Physical Support Systems

Whenever a family experiences a major event there is always a need for support systems.  Knowing where and who are a part of each system is just as important as the system itself!  Anything from the birth of a child, a major surgery, cancer, a disability or a death, all life events need a support system.

Physical
Physical Support systems can vary from, sitters, to others with your same experiences, to family, to business and programs.  I hope to cover a little of each of these.

Speech.  While raising our kids, my husband and I have found support in many many programs.  L was in speech therapy, not only did he learn to talk better, I learned to teach and instruct differently.  I learned to coach my child rather than correct him.  Speech is a vital part in early intervention for children with hearing loss. 

Developmental Therapy.  While this is a great source of support for families my family did not have any good experiences with developmental therapy.

Early Intervention, Parent child programs.  These programs are designed that a family will have a counsellor or representative that will advocate for the families needs.  They know the systems of health care and early intervention, they know what red flags are there and when you are being steered differently in the wrong direction.  They are experienced individuals that help you to get the help you need before it is too late.  Not only that they teach you to be the advocate for your child so that you are able to do for them as they get older.  You are able to fight for your childs needs and get the help your family needs.

Occupational Therapy  L was diagnosed with sensory integration.  This is common among kids who are premie, ADD, ADHD, or have an impairment of one of the senses.  I will talk more about this in depth later on; however, occupational therapy was a gift for our house.  Learning about sensory and how to help my child changed the atmosphere in our home when he was little.  The constant crying and tantrums and upset little boy became a happy playful and excited little boy.  Oh I can't wait to explain more about this topic later on!

In everyones life you need people to support you.  When raising a child you hear the comment that it takes a village to raise a kid.  This is true in every aspect.  When our kids were little we lived father away from the majority of our family.  We had just my dad and an aunt close to us.  My dad and step mom worked and so did my aunt not to mention she had grandkids of her own.    Often times Jason and I would want to go out on a date even once a month to build on our relationship and it was hard not having physically people who would but couldn't help us because of a geographical difference between us.  I worked evenings and weekends to help meet our needs.  Coming home at 1 in the morning and getting up at 6 to get our girl out the door to school.  It was a hard period/ time in our life. My life!  I will forever be in debt to my friend Heather for taking my kids into her home as her own.  She took L even though he had diarrhea constantly.  She took him while he was potty trainnig, helped with hearing aids and days he was sick and I was in a catch 22 with nobody to lean on.  Loss the job by not going in or take care of you kid.  You need that job to take care of your kids.  This will forever be a battle for moms this day in age.  Heather was my physical help when I needed someone, anyone who I trusted.  Sadly she was one of less than 3 people I trusted with my kids.  I trusted her because she listened, she cared, she learned and she took time to understand my/our situation.  I will always love her like a sister!

My dad was another physical support system for us among many other forms of support.  He would babysit my kids but it became draining on him so he always kept it to under a certain amount of time.  Not many dads will step in and babysit grandkids often, but my dad did!  Needing a babysitter wasn't an everyday thing, it was a once every couple of weeks or so thing, but it was still a support system for me.

The last form of physical support I want to talk about is Physically fit.  I have always loved running and exercising.  But I have always hated getting out the door to do it.  Physical exercise is linked to help depression, mental state, happiness, hormone balance and many other aspects of life.  No matter what form of exercise is chosen, working the body hard makes us always feel better.  We are better capable of handling lives daily demands.