Topic : 08/19 Tired of Being a Mom

I can understand how it may be frustrating and tiring for some people that have a child with disabilities. In my own experience, I am a single mother of three children. I  myself, have M.S. and my youngest child, Joshua has 2 disabilities. He is 5 years old. He does not walk, talk, eat by mouth, and is blind in 1 eye.He is in diapers also. Even though he may not be able to all of these things yet, he makes little steps every day it seems and is a lot smarter than people know.  I would not change for 1 second, not to be his  mother. He is a blessing in my life. Yes, it may not be easy at times, but there are always ways of coping with things. I really think that we who have children like this, it only makes us  better, stronger people and more able to appreciate life. We learn from them. You are not alone with how you feel. I wish you the best. Take care.

Mary  

A Being Doctor Mom Of Phil Tired. Doctor Phil donot tell Robin that she is not retired Mom soon. See you--

See you on Tuesday March 25th, 2008. Sincerley Your. Ruissell Vlaanderen.----------------------------------------

I agree with you both.

My mother went through a depression after my brothers were born.  One of them was born with numerous problems and  was in the hospital for a couple of weeks after birth, which affected his bonding with my mom.  I often took care of him and tried to deal with his behavioral problems.  When you're not cut out to be a mom (I don't know if my mom ever was), and then you throw in a child with a disability and various physical problems, it really put a strain on the marriage, and because the kid required so much attention, a strain on my relationship with my parents.  It's a big reason why I've put off having children so far, and why I may not have any at all.  I just can't deal with the possibility of bringing a child with so many problems into the world....I'm not up for round 2 of the same. 

How does one know if they're not cut out to be a mother?  Is there a way to know without getting pregnant and going through the experience? 

Words of advice.  Tell your daughter not to allow any phone calls to her minor children.  She must protect them at all cost.

If the father only calls when high, this is not a person anyone should be talking to. Document the date, time, demenor and then keep for the attorney dealing with the divorce.  The judge will take care of this.  Also, if he becomes jailed, you will see some child support from his jail/prison earnings.  Once the system gets a hold of him, he will stay in the system and on the child support roster until they are 18 yrs old. 

The damage of the children hearing these promises from an absent parent is worse than NOT hearing from them at all.  Discuss with the children that they will not be allowed to talk with him when he is high or drunk.  That what ever he tells them will not be carried through as a promise when he is in this condition. Unless their father gets the help he needs, they need to understand that they will need to be adults to contact him on their own.  Choose your words carefully, talk with your pastor, an attorney, public health provider, etc.  PROTECT THE CHILDREN.

I have a real problem with someone who adopts a child and then whats to send it back. .  My daughter is grown and lives 400 miles away and my other daughter died in a car accident 16 years ago and so in every day reality I am without a child or my granddaughter.  If you don't want your child there are some of us out there that would love to take a child and love it and help it.  I makes me sick to my stomach that this child might not be physcialy abused but let me tell you mental abuse  is worse.  I don't want to hurt your feelings but you need to hold up to what you did and take care of that child no matter what it takes.  Lots of people would give anything to have a child to love. I also think you are being very sefish and I can't wait to see the show on Tuesday.  Quit whining about it and you might  find the child is more responsive to being in your famiy and if you all need counseling get it.

I just hope Dr. Phil can help you. 

Signed , One mad NANA and MOM

Here it's very well know that older children adopted from orphanages in the former Soviet territories have a lot of physical and emotional problems.

This is no place to go into all the reasons why, but aren't people in the USA aware of this?

Don't they know that if they adopt these children it is a wonderful thing, but it is also a difficult lifetime commitment. We are talking about a child. Not a puppy that came be returned to the pet store.

I too adopted 2 children from Ukraine that were 18 mo old at the time.  We have been home for nearly 5 1/2 years now and they will turn 7 next month.  I love these kids and they can be so loving, but I am basically a single mom due to my husband deciding that money is more important than our family.  During the past 5 years, we have discovered that both children have sensory integration disorder, needed speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.  In the past 3 years we have also needed lots of psychological help for my son too.  He has alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorder, and are now testing for asperbers syndrome.  He would throw these rages that would wear out any normal person to a frazzle.  We drive 2 hours from home to get the psychological help he needs because no one in our area knows what to do to help.  I am so tired just from driving.  When we put them into preschool thinking they could use social skills and get friends, I received calls constantly for the past 3 years about things my son was doing that went against the rules, or against their grain in general. This year (kindergarten) we placed him in a school for kids with special needs (for a mere $12,000 a year), but there hasn't been one phone call complaining about anything he does.  I have to drive 23 miles each way to get him there.  They love him there.  There is a 2:1 student teacher ratio and they know how to handle him.  It has been a blessing in deed.  In the process I feel like he has needed so much that I don't give my daughter of the same age what she needs.  They have basically been twins and don't know what to do when they aren't with the other one.  So this has been very hard on her.  She is getting rebellious now because "he gets all of the attention". 

I am so exhausted and now being tested for narcolepsy because I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. 

I just want to make sure that we are doing the right things for my kids.  I have done everything if it was available to me.  I feel lost a lot because no one ever seems to know what to do to really find out what our problems are.  But at the same time I am so tired I get angered very easily, and feel like I am complaining all the time.  My husband just thinks things are fine and doesn't understand why I feel so stressed.  That angers me as well.  I always have to run our household plans as if my husband isn't home.  I can't depend on him for any of the appointments or to watch the children while I leave.  I have to get sitters for nearly everything that I can't take them to.

Our community has many children from Ukraine and there are many of us in the same situation now.  Mainly after the children are becoming on school age.  The people who adopted the older kids had an idea of the behaviors, but thinking we were getting younger ones we thought we would be getting them early enough that we wouldn't have them.  But we have definitely found otherwise.  We have started a local online support group just so we can lean on each other.  That has been nice, but of course not the answer to all of our issues. 

I will share with them this story being on the air.  Maybe we can learn something new.  We just feel like our resources are exhausted.  I wish there was a body scan that we could do to tell us what we have and need to do for it.  If it could just be that simple.

Connie, KY

Mom to 2 Ukrainian children