What has summer 2019 taught me?.....
Well, my fellow parents, we're there. The start of a new school year!! I can feel the excitement, anxiety, relief and sheer terror building on social media around the country. Some of us heading for First Days at school, some still fighting to find their child a place, some dealing with anxious children and some of us silently screaming "Freedommmm!!"'
It's been a long nine weeks in this house but this summer has taught me a lot about, well, everything. So here's what summer 2019 has taught me...
It NEVER stops raining! Every day I slowly open my eyes hoping to see rays of sunshine shining through the curtains and then close my eyes again as I hear the rain hammering on the skylight. This is an added pressure to SN parents because we are restricted to where our children can cope with, so many places out of bounds. But, this summer we were able to tolerate the cinema, the bowling alley, and swimming and of course many many visits to Sensory Me!! We made it work. This year, if there was any sun, we stopped everything and spent it in the garden. We stumbled through.
Sometimes I have to loosen the reins and let the children play without supervision. Lacey taught Toby climbing, dancing, bouncing and judo, all on the bouncy castle and all with me holding my breath!! I let go of him in the pool and I let him play out with his cousins on holiday. His independence levels are much better because of those decisions.
Take each day as it comes, try not to focus on nine weeks. We've been to every Áirc event we could and spent time with family, never thinking ahead, concentrating on the here and now. Some days were great, some were bad and some were plain horrendous...but one day at a time was achievable.
It's ok to sit and do nothing. Watch a film, eat chocolate, ignore the chaos and noise coming from the playroom. I got VERY good at this.
Don't answer every question. If I answered every question that Lacey asked I would be in a padded cell by now. I learnt to answer the important questions and ignore the pointless ones. Lacey learnt not to ask so many pointless ones.
Most importantly I learnt that I'm not Superwoman. Awesome yes. Adorable yes. A great mother, absolutely. But a Superhero, definitely not. Im happy with that.
However...I still think I can become Taoiseach. When that happens I will be having a good look at school holidays. I will be proposing shorter breaks. I think Xmas Day and St Stephen's Day morning is ample holidays for the school year, don't you? xxx
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