear to share with you.

I hate it, nay detest it, when adults make a comment about a child's appearance - "oh, don't you look beautiful" or "aren't you looking handsome today," or "you look very pretty" or "you look gorgeous in that dress." 

I hate it when people make comments like that to me! Comments like that make me want to respond with "so you only think I'm beautiful when I'm wearing clothes that you approve of? Does that mean that in your eyes, I'm not beautiful when I'm wearing my daggy clothes?" or "And aren't you very rude today!"

We don't call children out on when their hair is scruffy and their clothes are messy. Imagine the response if you said to a child "Oh geez, you look like a hot mess! Not looking very beautiful today are you!" Ummmm, I can hear the tears and tantrums right now!

I don't want my children, in particular my daughter, growing up thinking that she has to look immaculate when she gets dressed in the morning. I don't want O to be constantly concerned that the only trait about herself that matters to those around her, is her appearance.

I want O to be comfortable in her own skin, regardless of whether she has brushed her hair, is still in her pyjamas or if she is wearing her Sunday best.

I tell both of my children on a regular basis that I think that they are wonderful little humans. I tell them on a regular basis how kind and polite they are when interacting with others. I tell them both regularly that I am proud of how brave they are when they overcome obstacles. 

I do tell O that she is beautiful and L that he is handsome BUT not only when they've brushed their hair and are wearing their best clothes. I praise both of my children when I catch them sharing with each other, or with other children. I tell both of my children that they are great friends when I find out that they've looked out for their own friends. I tell both of my children on a regular basis that I love how their brains work!

Do you sense a common theme?

I want both of my children to view themselves as wonderful, kind, polite, brave, strong individuals as these are all great traits to have. Everyone is beautiful in some way, but I don't want my children to view "being beautiful" as the only trait that they should have. A major part of being a parent is imparting our own values on our children. I don't want to send an unintentional, totally avoidable message to my children that their physical appearance is more important than how they think, feel and behave.

When we spend a lot of time talking about something with our children, we send a message to them that that particular topic is important to us. If our children are only told that they are beautiful when they've brushed their hair and are wearing their Sunday best clothes, what message is that sending to them?

I don't want O to become self conscious of her looks. While it drives me insane when she refuses to brush her hair, I will never call her out on it. She is still a beautiful child, inside and out, when her hair is messy.

Why? Because I want O to love the way that she looks.

There are enough pressures on our children from the media and our children's peers as they grow older, to look their absolute best at all times. Our children don't need that pressure from those that are meant to love them unconditionally. 

So the next time that you find yourself about to tell a child, especially one of mine, how beautiful or handsome they are, consider all of the other qualities of the child that you admire or love about them. Consider how you could impart a different, more meaningful message to them instead of telling them how beautiful or handsome you think that they are!

Remember beauty is not everything!

Positive Behaviour Support Strategies, Part Two

This parenting gig can be pretty demanding at the best of times but throw in challenging behaviour from your little ones, and it can become a whole new level of demanding on everyone. Yes that's right, on everyone. Our children, ourselves and those around us.

From experience I know that at times parenting can feel like a battle of wits. Who is going to win out?? Who is going to crack first?

But there is one important piece of information that we as parents (and even our children's teachers and carers) tend to forget and that is that children rarely exhibit challenging behaviour on purpose. They exhibit these challenging behaviours to serve a purpose. And that purpose is usually to communicate their needs or wants to us. Behaviour in it's simplest form is a type of communication.

It is taken me a number of years of constantly reminding myself when O and L are having rough days, that they aren't doing the behaviour on purpose, even though it does feel like that at times. I've written a post previously on how to get to the root cause of challenging behaviour and wanted to write a follow up post on things that we can do as parents to assist our children with their behaviour.

Over the last three and a half years, I have attended numerous workshops and seminars specifically geared towards parents who have children on the spectrum.  One of the topics that is discussed at length in every workshop and seminar is Positive Behaviour Support Strategies. Every time that I have discussed Positive Behaviour Support Strategies with others, the question always comes back to me .... "but they will only work for children who are on the spectrum, those who have a diagnosis."

The thing is, challenging behaviour is not something that only children who are diagnosed with autism exhibit. I have met many, many children who are not on the spectrum who also exhibit challenging behaviour. The positive behaviour support strategies that I have learnt over the last few years can also be used with children who have not received a diagnosis and are unlikely to ever be diagnosed with anything, i.e. your everyday, typically developing child!  In fact, I have used all of these strategies with many children, with great success.

