Tag Archives: Stress

the stress free facade

You know that calm and cool Dad you see at the meetings for his son?

The one who rarely gets upset?  Yeah.  him.

That is me.  I am anything but calm.  In fact most of the time, I am so rigid with stress that I could be a string on a violin.  A damn big string on a violin.

How do I change that?

See, I would rather get up and speak in front of hundreds of people than sit in that room and have a meeting about my son. It isn’t that I don’t love him or want to fight for him, it is just that overtime, I have learned that most meetings for David don’t go well, and I need to be on-guard.

It is sad really that my early meetings for David have caused me to automatically feel like this.  Is this a, what  do they call it, psychosomatic response?  Or physiological?  Either way it sucks.

What ways do you combat meeting stress when it comes to your child?  Leave an answer in the comments and I will compile a list.

 

It is okay to be tired.

tired

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so tired.  I admit it.  And you know what?

It’s okay to be tired.

Besides the struggle to take care of David and what he needs I also have pretty serious health concerns myself.  None of which react well to stress.

Caring for a child like David, well, caring for any child with needs is a huge undertaking.  It can be rewarding, and believe me, we have had our share of rewards.  But it is also so very draining.

So from one parent of a special needs child to another.

It is okay to be tired.  It is okay to admit it.

So Far, So Good, Now …

It is too early to tell if all of my worry from the last two weeks was for not.

However, so far so good.  It is an adjustment for sure, but no less an adjustment for him as the rest of the family.

I am used to having the house to myself all day long, and now I have this teenager running around.

Today we had a second IEP meeting about him.  On Monday he will start half days in a day program in a nearby city.  School will transport him to the facility, I will pick him up.

This is two fold, one, they can provide the class size and supports that he needs.  In the afternoon, I can work with therapists for various appointments.  We won’t be able to recreate every aspect of residential care, but we ought to be able to create some of it.

One thing I have to remind myself, is that he is a 13 year old boy.