This week my husband David sat down to discuss how our different parenting styles compliment each other to balance out our family life. David is more the authoritarian where I tend to be a lot more gentle. But it is how we find balance in our family. Our children thrive and grow with this set up.
I tend to hold the kids back while David is the one who pushes them to test their limits. For IEP's this is a huge benefit for us because we both have our different concerns and points of focus. So we are able to come up with a very comprehensive plan that best benefit us and most importantly Ryley.
If you are a single parent don't give up. Make your own support system, and build the team you and your child needs. And if a team does not work then do not feel bad about changing team members. You are not forced to keep doctors or therapists that are not a good fit. You and your child deserve the best possible team available. .
Two Parents Guide to Success
Posted by Jenn Eggert
Two Parents Guide to Success
Do you struggle to find balance in your family?
Also I recommend speaking with your doctor and care manager to see if you qualify for respite care.
When we qualified there were none available so we were given the option to hire friends or family. We hired our amazing neighbor who Ryley really connected with. We used the 8 hours a month to spend quality time as husband and wife and also we spent time with our other child one on one.
David also spoke about making communication is a key. Remember there are many forms of communication you just need to find a way that works best for your child and family. When Ryley was little, we started with PECS which is a picture communication system. When that did not work, I decided to constantly talk to her. I completely surrounded her with spoken language. For Ryley, sign language was a game changer. So it does not matter what choices you make, it all comes down to how you structure those who are apart of your child's team and having a variety of people who work together to give your child the best future possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JENN EGGERT
is a 35-year-old mother of two. Jenn's daughter, Ryley was disagonsed with autism at the age of 4. Jenn is also the host of our weekly Facebook Live show, Ask an Autism Mom.