Why being an #Autism parent is so overwhelming and stressful

Over the many years that I’ve been writing about our Autism journey, I’ve tried very hard to help people understand the very basics of how Autism can impact a family.

Unfortunately, that effort hasn’t always been successful.

When the people in your life don’t understand, it only serves to make life that much harder. Autism Parenting is so incredibly overwhelming and feeling like people don’t get it or worse, they judge you, makes things so much more difficult.

Autism parenting is overwhelming for a million reasons and those reasons may vary for everyone but I can at least share why it’s so overwhelming for me.

I don’t think there’s a day that goes by where I don’t feel completely overwhelmed by all the responsibilities I have.

I feel like I’m in a constant state of fight or flight because I’m always on edge.  As a parent to three boys with Autism and various other special needs, I have to think ten steps ahead of the kids as well as physically be ten steps ahead of the kids.  Without doing that, it’s nearly impossible to ensure their safety.

Everything that the rest of the world tends to take for granted, is something that I either never get to experience or have to wage war in order to get for my kids.

I worry about my kids from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep at night, assuming I even get to sleep at night.

Speaking of that mysterious thing called sleep, if or when I find it is entirely dependent on if or when my kids do it themselves. I’ll be really upfront and honest, if you look up chronic sleep deprivation, you’ll see my picture there.

I can’t even begin to explain the sheer level of exhaustion that is a byproduct of chronic sleep deprivation.

Even if sleeping at night wasn’t a problem, taking the kids to all their therapies, and doctor’s appointments and simply trying to stay ahead of them is exhausting enough.  That doesn’t even take into account trying to meet all their unique physical, emotional and sensory needs.
Just so we’re clear..  If you assumed that having three kids with the same Autism diagnosis, meant that I have three kids with the same struggles, you’d be assuming incorrectly and I’d be inclined to remind you what they say about people who assume.  😉

Rob Gorski

Full time, work from home single Dad to my 3 amazing boys. Oh...and creator fo this blog. :-)
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Amy Diane Leigh

People don’t understand. Like the food thing. People tell me – tell him eat what you put in front him or don’t eat anything. He will choose not to eat. He would choose not to eat for days. He wouldn’t eat icecream for years because it was too cold. He only just started not counting his bites. Not eating his food until it was mush and then chewing some more. To me, that is a small victory. I live in texas the answer – even from one dr i had years ago is whoop his ass – all the quirks eccentricities and meltdowns will be gone. won’t dress in the morning because he’s busy just standing there staring? waking at one am …wanting to go outside in the middle of the night – have to be awake to EVERY sound…every little thing…

Jennifer

This is the best description I’ve heard!

Brittany Floyd

I cannot not express enough how all of this is 100% me. I have had family members tell me I need to feed my child something other than goldfish and taquitos. “If he doesn’t eat what you offer him he can do without or eat when he is hungry”. No Karen, no he won’t. Been there tried that and he didn’t eat for 2 days and I felt guilty and gave him what he would eat. If you offer him any type of fruits or vegetables he will gag until he throws up.

Then you have the Walmart people as I like to call them (because that’s my go to place) who like to stare and whisper. To many items or people over stimulates my child and he screams bloody murder or he will bury his face into my chest and cry.

Granted I’m not a single parent but most days I feel like one because my husband is a truck driver and is rarely home so tackling getting groceries without a melt down is far and in between. Family events is a nightmare and that happens ever Sunday where 30+ people attend Sunday lunch.

Then you have the family members who SAY TO THEIR OWN CHILD INFRONT OF ME. “Don’t you ever act like that, we don’t act ugly” referring to my child. That of course brings me to tears because my child can’t help that there is so many of you in the room, that y’all are loud and so on. I wouldn’t even go to the family events but I don’t want to seem stuck up or miss everyone seeing my child grow up.

You have my grandma who tells me I don’t punish my child enough when he gets over stimulated and starts throwing things. What does she expect me to do? Spank him for doing something he has no control over? HELL NO! I will calmly get on his level and tell him that we don’t throw things and offer to give him a tight hug because pressure calms him.

