For adults with reading, writing, or math learning disabilities, or those who have trouble staying organized and remembering things, parenthood can mean facing your learning challenges in a new way. Your struggle with these problems may affect your home life and even your child's behavior. Parenting is an ever-changing role that challenges most adults, but the challenges you face as a result of your learning disability may affect your ability to manage your family's schedule, keep appointments, and relax enough to give your children your full attention.
Creating family routines and guidelines can help make everyday activities more manageable. For example, late afternoon and early evening can be particularly stressful times. This is the time when each family member is eager to share his or her thoughts and feelings from the school day or workday. This is also the time when homework, sports, music lessons, and other activities place demands on parents' time. Setting and keeping to a pattern or routine can make things easier on you. Here are some tips than can help you and your family.
If you struggle with memory and organization:
- Make sure your family has one calendar displayed in a central place like the kitchen.
- Place all family members' important dates and appointments on this one calendar.
- Make sure someone checks the calendar every day. Color-coding the appointments can help: assign each family member a color to help identify who has something scheduled each day.
- Placing dates on the calendar can happen at the same time each day, such as after dinner or before bedtime .Put reminders in notebooks to help your children remember to give you important notices from school. Keep the house (especially areas used for schoolwork) as organized as possible.
- Teach your children to be responsible for their belongings and to stick to a plan for staying organized.
- If your family has difficulty getting out of the house in the morning (and since mornings are rough for most people), do what you can to get belongings for school and everything needed for the morning routine organized the night before. For example, children can put their homework and anything they need for after-school activities in their backpacks and also pick out their clothes the night before.
These simple routines may help to reduce stress for all family members and leave more time to find ways to help your child develop his or her special interests and talents one of the real joys of parenthood.
All parents struggle to find ways to help children grow up to be happy and feel successful. Support groups can give parents an opportunity to share their concerns and learn positive parenting strategies. Local organizations like the YMCA or groups associated with your children's school often run parenting classes or parent support sessions that you can join. The key is knowing what causes your problems and then finding simple strategies to help you and your children get through the day successfully.
