Full disclosure, I love memes. I find great enjoyment sending them to my coworkers when I see a nice OSHA or HR one. I giggle when I send them to my friends who get my sense of humor and also enjoy a good meme or two hundred.
What I like most about memes is that most times they put things into words I did not know I needed. Like this one I saw recently
Life as a caregiver of a child with special needs has no snooze button. It is getting up at the ass crack of dawn to give a timed medication. It is getting that same child up at 10p for another dose and hoping they use the bathroom at the same time, so you don’t wake up at 6am to a bed full of human waste.
It is watching the same IPad video over and over and over again. Any of you whose child watched Calliou or Barney or Bluey know what I am talking about.
It is helping your toddler get dressed in the morning, even when they are 16 years old.
It is packing a snack bag for any car ride, with a diaper bag in the trunk “just in case” you need it, even when they are 16 years old.
It is hiring a teen younger than your child to take her off the school van, since she cannot be left unattended.
This life means that you have parent-teacher conferences renamed to IEP and transition meetings until they are 22 years old.
It is being kept awake all night long while your child stims away.
It is answering the same questions over and over again. From is it going to rain, is it pool day, do I have school tomorrow to that question that cannot be answered: why is Princess Sofia’s amulet pink?
This life means cooking a second dinner, because you don’t want to be a short order cook but you also want your kid to just eat anything that has an ounce of nutrition in it.
On those nights that you are not making multiple meals; you venture to a kid friendly restaurant where you hope no one judges that second glass of wine.
When most teenagers don’t want their parents around, the special needs parent has to attend every gathering, every playdate and outing. There is no sitting in the bar while your kid bowls with their friends’ moments.
This life is totally doable, because there are also upsides.
But at the moment I am to tired to think about them. Instead, I am going to enjoy the fact that my 16-year-old with special needs child is in bed at 7pm and I have a quiet moment to watch the Real Trashwives. Until I have to wake her up at 10p for her next timed med.
While my friends with typical children have to leave their house at 10p to pick their child who it not yet licensed up from work.
In some ways this life might be more exhausting than others, but at other times so much easier.
(Un)Diagnosed and still okay 