Last week my child went to his EC Pre-K evaluation. Mind you there was me, him, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, a psychologist, the school board leader and the EC teacher in the same room. That pushed my son overboard being around people he didn’t know all poking at him and asking him to do things. It got to the point he was throwing blocks at their faces. Finally I told them that they will have to interview him individually. What do you know! He was calm as a cucumber.

I’m sorry you’re going through so much stuff. If you need anyone to talk to I’m here. I know our situations aren’t exactly the same because no two kids are alike but I’m still here to listen.

Stephanie

You are doing a great job. Keep up the hard work. Reading these comments….dont you love parents with typical children giving you advice on autism? Clueless morons….

Amy Diane Leigh

People don’t understand. Like the food thing. People tell me – tell him eat what you put in front him or don’t eat anything. He will choose not to eat. He would choose not to eat for days. He wouldn’t eat icecream for years because it was too cold. He only just started not counting his bites. Not eating his food until it was mush and then chewing some more. To me, that is a small victory. I live in texas the answer – even from one dr i had years ago is whoop his ass – all the quirks eccentricities and meltdowns will be gone. won’t dress in the morning because he’s busy just standing there staring? waking at one am …wanting to go outside in the middle of the night – have to be awake to EVERY sound…every little thing…

dotdash

What if the job you are trying to do is just too difficult? What if it is really just too much work, too much stress, too much pain for any one person to handle? I know you are doing it, so in some sense it is survivable, but you are chronically depressed, sleep-deprived, stressed out, anxious. If this were a job causing this, everyone in your life would tell you to quit. Because it’s your kids, you can’t quit, of course. But how long can you keep going? Now you’ve got an invalid wife again. It’s really a miracle you can get up in the morning. I don’t know that there is an answer here, but at various times in my life it has helped me to realize that burdens can be heavy enough to be basically incompatible with healthy human life. For most people these periods are short, but for you, I really worry.

dotdash

Sorry, that comment doesn’t read the way I meant it. I meant to say that your job really is hard, maybe too hard. I respect you for going at it every day and mustering the energy necessary to go ahead. And also, I do worry about you and I hope things will get easier.

Rob Gorski

Dot,

Thank You so much for caring. Yes, my job is hard and finding the energy sometimes is not easy. Having said that, it’s entirely worth it and I’ll be just fine. As I slowly begin to financially stabilize, we can make improvements to our lives that make this gs safer, less stressful and more efficient.

I don’t expect this to really get easier but I do believe that I’ll continue up to find the strength to move forward.

Learning from my many mistakes only makes me stronger. Please don’t worry… ☺

Rob Gorski

Dot,

Thank You so much for caring. Yes, my job is hard and finding the energy sometimes is not easy. Having said that, it’s entirely worth it and I’ll be just fine. As I slowly begin to financially stabilize, we can make improvements to our lives that make this gs safer, less stressful and more efficient.

I don’t expect this to really get easier but I do believe that I’ll continue up to find the strength to move forward.

Learning from my many mistakes only makes me stronger. Please don’t worry… ☺

Nancy

God bless you for being an amazing and caring mother, against all odds. I have a 14 year old autism son and I go through the same things that you go through every single day. It’s a battle and I had to learn to put my sons health and well being first and put mine in the back burner. I understand all your struggles, sleepless nights , all your stress, it is not easy but I keep on pushing myself to learn more about autism and how I can better help my son and myself in handling and dealing with the constant difficulties of this epidemic. I do want to point out that even though my son goes through struggles, he is such an amazing boy , he’s loving , smart, playful and caring, and did I mention he has a beautiful smile? Yes he does . To all the parents in the struggle , keep your head up , it will get better

Rob Gorski

Nancy,

Thank you so much for the kind words. It’s incredibly nice to meet you. It so nice to connect with people who get it. ☺

If I may offer a piece of unsolicited advice, please take care of yourself. So often we get caught up in the putting our kids first thing, that we neglect ourselves. If something happens to us, who will be there for our kids?

