I hear and see so much happiness about back to school from parents. They are so happy to have their children out of the house during the day. It means a cleaner house, lower daycare bills, free time for stay at home moms, etc. All of which I totally understand.
It is so much different for a parent of a child with special needs. My son is 7 years old. Days become so stressful for him, and me. Tears flow almost on a daily basis for us, anxiety heightens for both of us, he has many sleepless nights which means no sleep for me. It is such a struggle to simply get him out of the bed. I see his entire demeanor change when school is in session.
Back to school is so emotional for both of us. I worry so badly for him. He runs out of classrooms, hides under the teachers desk, asks why everyone hates him, has hit his teacher, we are expected to make him stop his self soothing mechanism of making repetitive sounds because "it bothers other students".
As a matter of fact, I hate sending my son to school. I cry over it. I feel like I am sending him into the lions den to be destroyed on a daily basis but by law there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it.
We had back to school night last week so the students could meet their new teachers. The teacher seems knowledgeable of special needs. I was on the brink of tears being there because I knew what is in store for another year of school for my child. Thankfully she seems to understand. She even offered me her cell phone number. I really hope that was a sign that this year will be much better than the past two school years.
So when a parent is actually upset about back to school, when they seem to stand out, don't automatically think they are lazy or bad parents. You never know what they could be going through, or more importantly, you may not know what the child is going through......especially since the child looks "normal".
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