So before I get onto the strategies, what are positive behaviour support strategies?

Positive Behaviour Support Strategies are all about aiming to prevent the challenging behaviour from occurring in the first place by promoting positive behaviour from children in environments that are both positive and supportive. These two words, "positive" and "supportive" are instrumental in assisting our children. We need to teach our children what to do, rather than what not to do. As parents we need to equip our children with the skills that they need to become accountable and take ownership for their own behaviour. By taking away the perceived negative language (no, stop, don't and so on) and replacing them with teaching children and modelling to them what to do, it all becomes a much more positive experience for all. Children are not born with the inherent ability to know right from wrong so we need to be supportive of them as they learn new skills.

The following Positive Behaviour Support Strategies are strategies that primarily teach YOU how to remain calm when dealing with challenging behaviours but they will also begin to teach your child about developing self control in relation to their own behaviour.

Now of course as with all new strategies that parents put in place, the Positive Behaviour Support Strategies may not work 100 percent of the time. However if you practicing these strategies regularly, they will become much more effective. Keep in mind that this is part two of this series. I have discussed some of these strategies in a previous post.

Please also keep in mind that if your child is in a state of meltdown then it is highly unlikely that ANY of these strategies will work. The best advice that I can give you is to stay calm and just be there for your child.

So let's get started!

1. You are your child's most influential teacher. We begin teaching our children from the moment that they make it earth side. From the beginning, let's show them what we want them to do. If we are respectful to others, then hopefully our children will follow our lead. Be the positive role model that all children need.

2. I've touched on this next strategy many times before and have no doubt that I will touch on it again in the future. Behaviour is not done on purpose, it is done to serve a purpose. One of our role as a parent/care giver/teacher/educator is to work out what that purpose is. At times it can be incredibly difficult to figure out the purpose. At other times it can be quite easy. But once you have worked out what the purpose is, we can begin to put strategies in place to assist our children.

We need to ascertain why our children are behaving in the manner that they are. Are they hungry? Are they tired? Are they bored or over stimulated? Are they simply exhibiting the behaviour to gain our attention? Are they physically unable to verbally tell us what they need or want at that particular moment. It can be helpful to make diary notes about the challenging behaviour - record the time of day, what occurred in the lead up to the challenging behaviour. You may start to notice patterns or triggers in the behaviour.

3. Be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to your children's behaviour. Most of the time I can predict when O or L are going to lose it. I may not know why they are having a rough time, but I can generally predict it. By being proactive I can put strategies in place to assist both of my little superheroes when they're having a rough time. But in saying that, there are still times when their challenging behaviour completely blind sides me. When you notice the signs of your children becoming agitated, step in at that point, rather than waiting for the situation to blow up.

4. When talking with (notice the word with rather then at) your children about their challenging behaviour try to remain calm. Admittedly this is easier said than done BUT remaining calm usually gets a better response from our children. Responding to your child in a calm and respectful manner is most likely going to get a better response then screaming back at them. This way we are also modelling how we would like them to interact with us and with others.

If at any point you need to walk away to take a few deep breaths and regroup, do it. Give yourself a few moments of time out. This will only help your child in the long run.

We are working on mindfulness breathing exercises at the moment with O in the hope that when she feels herself becoming anxious, she will be able to self regulate and ground herself. One program that we are using is Cosmic Kids Yoga. We're still in the early stages but O has been using deep breathing exercises at school and she has recently begun to teach L all about Cosmic Kids Yoga too! I'm finding the exercises useful for myself for when O and L are exhibiting challenging behaviours as well!

5. How many times have you asked your child not to do something only to find them doing the exact same thing 2 minutes later. When we say to children, "L don't run inside," they hear, "L run inside." Their brains filter out the stop, don't, no and only hear the rest of the instruction. So rather than telling our children what not to do, talk with them about what they can do as this takes away the negative language and replaces it with positive language. Or even better, show them.

"Can you show me how you can run really fast outside?" 

"We sit on the chairs, can you show me how you sit on a chair?"

Getting your children to assist in setting limits, as opposed to rules, can also be incredibly useful as they are more likely to remember and follow the limits if they have had an active part in creating them. We should always guide them towards the limits that we would like to see in our house and don't be surprised if at some point your children pick you up on breaking one of the limits!!! In the past when I have done this with my little superheroes and with children in my care, I have added visuals next to the limit so that the children could see what the limit was.