I know it’s so much easier said than done and I struggle with this as well. Just remember that you need to be selfish before you can be selfless.. ☺

Best wishes and I hope you continue to share here..

Amy Diane Leigh

People don’t understand. Like the food thing. People tell me – tell him eat what you put in front him or don’t eat anything. He will choose not to eat. He would choose not to eat for days. He wouldn’t eat icecream for years because it was too cold. He only just started not counting his bites. Not eating his food until it was mush and then chewing some more. To me, that is a small victory. I live in texas the answer – even from one dr i had years ago is whoop his ass – all the quirks eccentricities and meltdowns will be gone. won’t dress in the morning because he’s busy just standing there staring? waking at one am …wanting to go outside in the middle of the night – have to be awake to EVERY sound…every little thing…

exhausted too

my son has no receptive language and cannot tell me anything. every time he hurts himself i feel the pain too. every time.
it is exhausting, having to rescue him from himself everyday. or to watch him regress over and over.
one day at a time. take everything one day at a time. life is short, the worst that can happen is we’re all gonna die anyway. live and let live

paulinabisson5

Thank you for sharing your experience. I can relate to much of what you said. Life is short, you’re right..

Amy Diane Leigh

People don’t understand. Like the food thing. People tell me – tell him eat what you put in front him or don’t eat anything. He will choose not to eat. He would choose not to eat for days. He wouldn’t eat icecream for years because it was too cold. He only just started not counting his bites. Not eating his food until it was mush and then chewing some more. To me, that is a small victory. I live in texas the answer – even from one dr i had years ago is whoop his ass – all the quirks eccentricities and meltdowns will be gone. won’t dress in the morning because he’s busy just standing there staring? waking at one am …wanting to go outside in the middle of the night – have to be awake to EVERY sound…every little thing…

dotdash

What if the job you are trying to do is just too difficult? What if it is really just too much work, too much stress, too much pain for any one person to handle? I know you are doing it, so in some sense it is survivable, but you are chronically depressed, sleep-deprived, stressed out, anxious. If this were a job causing this, everyone in your life would tell you to quit. Because it’s your kids, you can’t quit, of course. But how long can you keep going? Now you’ve got an invalid wife again. It’s really a miracle you can get up in the morning. I don’t know that there is an answer here, but at various times in my life it has helped me to realize that burdens can be heavy enough to be basically incompatible with healthy human life. For most people these periods are short, but for you, I really worry.

dotdash

Sorry, that comment doesn’t read the way I meant it. I meant to say that your job really is hard, maybe too hard. I respect you for going at it every day and mustering the energy necessary to go ahead. And also, I do worry about you and I hope things will get easier.

Rob Gorski

Dot,

Thank You so much for caring. Yes, my job is hard and finding the energy sometimes is not easy. Having said that, it’s entirely worth it and I’ll be just fine. As I slowly begin to financially stabilize, we can make improvements to our lives that make this gs safer, less stressful and more efficient.

I don’t expect this to really get easier but I do believe that I’ll continue up to find the strength to move forward.

Learning from my many mistakes only makes me stronger. Please don’t worry… ☺

Rob Gorski

Dot,

Thank You so much for caring. Yes, my job is hard and finding the energy sometimes is not easy. Having said that, it’s entirely worth it and I’ll be just fine. As I slowly begin to financially stabilize, we can make improvements to our lives that make this gs safer, less stressful and more efficient.

I don’t expect this to really get easier but I do believe that I’ll continue up to find the strength to move forward.

Learning from my many mistakes only makes me stronger. Please don’t worry… ☺

Moe

What is it you think parents without autistic children take for granted?

Other parents also have appointments,meals, house cleaning, tantrums, sports, homework, jobs. All of these things. Maybe not to the same degree, but you act as if people don’t understand or get to see it from your side. Have you ever tried seeing from their side?

