@Jann in TX Love the SKZ shirt!

@Murphy101 How are your travel plans going? I think I remember you saying that you hoped to travel in September. I hope it's all coming together.

I've spent two years working on convincing my daughter with an ED that the odd chocolate bar or piece of cake or packet of chips won't make her fat. I do an internal happy dance when she does eat these things. Only recently has she been able to go and purchase these things on her own - a huge step in her recovery! This is just an example that blanket rules may not suit a diverse population.

I love it!! 😄 Eyes peeled for Mingi. He was a standout performer when we saw them. I also love The Rose. Their latest Back to Me is high rotation on my playlist at the moment. Beauty and the Beast is my all-time favourite of theirs. Have you found the J-Rock group One OK Rock yet? If you like The Rose, you'll likely also like One OK Rock. Also, do you listen to Xdinary Heroes? They are K-rock/K-pop.

@Jann in TX LA K-Con is coming up! I'm so excited for you! I suspect my daughter will buy an online pass, so hopefully I'll get to see some too. Please keep us updated and please post photos! My wishlist would be Ateez, Stray Kids, Zerobaseone , Xikers and The Boyz. The overall line-up is very very strong. I know you already like Ateez, but have you checked out Xikers? They are a new group from the same label. Check out Rockstar and Do or Die if you haven't already.

Love it, love it, love it!

I feel like the word 'passion' gives too much weight or pressure or long-term commitment to things that could instead be described as giving you satisfaction or bringing you joy or making you laugh or giving you comfort. I rediscovered my inner teeny-bopper during our Covid isolation years. I find comfort and joy and emotional release in music again, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a passion.

@wathe How's your trip going? I hope you're all having a fantastic time.

How common is it to have to pay extra to choose your seats? I'm a very inexperienced traveller, but I've never had to pay extra to choose our seats, and we've never had them reassigned. I've only flown with QANTAS.

I was just about to come back and clarify this. This is exactly what we do. It's a 50ml bottle that hangs on a keychain-type thing, so you don't even have to unzip your bag and fish around for it.

My suggestion is for her to have a small bottle of hand sanitizer with her at all times. After washing her hands and leaving the bathroom, she can sanitise quickly and discretely. This is much simpler than avoiding all handles etc. We're an OCD family, and this is manageable.

Who is this intended for and what's the purpose? I'm befuddled. I'm the sort to stick my hand up in a staff meeting and say 'ah, no, I'm not doing that'. Or in the role of parent, I'd be saying 'ah, no, we're not doing that'.

I got this shirt for my husband for his birthday 😄

I'll also add that I agree with other posters who have said that taking medication shouldn't be the child's choice at this age. That's a responsibility for the adults - the doctors and the parents/carers. And this ramps up even more if the child has a fear of the medication. They should not have to feel responsible for making a decision about taking it. It's an extra layer of worry. I really do understand how difficult this is. I wish you all the best 🌻

For us, science helped. Your daughter is a lot younger than mine was when she started on meds, so your experience will be somewhat different. But for us, understanding the basics of the physiology of the condition really helped. It frames the situation as a medical condition (which it is!) as opposed to a behavioural issue. It also helped to make analogies to other medical conditions that need medicating eg diabetes. Personally, I prefer the term 'neurotransmitters' to 'chemicals' when talking about brains. The term 'chemicals' can be triggering to people with OCD. And we also discussed what SSRI means in relation to the physiology of the condition.

Thinking of you, Melissa, and wishing you all the best 🌻

Here's a simple trick, taught to us by a paediatric respiratory physio. Breathe out steadily for as long as you can without pausing. When you think you can breathe out no more, keep going for several more seconds, even if you think there's no more air to expel. And then keep going some more. It should take a bit of effort, and it will feel a bit uncomfortable, but this opens up those deeper airways of your lungs and stimulates a productive cough. I hope you both feel better soon 🌻

We've recently returned from South Korea, unrelated to scouts. I just wanted to wish you all a fantastic trip. I hope it's a wonderful experience. Where in Korea will you be?

@mindinggaps I'm so sorry you're all dealing with this. OCD is an absolute beast. I absolutely agree with you about not physically forcing and not hiding the medication. This would never have been the right option for my OCD daughter. It was, and still is, absolutely essential that I maintain her trust. Other children, other conditions, other contexts - maybe. But not OCD with this daughter. However, I absolutely believe that taking the medication is non-negotiable. I haven't dealt with full-on medication refusal, but I have dealt with eating refusal. OCD manifested in different ways over the years, and one manifestation was as disordered eating that became an eating disorder. My repeated phrase to my daughter: My love for you is stronger than your illness. I had to use the LSUYE (life stops until you eat) method. I'd provide food and wait until it was eaten. I wouldn't take her anywhere until she ate, and I'd stay with her for a while after she ate. I stayed calm (on the outside) and absolutely NEVER backed down. Not once ever. She had to know that I meant what I said. No uni. No dance classes. No rehearsals. Nothing unless she ate. I won't sugar-coat it. It was really really really hard. Life involves a lot more than one child's needs, but my whole existence needed to revolve around this for about 4-5 months. I reason I'm telling you all of this is that I think your situation is somewhat similar. My daughter had terror-like reactions to eating. But she had to. Every single meal. I just had to keep telling her that my love is even stronger than her illness, and that I wasn't letting her skip meals. My suggestion for you and your daughter: talk to her doctor and get a different version of the med, preferably tablet. And then start fresh. Tell your daughter that you've spoken to the doctor and that they say this is necessary for her health. Then don't back down. She needs to take this, and because your love is even stronger than her illness, you will ensure she does take it. I wish you all the best. I know how hard this is. Please PM me if you'd like to chat in more detail. 🌻

What a scary ordeal @Melissa in Australia. I'm so pleased you were all looked after so well and that everyone is home safe and sound. You must be exhausted.

If you put this into your search, you should find it: Mapo-gu, one stop to Hongdae The host is Hung-Su. Let me know if you find it. The floor we are on has 8 units, and each is colour coded.

I definitely recommend where we stay, if this area suits your needs. I'm not sure how to link the info via my phone without my Airbnb account being public. Let me see what I can do. Also, it depends how many of you come. Where we stay is small. It's perfect for one person, or two who get on well in a small space. Try searching on Airbnb for mapo-gu and then filter for superhosts. In the meantime, I'll try to work out how to share the info with you.

Have you seen them live before? We saw them at the SBS Christmas Eve Gayo last year. So good 👍 Seeing this fan meeting the other day was just pure chance.

And a lovely highlight of this trip was meeting up with the delightful daughter-of-Kareni again ☺️

DMC is Digital Media City. It's when MBC, SBS, ENJ etc are. We're at an Airbnb in Mapo-gu. It's about 5 min walk to DMC train station, and about 10-15 min walk to DMC itself. We love where we stay. Same place as last time. We've only been just south of Seoul. It was interesting to see the change in scenery.