6. Rather than saying "good girl" or "good boy," praise their behaviour so that your children know what they did well. "That was great sharing L." If they know what they did well, they are more likely to do the same thing next time. Make them feel good about themselves. A positive reinforcement could be as simple as "Thanks for putting your shoes on," or "Thanks for putting your dishes in the sink." 

If a child is constantly being told don't do this, don't do that, stop this and so on, they are not going to feel real good about themselves. This also teaches the child how to attract negative attention. Whereas if we praise our children, they will begin to understand how to get positive attention.

I've also been asked on numerous occasions "but why should I be rewarding my children for doing what they should be doing in the first place?" This all goes back to strategy number 5! Children learn from being shown what to do, rather then being told off for doing the wrong thing!

Children also need to understand that by exhibiting appropriate socially acceptable behaviour means that they will be rewarded in some way. Praise is a reward.

7. We use a lot of "first and next" or "first and then" language in our house along with simplified instructions. 

"First put your shoes on and then we can go outside." 

"First put your hat on and then you can go and play in the sun." 

Multiple step instructions can be confusing for anyone but especially for our children. Break down the steps. Let our children know what they need to do first. First and next language and simple instructions really do go hand in hand.

8. Rather then labelling the child with a behaviour, for example …. 

"L is being naughty/crying/yelling/throwing toys," 

label why the behaviour is occurring. "L is yelling because he wants the toy truck." By labelling why the behaviour is occurring, we can attempt to find a solution. Do we need to teach the child how to share? Are they struggling to communicate their needs? Do we need to introduce more turn taking activities? By labelling the behaviour we can also attempt to get to the route cause of the child's behaviour. Remember, behaviour is not done on purpose, it is done to serve a purpose.

There is no such thing as a naughty child so please don't label the child with the behaviour. As a parent whose child has been labelled as "the naughty boy," it is truly heartbreaking. And if a child hears themselves being called the naughty child long enough, they will begin to mimic that. 

9. Green/Happy versus Red/Sad choices. 

Now this strategy is quite contentious depending on who you talk to. It is quite often misinterpreted as to how this strategy is used which is why it is contentious - just recently I have read a number of incorrect descriptions of this strategy.

You should NOT use this strategy to label a child's behaviour - "That is a red choice L." You should NOT use this strategy to make a child feel bad about their behaviour. - "Why do you always choose red choices?" And you should definitely NOT use this strategy to be demeaning towards a child.

This strategy IS used to begin to teach a child that there are consequences for them choosing to do particular behaviours. The Green/Red strategy puts the onus for the behaviour back onto the child. I have used this strategy in a positive way, successfully with children as young as 18 months. The idea is that the child is rewarded for choosing to make green choices and they can begin to understand that there are consequences for red choices. For example .... "If you make a green choice and  put your hat on, you can go and play outside but if you don't put a hat on, you'll need to stay on the verandah because we need to wear our hats when it is sunny." Saying it in this manner, still sounds positive.

The reward doesn't need to be a physical reward like a toy or sticker or other such item, it could just be being able to play outside. The Green/Red choices is about a child gaining an understanding that their behaviour is their choice - we're not telling them what they can and can't do. They choose to do the behaviour.

Whenever I have introduced the green/red choices to children, including my own, I have first talked with them about what they think green and red choices are. Again by including them in setting the limits has been useful as they have played an active role.

If you would like more details on the Green/Red Choices, I talk about it more in this post.

10. This next one is difficult to get into the habit of doing - pick your battles. At times we just want our children to stop doing whatever they are doing, but why? If the behaviour is just annoying to us, do they really need to stop doing it? 

There's a few questions you could ask yourself … Is the behaviour unsafe? Is the behaviour hurting anyone else? Is the child damaging or likely to damage any property other than their own toys? 

If the answer is yes to any of the above questions, then we should be redirecting the child to another activity. If the answer is no and the behaviour is simply annoying, then we probably don't need to stop the child. Is stopping annoying behaviour really worth the battle? 

It isn't always possible to overlook challenging behaviour particularly if there is a potential safety issue either to themselves or to others around the child, but to the greatest extent possible, we need to attempt to redirect the child to another activity. If you do need to redirect your child to another activity, always ensure that you talk with your child why they shouldn't be doing the undesired behaviour …. "That wasn't very safe so I need you to go and have some quiet time reading a book." Again it isn't just us telling children what they can or can't do, we are giving them a reason as to why they shouldn't be doing that behaviour.