And as for your energy level, I’ll suggest this again, get your testosterone checked

And now with Lizzie back, isn’t this easing up a little for you? Can’t she take some of this weight?

And the sleep thing, IMO you put the kids to bed way too early. Of course they will be up at the butt crack of dawn when they are in bed before dark

Just some things to think about from the other side

Rob Gorski

Moe,

You just don’t get it. That’s okay. Thank you for sharing your thoughts….. 🙂

Moe

You just 100% proved my point. Thanks for doing that

Rob Gorski

I meant no disrespect but you don’t get it… It’s okay that we don’t agree.

Moe

It doesn’t take anything away from what you do to say yes all parenting is exhausting. I said it wasn’t the same level, but it’s like you refuse to be anything other than ‘the worst off’ when that’s simply not the case. All parenting is hard, just different levels of hard. It’s ok for you to try and say that without a but at the end of it. I may not have therapy sessions with 3 kids. But often times I have 2 kids that have to be at different places at the same time and only one of me. Both stressful, just different.
You have to try to understand and accept others situations before you can expect others to do you the same courtesy is all I’m saying

Rob Gorski

Moe,

There is a world of difference and whether you choose to acknowledge that or not is up to you. It’s like saying that walking on the side walk and walking in the moon are the same thing because walking is walking.

Agree to disagree…..

Kim Williams

Moe – I have been “regular parent tired” and “special needs tired” and I will tell you that right now Rob is probably too tired to even explain the difference. This isn’t about testosterone level or having to be in two places at once. This is the difference between “black lives matter” and “all lives matter.”. It’s about perception.

A friend of mine recounts the story of her child being in the hospital, at age 19 months, as a result of pneumonia from infection that came during chemotherapy, because her child was born with a rare genetic disorder that predisposed her to Wilms tumor, a malignant cancer of the kidney, during early childhood. Her aunt said to her “Oh my gosh… I know just how you feel! When my little Janet had chicken pox, I was just beside myself she was so sick!”

Did her cousin have a clue? No. But she was relating my friends experience to the worst she had ever experienced with HER child’s health. That was the only thing she had to draw on. The worst she had known personally.

Moe – I am grateful for you that being tired and dealing with tantrums and picky eaters and two sporting practices at once is the worse you’ve known. I know it’s bad. I also know if you traded lives with Rob you would experience a whole new level of “the worst” and your current worst would begin to resemble a picnic.

It’s all about perception. When moms of toddlers say “I haven’t slept more than four hours at night for six months” mothers of newborns are like “wtf is four hours of sleep?” because they haven’t slept four hours since they were eight months pregnant. You think you’ve got it bad with a difficult teen until your friend’s teen commits suicide. Then you’re ready to pay for the difficult days. It’s perception. All of it.

No one is saying regular parenting isn’t difficult. It is. All lives matter. But there is sometimes a complete disconnect about just how horrific special needs parenting can be. I think that’s pretty much all he’s saying. Namaste.

Dmnich2

You don’t understand. You can make a meal and everyone will eat it or if they don’t, no biggie. In our world, food or lack of food may affect their meds or weight loss. While typical kids are playing sports and growing up, our kids can’t and so it’s a constant battle of what will keep them happy. Not helicopter parent style but everything literally bothers them from the touch of their clothes to sounds in the house and wait until they get older! Then the meltdowns are different. They’re older, bigger and stronger. They’re depressed as much as I am. They have no friends or want a job and a girlfriend but severe anxiety or lack of social skills for their age gets in the way. It is. It a normal situation. Your desire to fix it and make it better never goes away for any parent but in our world, there’s so much that needs “fixing” and the mental health aspect becomes a huge issue as they become young adults. While most parents are living through the high school years and kids getting drivers licensss, prom, jobs, college or full time jobs…we aren’t. Some of our kids will never drive even if they have the desire or a job that sustains them independently; that is if they can even live independently. So while you are living it up and chillin and your kids are living there lives, we still have “kids”, albeit in their early 20s to take care of.

