Parenting Outside The Lines

Parenting the Special Family From Diagnosis to Real Life

  • Home
  • Special Needs Parenting
  • Diagnosis
  • Global Disability Parenting
  • The Book
  • Resources
  • About Me

Do Special Needs Parents Ever Get A Day Off

January 7, 2016 By Patricia O'Machel Leave a Comment

Pixbay Photo Thanks to Greyerbaby

Pixbay Photo Thanks to Greyerbaby

I want to take a day off, I really do.  I want to sit back on the couch, relax, basically just not get up for awhile.  I want to be able to rest and do nothing, and to be ok with that.   But for some strange reason I never do, and I actually feel uncomfortable when I get the chance.

I am not very good at just stopping – yet I envy people who are.  I feel like I always need to be busy and to be doing something.  There is always something to be done, laundry, work, dishes, errands.  But I complain about not having the time to sit back and relax, while not doing anything about it.  Sometimes I feel as if my actual worth is based on how busy I can stay.  And as a special needs Mom, I wonder if it is even really a realistic goal.

My daughter has needs that no one else can really fill most of the time.  She needs to be helped to the bathroom, to help her get dressed, to help with her homework as a scribe, to lift her in and out of the car and to push her wheelchair in tight spaces.  It seems the minute I sit myself down, she senses it and has to ask for something.  Of course, she has two parents and we can split the work of caring for her.  But as her Mom I am the one with her most of the time.  So I do it.  I get up, I help her, I get the things out of her reach, I move and I move and I move.

So when do I rest, if ever?  I often wonder if I will find a time where I can just relax and kick back and to be ok with that.  Even today, when her therapist had to cancel the after school session I was already dreading schlepping to, I started immediately to try and fill the space.  “What can I do?”  “Should we go to the pool and get a good workout?” “Should I fill it with errands?” should I do this or that to fill in that time, that time I have been craving and wanting.   What if we just come home from school and do homework, and relax?   Is that so bad for a parent to do?

How do I become comfortable with empty, unplanned time as a special needs parent?

Patty

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: being a Mom, disability parenting, parenting, special needs parenting Tagged With: day off, parenting, Special needs parenting

« The Crazy, Complicated, Upside-Down Feeling of the IEP
Since You’ve Been Gone: A Letter to my Mom »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Hi, and thanks for stopping by and joining me in this crazy, interesting life of parenting a special child.
Days may be long, but never boring - and I look forward to all of the amazing things that this kind of life, living outside the lines, will bring. More…

Follow Me

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe!

Enter your email address to subscribe and receive new posts in your inbox!

Top Posts

  • Elearning Virtual disAbility Awareness
    Elearning Virtual disAbility Awareness
  • Our New Normal - Elearning
    Our New Normal - Elearning
  • The Myth of the Superhero Mom
    The Myth of the Superhero Mom
  • Sharing Stories of Parenting the Special Needs Child Around the World
    Sharing Stories of Parenting the Special Needs Child Around the World
  • Please stop learning at my daughter's expense
    Please stop learning at my daughter's expense
  • I Want My Kids to Think I Matter
    I Want My Kids to Think I Matter

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Enter your email address to subscribe and receive new posts by email.

Copyright © 2023 Parenting Outside the Lines· Built on Genesis Framework · by Beyond Blog Design using WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...