Who looks after you?

Often when overwhelmed by the situation, consumed with thoughts of worry, making plans to get help for your child. Looking towards the future, what goal are we going to meet next. Each social situation thinking "how is my child going?" is he going to talk, to play to interact with others, how can I communicate, what is going on in my child's HEAD??? It is easy to forget about looking after the most important part of your son's support team, you!

First let's look at the signs that show you may not be coping as well as you think

• You find yourself constantly thinking about the problems in your life, obsessing even.
• People close to you mention how you are harder to get on with, you might lose your temper more often, or cry more often. Most importantly is do you find that you are more impatient with your child.
• You feel more tired or find you have symptoms of insomnia.
• Losing weight (not eating enough) or gaining weight.

These are the tip of the iceberg, and don't forget that most of us deal with stress in different ways. What is really important when looking after a child with high needs, is that we need to look after ourselves. We are no help to our children if we are strung out on anxiety and caught up in our own emotions. Instead of letting the situation get out of our hands. We need to think about small steps that we can take to look after ourselves so that we are in the best place to be a support person to our children. So take the time to think about how you are going, are you looking after yourself? Next post we will look at some simple things that we can do to make sure we look after ourselves first.