Nancy

God bless you for being an amazing and caring mother, against all odds. I have a 14 year old autism son and I go through the same things that you go through every single day. It’s a battle and I had to learn to put my sons health and well being first and put mine in the back burner. I understand all your struggles, sleepless nights , all your stress, it is not easy but I keep on pushing myself to learn more about autism and how I can better help my son and myself in handling and dealing with the constant difficulties of this epidemic. I do want to point out that even though my son goes through struggles, he is such an amazing boy , he’s loving , smart, playful and caring, and did I mention he has a beautiful smile? Yes he does . To all the parents in the struggle , keep your head up , it will get better

Richard

Nancy, as an autistic person myself, now in my 40s and living independently (successfully most of the time with some basic support) I feel very deep compassion for Rob and his struggles. My mum was a widow, employed full time and raised 2 difficult children on her own, and it wore her out. This was before the days of OT and knowledge of SPD etc. But as much as I appreciate your difficulties I find it hard to hear you without anger, Nancy, if you call autism an “epidemic”, because it means you have allowed yourself to buy in to a perspective on autism that is not in any way constructive for you or your child. You claim that you are pushing yourself to learn more about autism, but that is clearly not from autistic people. Please move out of your echo chamber and broaden your search. Engage with autistics to learn what we have to say (Yes, even non-verbal autistics have blogs and use social media).
There may be things Rob could be doing differently to help his children – I am not fully aware of what supports and therapies he does use – to make their and his lives easier, but I can see he is trying very hard in the face of very difficult circumstances. Many autistics would attack and judge him for speaking about his difficulties in public as it can be seen as playing into a negative narrative about autism and the parent victim mentality, but in my view stressed parents do need to vent about their frustrations in raising us, so long as there is balance. We do get tired of hearing how much of a burden we are on our parents and society, and I think we have a right to do so and to complain a bit about that ourselves, too: there are 2 sides to the story and we also have feelings that can be hurt. Most of us are only too aware of the hell our families go through, and we go through hell ourselves. However, I think we are also justified in insisting that you do NOT refer to us as having a disease that needs to be cured (an epidemic), somebody’s fault (we aren’t) or patronise and infantilise us with language like “playful and caring and smart” when you use language that betrays hate, lack of acceptance and lack of compassionate and informed understanding of autism. Am I judging you, Nancy? Yes, I am and I make no apologies for doing so. I hope that you will come to stop blaming some abstract force (“epidemic”) for your lot in life, and get on with accepting and accommodating your son’s needs. I mean this with love.

Moe

What is it you think parents without autistic children take for granted?

Other parents also have appointments,meals, house cleaning, tantrums, sports, homework, jobs. All of these things. Maybe not to the same degree, but you act as if people don’t understand or get to see it from your side. Have you ever tried seeing from their side?

And as for your energy level, I’ll suggest this again, get your testosterone checked

And now with Lizzie back, isn’t this easing up a little for you? Can’t she take some of this weight?

And the sleep thing, IMO you put the kids to bed way too early. Of course they will be up at the butt crack of dawn when they are in bed before dark

Just some things to think about from the other side

Rob Gorski

Moe,

You just don’t get it. That’s okay. Thank you for sharing your thoughts….. 🙂

Moe

You just 100% proved my point. Thanks for doing that

Rob Gorski

I meant no disrespect but you don’t get it… It’s okay that we don’t agree.

Moe

It doesn’t take anything away from what you do to say yes all parenting is exhausting. I said it wasn’t the same level, but it’s like you refuse to be anything other than ‘the worst off’ when that’s simply not the case. All parenting is hard, just different levels of hard. It’s ok for you to try and say that without a but at the end of it. I may not have therapy sessions with 3 kids. But often times I have 2 kids that have to be at different places at the same time and only one of me. Both stressful, just different.
You have to try to understand and accept others situations before you can expect others to do you the same courtesy is all I’m saying

Rob Gorski

Moe,

There is a world of difference and whether you choose to acknowledge that or not is up to you. It’s like saying that walking on the side walk and walking in the moon are the same thing because walking is walking.