With unwanted challenging behaviours, it is vital that you assist your child to find an acceptable behaviour or activity to replace the challenging behaviour. If you don't, then it is highly likely that your child will continue with the challenging behaviour or they find an equally challenging behaviour themselves!!

11. One on one time! All children love one on one time with their parents. At times challenging behaviour in which your child is trying to simply get your attention could be solved be spending a little one on one time with them. This could be as simple as going for a walk with your child around the block where you live. You could read a book together. You could just lay in bed and have cuddles. O will often tell us "I just want to sit and cuddle you and tell you what happened today!" after she has had a rough moment. Listen to and acknowledge your child's feelings if they open up to you. One on one time is the perfect opportunity to assist your child to come up with solutions on their own (with your assistance of course.) They will end up feeling empowered that they are capable of managing their own issues to rise up.

12. Lastly if a behaviour strategy is not working, it is NOT your child's fault. We need to look at the behaviour from another angle. The best example that I have of this is as follows …. I had a child many, many years ago in my care that would strip butt naked in front of his peers. At first we thought that he needed to go to the toilet, so we'd assist him to the bathrooms but as he was fully toilet trained, the behaviour just did not make any sense. This went on for weeks and the challenging behaviour of striping naked at random points throughout the day in front of his peers and other people coming into the service continued. It took another staff member to ask the question "is he just striping naked to get everyone's attention?" All it took was a fresh set of eyes and voila, the challenging behaviour made a lot more sense. Our chosen strategy of redirecting him to the bathroom was giving him exactly what he wanted - attention - we had chosen the wrong strategy. When we began to ignore his behaviour, to an extent, and began to give him one on one attention in other settings, the challenging behaviour stopped within days! This is where keeping diary records of when and where the challenging behaviour occurs is useful.

I hope that you have found this post useful and I'd love to hear about any other Positive Behaviour Support Strategies that you use.

My Favourite Motivational Memes, 2018.

This year I have gotten into the swing of creating memes for my blog and for our social media sites. I wanted to share a few of my favourite memes that I have created!

These are just a few of the motivational memes that I created throughout 2018. I hope that you enjoy!

What makes me qualified to discuss autism?

A question has been posed to me ....

"What makes you (ie: me) qualified to discuss all things autism?"

Where do I start? How about from the beginning? Just bare with me as it is a very convoluted story!!

My background is tertiary science. From about year ten onwards, my ambition in life was to become a Marine Biologist - I did two weeks work experience at our local natural history museum in the marine sciences section and loved it. I planned my year 11 and year 12 classes in high school so that I could gain entry into university to study in that field. Once I was accepted into university, I planned my subjects so that I could major in marine biology. However while I was studying at university, I fell into the role as an Education Officer for a CSIRO Science Education Centre. It was in that role that I realised that my goal in life was NOT to be a marine biologist but to work with children. Whilst working at CSIRO I did quite a bit of work with gifted students, who looking back on it now, I have no doubt would have been on the spectrum and with additional needs children, a number of whom were also on the spectrum.

Fast forward eighteen years (jeez now I am feeling old!) and I have worked in a lot of different careers since leaving the CSIRO. I've worked as an Education Officer for Life Education and I worked in the Early Childhood sector for a number of years before joining the Police Service. During the seven years that I was with the Police, one of the roles that I had was working with youth and their families in lots of different capacities. Among other roles I worked with at risk youth who were exhibiting very challenging behaviour and I was on a steering committee to establish a disability group in the area that I lived in. After resigning from the Police service I even tried my hand at administration - I thought that it was an area that I was interested in, but sitting behind a desk all day, every day, drove me slightly stir crazy! I've now come full circle and am back working in the Early Childhood sector and have been for a number of years.

Primarily throughout my career thus far I have worked with children in some capacity and many of those children have been additional needs children or children and young adults who exhibit challenging behaviour. Think education programs, inclusion support programs, programs for youth at risk, disability support and so on.

Whilst working in these fields, I didn't THINK that I was an expert in children with additional needs, be it additional needs or challenging behaviour, however I did THINK that I knew a fair bit about the subject.

And then .... I had my own children. Who just happened to be diagnosed with Autism.

Very quickly I came to the realisation that what I thought I knew, was only the tip of the ice berg! I had a lot to learn!

