Trigger warning: whiny mother who feels defeated, deflated, and discouraged.
Do you ever feel like no matter what you do, it's going to back fire in your face? Like you're caught between a rock and a hard place???
As a special needs parent it's our job to prepare our kiddos for the world (to prepare the world for our kiddos) and to combat any issues that may arise in this process. Many of our autie kiddos are VERY dependent on a schedule, on their routine, and anything less really creates an issue for them. Which inadvertently creates one for us.
So we all know that when schedules/routines need to be changed, it's our job to prep our kids. (yes, sometimes we can't, that is life, and we have become accustomed to dealing with that fall out.) But the times we do know in advance, we prepare.
Lately, preparing Liam for any routine changes seems to cause MORE issues for him. Thus creating more for me. For some reason, when I tell him what is changing, he spends almost every waking moment ruminating on these changes. For instance, tomorrow I have an appointment in the am. When we get home his MT will come for 2 hours. Then the neighbor kids are getting off the bus here. After that an OT will be here to evaluate him for services from his cyber school.
While this may not seem like much to us, to him this is huge. I told him this morning what was going to take place tomorrow. I knew a busy day, that is out of our "norm," warranted some preparations. Instead, all it has done is given me a head ache and him more things to worry about.
His mind is thinking of every damn thing that could go wrong. Even things that won't go wrong. It's creating scenarios about tomorrow that will never happen, but in his mind, they will. I feel awful saying it's annoying me. I know how bad that sounds. I also know how badly it's affecting him. But I did what I have always done, which is prepare him for the changes in the day ahead. I am thinking that I made the wrong decision....
So I am left with, next time, do I tell him and watch him ruminate all day? Or do I NOT tell him, and then deal with the fall out? See what I mean? Rock and a hard place.... Is there even a right answer???
I am by no means a perfect mom. I know this. I just want to do what's best for my son. Sometimes I'm not just sure what that is.....
So sorry to hear this Courtney :-( I know that you only want to do what is best for your son. This may seem like an odd suggestion...but have you tried to work out a "plan of action" together with Liam? Working with him to weigh pros and cons of prep for change or "winging it"...and seeing if he can shed some light on what will make him the most comfortable....
ReplyDeleteThank you! That's a good idea. Mr. Opinionated may be able to help me shed some light on this ;) I just hate seeing him worry so about things out of our control. I will have to give this a try. tyvm :)
DeleteMy son is the same way. Even at 23. I have to let him know what the plan is. When I get sick and things fall through. Even if I say I am going to clean the house and do the laundry and I don't do it. He falls apart and gets mad at me for it. Rock and a hard place is right on.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and following. Yes! I have fibromyalgia and if I have an unexpected bad day and can't follow through on something, all hell breaks loose :/
DeleteWe had the same problem when our son was 3-7. We had a lot of trial and error, but finally out of frustration (mine) one day I took out a pad of paper and drew him the sequence of events. He calmed right down and we then took that pad of paper with us whenever we needed a "mommy drawing" to get us through. PECs pictures never worked for us, but my lame but personalized drawings really reached him. I made sure to draw particular things that I knew he might be worried about, such as which car we would take on errands, who would be with us at different stages, etc. My son is very visual, so that worked for him when words simply wouldn't. I hope you find what works for you and your son.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I made him a (poorly drawn) picture schedule that we changed together daily a few years ago. As time went on, he didn't seem to care one way or the other, so I put it away. I may have to dig that bad boy back out! Thanks <3
Deletelove your site, i have a 6 year old autistic child as well and at times he can be very trying on me your site helps with those issues thanks
ReplyDeleteawe, thanks so much! <3
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