Agree to disagree…..

Kim Williams

Moe – I have been “regular parent tired” and “special needs tired” and I will tell you that right now Rob is probably too tired to even explain the difference. This isn’t about testosterone level or having to be in two places at once. This is the difference between “black lives matter” and “all lives matter.”. It’s about perception.

A friend of mine recounts the story of her child being in the hospital, at age 19 months, as a result of pneumonia from infection that came during chemotherapy, because her child was born with a rare genetic disorder that predisposed her to Wilms tumor, a malignant cancer of the kidney, during early childhood. Her aunt said to her “Oh my gosh… I know just how you feel! When my little Janet had chicken pox, I was just beside myself she was so sick!”

Did her cousin have a clue? No. But she was relating my friends experience to the worst she had ever experienced with HER child’s health. That was the only thing she had to draw on. The worst she had known personally.

Moe – I am grateful for you that being tired and dealing with tantrums and picky eaters and two sporting practices at once is the worse you’ve known. I know it’s bad. I also know if you traded lives with Rob you would experience a whole new level of “the worst” and your current worst would begin to resemble a picnic.

It’s all about perception. When moms of toddlers say “I haven’t slept more than four hours at night for six months” mothers of newborns are like “wtf is four hours of sleep?” because they haven’t slept four hours since they were eight months pregnant. You think you’ve got it bad with a difficult teen until your friend’s teen commits suicide. Then you’re ready to pay for the difficult days. It’s perception. All of it.

No one is saying regular parenting isn’t difficult. It is. All lives matter. But there is sometimes a complete disconnect about just how horrific special needs parenting can be. I think that’s pretty much all he’s saying. Namaste.

Moe

And I’m not trying to take away from what Rob and others are doing. But when he is just flat out dismissive of others it’s hard to try and relate. I even said they weren’t the same. But I started out with a question he totally ignored.

I wasn’t trying to pick a fight. I was asking. Again, saying they weren’t on the same level.

Rob Gorski

Moe, I think you assume that I’m being dismissive because I don’t directly state that all parenting is difficult. I’m not. This is a special needs parenting blog and as such, I talk about special needs parenting. I’m sorry if you feel I’m being dismissive but I’m truly not. At the same time, Kim is absolutely right in how she wisely put it.

This isn’t about comparing paper cuts because both cuts hurt. It’s about trying to provide insight as to what my life as a special needs parent is like. While I’m speaking only for myself, in many ways, I’m speaking for many more than just myself.

The goal of this post was to to have other parents, like myself, read this and say, I can totally relate to what he’s saying. Someone gets it and I don’t feel so alone…

I know that I’ll likely never be able to adequately help the rest of the world to understand just how different special needs parenting is and all the countless struggles we face on a daily basis. That said, if I can reach people who are feeling alone and isolated, maybe by reading my words, they’ll realize that they aren’t as alone as they think they are.

When people sorta pick apart my words and try to say that I’m not acknowledging that all parenting is tough, they are missing the entire point.

I truly mean no offense by this but those that get it, don’t even have to leave a comment because there’s nothing to say. Those that don’t get it, tend to leave comments and somehow try and critique me.

Everything in life is relative and I would never directly compare what I go through to what anyone else goes through because I’m not in their shoes.