When you work with children with additional needs, you see one version of them. You see what they want you to see. They may not show you every side of themselves for fear of being judged or because they know that there may be consequences for exhibiting the perceived negative behaviour.

Working with children who had additional needs gave me a great head start when it came time to learn new skills and knowledge to assist my own children but I certainly did not know as much as I thought I knew.

Having two children of my own, both of whom are on the spectrum, I get to view and live their struggles 24/7.  We live autism, gifted and challenging behaviour day and night. 24/7.

Then throw in the fact that as a much wiser (well I hope so anyway) adult reflecting on myself as a child/teenager/young adult, I can see so much of my younger self in both of my children. Through speaking with my children's psychologist, we've come to the conclusion that if I was a child now (in 2018) I too would most likely be diagnosed with Autism. But I won't be chasing a diagnosis as I personally cannot see the benefit in gaining one for myself. I want to throw my efforts into assisting my little superheroes.

I can't tell you everything about Autism. What I can do is write about my children's Autism, with their input as they become more aware of their own thoughts and feelings. I can tell you about how I felt as a child and teenager struggling to understand myself and my peers.

I can give you advice on how to support children when they are exhibiting challenging behaviour. I can give you advice on how to support children and adults who suffer from anxiety as I have lived with anxiety for as long as I can recall. I can give you advice on how to turn everyday activities into therapy activities. I can give you advice on how to support individuals with sensory processing difficulties. However in saying this, what works with us, may not work for your family.

Why? Because our family lives and breathes Autism, anxiety, sensory processing difficulties, challenging behaviour, sleep issues ….. Every single day.

And the more that I learn, the more I realise that I really didn't know that much at all!

Wesley the Werewolf!

**** Please note that I do not receive commissions of any kind for this review, it is simply a book that my children have enjoyed reading ****

If you haven't guessed by now, we love books at superhero headquarters. O is a very definite book worm and L is rapidly following in her footsteps. At their school there is a reading program with rewards for every hundred reading experiences that the students read. O has recently hit the 300 reading experiences for the year mark, although if we remembered to write down every book that she has read this year, she'd be well over 300. L has hit the 600 reading experiences for the year and he is super proud of his achievement and rightly so.

Recently I borrowed a book from my workplace - Wesley the Werewolf - as it looked like the kind of book that L would love. I had a quick read of the book while I was at work and loved the story line in the book.

When I arrived home, I gave the book to L and stood back to gauge his reaction. After leafing through the book he said "We read this at night time okay Mummy?" and took it into his bedroom to add to the ever growing pile of books to read that night!

That night before going to bed, we just had to read it twice and then L read it himself looking for his sight words from school. It is truly a wonderful sight watching L as he looks for words that he recognises and seeing him smile as he points the words out!

One of the skills that L is working on in his therapy is retelling a sequence of events so I thought that asking him questions about this book would be a great way for him to practice this skill and would be a sneaky review for the blog!

Me …. What happens in the story?
L …. The little werewolf, what his name Mummy?

Me …. His name is Wesley.
L …. Yeah Wesley, he was playing outside and gotted really dirty. Then he go home to his Mummy but there a bubble bath, yuk!

Me …. What happens then?
L …. He not want to have a bath.

Me …. Why didn't he want to have a bath?
L …. Cos he want to be tough and rough and keep dirty!

Me …. What happens next?
L …. His Mummy brushes his hair. And he got angry and sang that funny song!

Me …. It is a funny song, isn't it?

L …. Yeah.

Me …. Why do you think Wesley was angry and singing the funny song?
L …. Ummm, cos when his Mummy brushed his hair, it hurt!

Me …. Why did it hurt Wesley?
L …. Cos he had stuff in his hair! See he had bubble gum and a apple and a leaf and a stick and a snail. Lots of things.

Me … There were lots of things in his hair.
L …. Just like when you brush Sissy's hair! She yell and scream cos she got big knots in her hair. 

Me …. She does sometimes, doesn't she!
L …. But Sissy not have snails in her hair!

Me …. No buddy she doesn't have snails in her hair. What happens at the end of the book?
L …. The werewolf, his hair is soft and clean and he go play with his friends!

Me …. Do you think your friends would like to read this book?
L …. Yep! You read it again for me please?

Me …. Sure buddy. Thank you for answering my questions.
L …. That okay, but you read now please?

