One added benefit to blogging about our son and his mental health illnesses, is that it also gives me a timeline of some of his behaviors. Of course, I don’t document everything here. But this is a good baseline for everything that he has been through.
So, for example, when a facility asks me for two weeks of behaviors coupled with the dates that they occurred, I don’t have to look far. I can come here and review two weeks worth of posts and have pretty much everything. Is it everything? Like I said previously, not by a long shot.
What some entries do is trigger memories of other lesser events.
I guess the point I am making here, is document. Document. Document!
Write down every behavior that is not right for your home. Write down that the child argued about his coat, in fact threw a fit because he couldn’t wear a heavy winter coat outside when it was 50 degrees outside. Write down that the child refused to eat meals. Write down that when asked to be quiet they persisted in making every noise or activity possible to generate ire in the entire family. Write down that no matter how horrible they are plugged up with allergies they won’t listen to you when you tell them to put the cat down.
When it comes to insurance companies and facilities, one can never have “too much” documentation.
Don’t spend every second writing things down, because then you forget to live and enjoy life with your family. Because believe me, nothing is more important than the family you are trying to help.