You asked earlier what kinds of things most parents take for granted. The list is far to long and varies from person to person but off the top of my head:

1) Getting your kids to simply wear clothes.
2) Not having to micromanage your child’s environment, just to limit the overstimulation and Meltdowns.
3) Speaking of meltdowns, they are not the same thing as a tantrum and shouldn’t be compared..
4) While your child may be a picky eater, mine will literally starve themselves if their meal doesn’t look right, if one item touches another on their plate or if it’s sensory offensive in some other way.
5) Your Kids may sneak out with their friends and that’s dangerous but at least they have friends to sneak out with.
6) Your child may back talk or be disrespectful but mine can’t even speak or tell me how he feels.
7) while it’s always terrible to see a child who’s ill it’s not the same as seeing your childs brain stop working correctly and they almost die as a result of their body not maintaining blood pressure, body temp or heart rate.
8) In most cases, you can go to your child’s teacher conferences and work out any issues you may have with your child’s education. We have to go to IEP meetings and fight for everything our child needs.
9) While you’re watching your child score a goal, hit a home run or even just ride the bench, we are in countless therapies just so our kids can walk, speak, tie their own shoes or even chew their own food.
10) In most cases, your child will grow up, leave the nest and build a life of their own. We lie awake at night praying to outlive our children because when we die, there will be know one to take care of them..

Please understand that when I say “you” I mean that figuratively and not you personally. Also, the many things I mentioned are things that many parents I know, live with on a daily basis. I’ve personally experienced most of these things myself but it’s just examples of things that special needs parents have to deal with that other parents take for granted…

Melissa

Rob all i can say is you are doing an amazing job and yes i totally get it…i have 2 children but only my son is in the process of being assessed for autism,which in itself is frustrating because we are struggling to get some help without a diagnosis. He starts kindergarten next year and im so thankful that we do have a government funded place called ECIS-early childhood intervention services and they are able to help with teacher support etc for now and next year. My son also has sensory issues and yes would rather starve than eat something his senses can’t handle and he struggles with keeping his iron levels up as he won’t eat any meat except processed hamburgers or sausages and i need to physically feed him most times to get vegetables with iron into him so that he is not totally reliant on supplements. So i take my hat off to you Rob as i struggle with 1 special needs child and you are doing wonderful to be doing that with 3 ☺ thank you so much for putting forth all your thoughts and feelings.

Rob Gorski

You’re welcome.. I’m familiar with some of the struggles your family is facing and I know how tough it can be. Follow your heart and trust your instincts.. It sounds like you’re doing an awesome job…. ☺

Melissa

Rob all i can say is you are doing an amazing job and yes i totally get it…i have 2 children but only my son is in the process of being assessed for autism,which in itself is frustrating because we are struggling to get some help without a diagnosis. He starts kindergarten next year and im so thankful that we do have a government funded place called ECIS-early childhood intervention services and they are able to help with teacher support etc for now and next year. My son also has sensory issues and yes would rather starve than eat something his senses can’t handle and he struggles with keeping his iron levels up as he won’t eat any meat except processed hamburgers or sausages and i need to physically feed him most times to get vegetables with iron into him so that he is not totally reliant on supplements. So i take my hat off to you Rob as i struggle with 1 special needs child and you are doing wonderful to be doing that with 3 ☺ thank you so much for putting forth all your thoughts and feelings.

Rob Gorski

You’re welcome.. I’m familiar with some of the struggles your family is facing and I know how tough it can be. Follow your heart and trust your instincts.. It sounds like you’re doing an awesome job…. ☺

Melissa

Rob all i can say is you are doing an amazing job and yes i totally get it…i have 2 children but only my son is in the process of being assessed for autism,which in itself is frustrating because we are struggling to get some help without a diagnosis. He starts kindergarten next year and im so thankful that we do have a government funded place called ECIS-early childhood intervention services and they are able to help with teacher support etc for now and next year. My son also has sensory issues and yes would rather starve than eat something his senses can’t handle and he struggles with keeping his iron levels up as he won’t eat any meat except processed hamburgers or sausages and i need to physically feed him most times to get vegetables with iron into him so that he is not totally reliant on supplements. So i take my hat off to you Rob as i struggle with 1 special needs child and you are doing wonderful to be doing that with 3 ☺ thank you so much for putting forth all your thoughts and feelings.

Rob Gorski

Thank you for finding the words I couldn’t. Very well said .. ☺