Friday, January 10, 2014

It takes a Village

I have learned a lot throughout my life. As a rule, I try to learn something new all the time. However, what I don’t like learning is things that affect my life negatively. One of those things is that I can only rely on myself. I know I say that with the absolute word “only”. I don’t mean 100% of the time. I would say 98% of the time. I haven’t been able to figure out why that is exactly because I always try to be supportive of others. It’s why I do what I do for work.
Personally, I have always had a difficult time asking for help…in other words I pretty much don’t ask until I am hanging by a thread and it is unraveling. I understand how important it is to take care of yourself and your relationships. I also know that divorce is VERY common among parents with children that have special needs. We have a child that needs extra support and understanding. Therefore, it makes it difficult to leave him with “just anyone” for extended periods of time. With Gage, things have to be done differently. You can’t reason with him like every other 3 year old. We pick our battles with him and usually those battles are for BIG things. For instance, right now we are focusing on potty training. That is the one area I don’t back down on with him even if it results in a 45 minute (or more) meltdown because he does NOT want to sit on the potty.  Anyways, I seemed to have digressed. My ADHD is kicking today.
I realize that support is imperative when raising any child, especially a child with special needs. It can be very stressful and you need that reconnection with your spouse. For example, Gage just started Pre-K (which he is adjusting fairly well…that’s a whole new entry) this week. It has been very crazy getting him adjusted to a different schedule. It has been nothing short of a miracle that I have been able to have him in bed AND asleep before 9 pm every night (thanks Melatonin). My point is during our days there is never really any time for my husband and me to connect. He leaves the house early for work and usually is gone until late in the evening. By the time he gets home, its dinner time and then he is ready for bed to start the whole routine over again the next day.
My question is what do people do if they have limited support? Because I am trying to figure it out.


Until next time…

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