Fatigue

I'm tired right now.  It's been a long couple of days.  I'm cranky.  Taking a walk around 6:30 this evening, I saw a mom trying to herd a child to walk away from where dad was.  "I want to be with my daddy" he screamed and laughed at the same time playing a bit of a "you can't catch me" with mom who was good naturedly trying to herd him home. The game, however, was quickly turning to more tears than laughter.  I only saw this for a moment as I went by, but thought of how hard the "witching hour" of the late afternoon was for kids.  But by that time of day parents are tired too!  So I recall what parents of kids with autism and other disabilities tell me, that it's a dreadful time, more than with their typically developing kids.

What's the answer?.....well.......I don't know there's a perfect or a simple solution.  It seems patronizing to tell any parent, not to mention the parent of a special kid to simply find time to relax, to remain calm, to remember that the child's tired and cranky too - though I always try to reinforce for parents to do just that whenever they can - you never know when you may need to turn the parenting "afterburners" on.  I also think another aspect of the solution may be through having empathy.  The parent will hopefully strive to empathize with the child's fatigue, hunger, confusion or whatever may be happening.  So too can the parent spend a moment - maybe the briefest moment - to empathize with themselves and how fatigued they are.  Sometimes just taking a moment to consider one's own fatigue can facilitate finding a bit more strength, a bit more patience for the child.