Anxiety

So this summer has been pretty busy to say the least.  Our family has weathered the storm of a life or death health emergency and have, very thankfully, come out on the other side in tact.  However, it hasn't come without some residual casualties.  My summer of reading with Ryan and reviewing comprehension activities and journaling are out the window.  This summer we read two passages and wrote two journals.  My daughter's bucket list summer of activities to do together on my days off are out the window too.  We did manage to salvage some family time and it was great - just not what we planned.  During this summer of the necessity of being flexible, of rolling with the punches, of figuring it out as we go, I forget that this doesn't always work for my kids.  Now, my kids have been SUPER awesome given the circumstances but recently my son's been having trouble sleeping.  WHAT?!  When did this start?  How come I didn't notice?

My mind starts racing to the obvious...medication.  Do we need to change it?  Do we need to stop it?  Then I started putting two and two together.  Funny, sleep issues only started when we started back to school shopping.  So I asked my son if anything was bothering him.  This lead into a discussion about the whole process for the first day of school.  Remember, we started at his new school in March.  This will be Ryan's fist "First Day of School" at PCS.  So, we reviewed the whole process, agreed that Dad would go with him to the gym for the Kick Off assembly with the principal and then show him where his classroom is.  Funny, he slept like a log that night.

Anxiety can rear it's ugly head with any child.  However, for a child with working memory issues changes to routine can be especially distressing.  Mostly because it's very hard to draw on past experiences...they simply can't always remember all of the details.  My son is usually very good at advocating for himself when he is not sure what's going on.  But sometimes he's not sure what's wrong himself.  Just because the adults know the game plan, we have to remember to take the time, in this world of never enough time, to remember to explain the plan to the kids - especially the kids who depend on routine.