The author of this book is a local lady by the name of Lauren Earner. L was able to identify with the story as he could relate the story to me trying to brush his sister's hair! I didn't want to remind L that his reaction to having his hair brushed is much the same as O's reaction!!

It is a great little book and has fast become one of L's favourite books!

Supanova Comic Con and Gaming Expo, Brisbane 2018

A few weekends ago it was that time of year again. Supanova Comic Con and Gaming Expo, Brisbane.

If you haven't guessed by now, we're a wee bit superhero mad around here. Comic-Con and Supanova are two of our yearly outings. Both of my little superheroes, but particularly L, love their superheroes. L's obsession has always been, and probably always will be, superheroes.

At Supanova and Comic-Con, L is in his element. It is truly magical to watch his face light up as he is on the look out for his favourite superheroes. It is also the one day of the year that he willingly wants his photo taken, all day!!

L plans his costumes, yes we take multiple costumes for L, months in advance. A few days before hand, L will put his chosen costumes aside so that they don't get dirty! O is also very prepared - she usually decides a few months out what she is going to go dressed as so that I can make her costume. Although this year I cheated and brought her costume online! This year we also decided that the little superheroes could bring a friend along for the day. L took his best mate to Comic-Con earlier this year, so it was O's turn to bring a friend along and induct her into the Supanova experience!

So without any further ado, here are a few snaps of our Supanova outing!

Each expo we try to get a photo with a few of the guests. John Barrowman from Torchwood is one of mine and Daddy superheroes favourite actors so this photo was a must. John was absolutely brilliant with the little superheroes. And if you get the opportunity to meet John, be warned, he is prepared to do almost anything in the photos!

As was a photo with Superman, a.k.a. Dean Cain. Dean was the one person that L was desperate to meet. L was ready to meet Superman at about 5am in the morning! We had to keep reminding L that Dean wouldn't be dressed as Superman, he'd be dressed as Clark Kent - to keep his superhero identity a secret and all! L waltzed into the photo area to meet Dean, stoped dead in his tracks and pipes up with (very loudly) "You not Clark Kent!" No glasses in sight so how could he be Clark!!! Dean took it all in his stride, I'm quite sure he's used to those comments from children, and started interacting with my little superheroes. He made L's day! And it is the first expo that we've been to that L hasn't wanted to change costumes multiple times! He was staying as Superman! After this photo it was truly a wonderful sight to watch L - he was so animated about meeting Superman.

We also wanted to get a photo with Bonnie Wright, a.k.a. Ginny Weasley from the Harry Potter movies. O was able to get Bonnie's autograph a few years ago and when she found out that Bonnie would be at Supanova, she wanted a photo to go with her autograph. One very happy little superhero!

L …. "Is he a real wizard? I not want to be turned into a frog!"

The girls were asked to look up at the ceiling in horror! 

The little superheroes were given the opportunity by Bethesda ANZ to dress as an Elf with various Cosplay props. L was convinced that the cloak had to go over his head. Completely. No matter how hard I attempted to convince him otherwise, he kept pulling the cloak back down over his eyes …. "I still see you Mummy!" Okay dude!

The details in a number of the Cosplay outfits were spectacular! This Warhammer Cosplayer was amazing! L was amazed by Warhammer when we saw him at Comic-Con and was equally amazed at Supanova.

L is fascinated by Deadpool and is desperate to watch the movies. He is well aware that a rating of MA on a movie means that he is not allowed to watch it but that doesn't mean that he has stopped asking to watch the Deadpool movies! Little dude, there is no way that you are watching these movies yet!
L …. "When I a teenager then?"
Nope, nope nopeity nope!

You're Welcome!

Sorry Batman, you were replaced by Superman today! Normally a photo, or two or three, with Batman is a must for L. If we'd spotted Batman prior to the photo with Dean Cain, I am certain that L would have been in it. Unfortunately for Batman, this was not the case! Batman could not even get a fist bump or high five out of L!

And lucky last, I just had to get a photo with the one and only Orc that was at Supanova. We'd literally run into the Orc a number of times throughout the day and not once did the little superheroes want a photo with him. As we were about to leave, we ran into him again. I love it when the Cosplayers get into the spirit of their chosen character!

If you ever get the opportunity to attend a Supanova, or Comic-Con for that matter, go! It is an event that everyone has to experience at least once. Both of my little superheroes are already planning their costumes for Supanova 2019!!