Yesterday was a hellish day. I had the worst migraine known to man, and Lil' Man was off the hook. I swear Lil' Man is bi-polar, but what do I know? I only live with him on a daily basis.
He was irritable, hyper, raging, demanding, defiant,yelling laughing out of control, trying to eat non-stop, bouncing from one subject to another. He literally drove me nuts.
I came unglued. I told the hubby I have had enough, that we were no longer going to foster. There was no reason to live with this much freaken stress. I was ready to call his worker.
I wish there was an end in sight. I am no longer happy parenting this child. I wish there was a responsible family that we could use for respite. I need a break, because I am at my breaking point.
vent over.
Today's better.
My state gives us 2 days of respite each month and we can 'bank' up to 12 each year. Maybe your office has a special family that only does respite? Our respite homes seem to specialize in behaviors just because it's the hard kids you seem to need a break to regroup from. Burnout is an emotionally ugly thing to live with. Been there, done that. Good luck...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not many people understand our guy, and the times that we have used respite in the passed where a complete disaster. He regressed completely and it took us weeks to get things back to "normal". When I talked to our agencies director, I was told "all foster parents have the same amount of training, and skills." WHATEVER! lol
ReplyDeletei wish i was there to do respite for you. i would fear that i was ill prepared to deal with it but i would try considering i know how you feel a bit, just haven't had to deal with that much of it.
ReplyDeletei'm sorry. a day off can do so much good for you, but like you said, having him regress would be horrible too.
Thanks Leah! If the respite families would just listen to what we say and follow simple rules, life would be good. After the last respite (in Oct) he was picking again, cussing, peeing, and pooping himself. The respite provider told him to take his crazy pill. So he ran around shouting, I am crazy give me my crazy pill (i reported it) Smoked around him (he has respiratory issues) He stayed awake for 45 hrs before falling asleep. He tried to jump out the car, threw his happy meal out the window. etc. etc.
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