Tag: struggle
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Our Invisible and Unwelcome Family Member
My son is living with anxiety and depression, but the entire family lives with the fallout caused by his anxiety and depression.
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Life is tough…But so are you
Recently a very brave friend has been struggling, and sharing her struggle publicly on Facebook. In recent days she has shared, through words and pictures, that she is feeling vulnerable and broken. My guess is her posts are making many people uncomfortable, but I see so much strength in her candor and her willingness to share…
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Fighting Together
July is the least favorite month of the year for my husband and me – the double whammy of it being an extra busy time of year for both of us at work, combined with balancing kids on Summer break means we rarely see each other during daylight hours, and sometimes don’t have conversations that…
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Back on Track to Black
My son began training in the martial art of ninjitsu when he was 7 years old. From the very first lesson he loved it and was hooked. By the time he had trained long enough and showed enough mastery of technique to advance to his second belt, he had declared his intent to become a…
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To The Parent of My Son’s Friend
While our family support system is fairly vast, my son’s personal support system has shrunk as he struggles with anxiety, panic and depression. So we are exceedingly thankful for the kids who continue to make the effort to be his friend and to the parents who continue to open their homes to him. Yesterday he got a…
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I Hate That Red Wristband
This is our first full week of summer vacation. I wrote last week about how challenging the break would be this year – one kid at home trying to avoid anxiety and panic triggers, one kid at a different day camp each week, and me trying to balance both of them while also muddling through one of…
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Summer Is Coming
My kids have exactly 3 hours of school left in the 2015-2016 school year. That means Summer Break begins at 12:01pm tomorrow afternoon. Summer break this year is most likely going to be anything other than restful. With my son’s anxiety levels as high as they are right now, and potential triggers for panic attacks…
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Happy Father’s Day
We are clearly in a season of parenting that is h-a-r-d. Parenting one child battling anxiety and panic, while also trying to meet the needs of a “typical” child. This is the part that nobody warned us about. This is the part we couldn’t have even imagined. This is the part where there are more…
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Outgrown
When my son was first assessed for speech therapy through the school district, I started a file folder with every piece of paper we received. Over time, the file folder got too full of IEPs, progress reports, addendums, etc. and I up sized to a 3-ring binder. Fast forward 3 years – outside assessments, testing…
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The Day My Son Discovered My Blog
A few weeks ago, I was honored to have a piece I wrote for the blog about the realities of anxiety and panic attacks in children, republished on the incredible website The Mighty**. The day it was published, I forgot to click off the web page and my son found the article up on my computer. And he…