by Heather Ette, GRoW Team Member
So we’re a week in with the kids home from school and this is what I’m finding:
- My children are not coping well with the lack of normal routine
- I am not coping well with the lack of normal routine
- My daughter’s anxiety around the virus and wondering when she will be able to go out again is becoming an issue
- Not only do I lack the time but I also lack the ability to home school my children
- I have developed a new appreciation for teachers who manage to teach, not just one or two, but 30, yes 30, children in a typical day!
I am not shy to admit that I am finding the stress of combining my day to day work with the expectation of home schooling hard to cope with right now.
My ASD son flatly refuses to attempt any “school work” that now needs to be completed at home. His firm belief being that school work is done at school and home work doesn’t actually exist at all.
My ADHD daughter seems to think that day is night and night is day, currently waking up at around 5pm in the afternoon and relieving the fridge of its contents before promptly returning to her bedroom to watch TV.
My attempts at “come on you need to be doing your school work now” falls on deaf ears. My actual understanding of the work they both need to complete and how to actually access it is a minefield of its own and so I have to admit that, so far, no school work has actually been achieved…
What has been achieved however is this:
- I have learned how to play Pokemon Go
- Daisy the dog has learned how to not only catch a ball but to bring it back to me to throw again – hoorah!
- I have begun a new and enlightened journey into the realms of Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda – (and its actually really good)
- That tomorrow’s another day and it’s a chance to try again
There’s a bunch of resources out there that I know are designed to help and when I get a chance I do fully intend to look. For example, I have been sent some great resources from CAMHS that are designed to help children who, like mine, suffer with anxiety issues – you might find these useful too https://www.camhs-resources.co.uk/
Lastly, I can be safe in the knowledge that the School Holidays are coming up at the end of this week and whilst this usually means a break from school, for my children it will be a chance to catch up on the work they have missed out on so far and an opportunity for me to delay my own worries for another week!
In the meantime, here’s some other great advice I’ve been sent giving Tips for surviving lockdown which I am happy to say I have managed to achieve 21 out of 31 so not too bad at all! At the end of the day these are strange times for us all and we need to just keep smiling and doing the best we can!