Hello I have a 5.5 year old daughter and a 3.5 year old son. My daughter has absence-epilepsy and autism, she’s medicated for the epilepsy which has stopped the seizures which is great but the medication adds to mood swings, aggression and disrupted sleep patterns, she typically wakes between 4-5am.
She is now on the Sen register and has been unofficially diagnosed, which is some relief as for a few years there was just so much confusion and judgement around her behaviour. Unfortunately my father in his late 70’s and lives too far away to help, to be honest I’m not sure he could cope. My partner’s parents help occasionally by taking our daughter out for an afternoon once every two to three months, which is nowhere near enough to have any meaningful impact.
My partner and I work full time jobs and split all childcare between us, it’s hard and we have very little time to ourselves but we love our kids to bits and ultimately value the opportunity to be with them as much as we are. That said the summer holidays are really taking their toll, trying to keep the children entertained for the better part of seven weeks without losing our minds is challenging to say the least. Can anyone offer any advice or empathy, I’m feeling a little fatigued here.
All the best
Rob