Their are many parents in the world that have times when they become overwhelmed by life and raising a family. This is especially apparent in today’s world. Between work, a marriage, kids (multiple kids for many parents), friends, family and other obligations, there is limited time to go around. Never before in the history of humanity has parenting been so challenging, which leads to being overwhelmed.
I felt overwhelmed at times, when Greyson was a baby and an infant. However, that was nothing compared to how overwhelmed you can feel as a parent of a child on the spectrum. My entire world was rocked and overwhelmed wasn’t even the word to describe how I felt. At that time I wished I could go back to how I felt in the beginning when he was a baby. Not only do you have all the normal responsibilities you would as a parent that I mentioned before, but on top of it you have numerous doctors appointments, evaluations, and tons of therapy. All leading to a microcosm of responsibilities to manage.
When that extreme level of overwhelming feels hit me, I also felt very isolated. I had Alex to talk to but that was it, so despite that I still felt very disconnected. No one I knew had a child on the spectrum, so none of them could truly relate to my experiences. At times it was probably the hardest time I have experienced in my life, thus far.
Recently I have met and spoken to a number of parents and grandparents of kids on the spectrum, as well as people on the spectrum themselves. the conversations, no matter how brief have really helped eliminate a lot of my loneliness. Although this had been incredibly challenging, I have come to realize how special Greyson is, how special it is to be his parents and how special our family is!
