The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Mum raising funds to support children with anxiety issues
Amum from Crieff has been inspired to make therapeutic teddies for children with anxiety after creating one for her own son.
Nicole Davies, 39, designed a lavendersmelling toy for her sixyear-old son, Angus, who struggles with anxiety due to an informal diagnosis of autism and ADHD.
The mum has created her own kickstarter fundraiser online and is hoping to raise £25,000 to make more toys that parents can purchase for children suffering from anxiety.
Nicole made the toy after discovering her son’s love for the smell of lavender, which helped to calm him down during times of uneasiness.
She said: “From a really young age I noticed that certain lotions I would wear, Angus would either really like them or hate them.
“Angus is autistic and he has ADHD as well so I noticed that when I put on a lavender lotion, it would have a really nice calming affect on him.
“I started to wear it more often and I used to wear it a lot at bedtime which is always really chaotic and so he would lie with me and read bedtime stories until he drifted off.
“We were chatting one day about how he feels when he’s very upset and things that could help him and then he mentioned about the smell.
“So I said to him ‘would it be nice if mummy made you a toy that you could put lavender inside of?’ and he said yes.”
Nicole went on to create a homemade toy that she inserted dried lavender into to help ease some of Angus’s anxiety.
She said: “We take that out and about with us and it’s not foolproof or a magical thing but it does help.
“He likes having it in bed because of the smell. He’ll usually pop it on his pillow when it’s bedtime and it’s there for him when he goes to bed.”
Nicole, who has another son aged three, said it is difficult at times to go out as a family when Angus is suffering from heightened emotions.
Now she wants to create a toy to help other families in similar positions.
Nicole said: “The idea really came about because I noticed it did help my little boy.
“I just hope that it would bring comfort to whoever had it at the time of need and for a child it would really help the parents.
“It’s really distressing watching your child be extremely upset and not being able to help in the moment.
“If we’re in a public place most people won’t understand why he is as upset as he is and will quite often view the meltdown as a tantrum and think he’s acting out.
“There can be a lot of mutters at times and that will just make matters worse because he’s really aware of it as well.”