I’m always a little overwhelmed when someone emails me for advice, to say thank you or just to tell me about their experiences with the council or schooling in general. I never really know what to say. I feel so honoured that anyone feels the urge to take time out of their hectic lives to write to me and I just wanted to say thank you.
I always wanted to say that I think you’re all awesome.
Parenting a special needs child is not easy. That’s an understatement. Parenting a child with special needs is bloody awful at times, incredibly amazing at others but never monotonous. Variety is the spice of life and all that, you certainly get to experience every possible emotion within a day when you live with a child like Jude.
Just going out to the shops can be a challenge and personally, I find one of the most stressful parts of going out in society with Jude is wondering who we will encounter.
Will we meet…that hideous judgmental mother who shields her children away from your apparently feral offspring.
Will you meet…that old lady who suggests your tantrumming child just needs some love leaving you having to restrain yourself from punching her in the face?
Or will you meet…that hilariously wondrous hippy with bright purple hair in a shop who sits next to Jude (invited by him of course) and chats for ten minutes, answering his ridiculous, random questions and replying with questions of his own. That’s what Jude likes the best, when someone asks him something and shows true interest. I loved that woman, I’d love to go back and tell her how happy she made Jude for that short space of time. I suspect she realised though.
OR
If you go to the park will you meet…that vile bunch of teenagers who choose to laugh at your child? Or perhaps the lovely young lad who offered Jude his swing because he recognised how much he wanted a go (again…if I had a time machine…)
It’s pretty much a lottery out there.
Anyway, I had an email from a lady I haven’t heard from in a while. Back in October, she asked for my help in writing a letter to the council to go alongside her documents. It was postponed until now and thankfully with the help of a huge amount of people she’s enlisted (and largely paid for because of the inadequacy of her council), she’s making slow progress to getting the help her child needs. It amazed me what she’s done, on her own whilst holding down two jobs and caring for her children. Literally a role model for special needs motherhood.
So anyway. There isn’t a lot of point to this post. I just wanted to say that I think everything that you all do for your children is amazing and if I can ever help in any way then just shout 🙂 I’m here and I want to help as many people as I can.
A xx
