Parenting teenagers with developmental delay and other additional needs is something that I don’t think anyone can understand unless they are in the same situation.

I’ve had a good day with younger son, we did some Amazon shopping, baked a cake and quiches, he did the washing up (yes, we live in the stone age with no dishwasher), he played on the xbox while I listlessly scrolled through junk on my phone, we had lunch, he did his laundry, played some more on the xbox while I did poet-stuff, then he was told no more screens.  He decided to read a book.

Reading a book for most people involves sitting relatively still, quiet and… well just reading really.  Reading a book for my son involves asking mum a random question about every 30 seconds, tapping a wooden bookmark on the hardbacked book, fiddling with the catch on a tin of pens, getting up and down, stretching and cracking his fingers, asking for biscuits, complaining about being hungry and wanting to know what I’m doing.  While reading for my other son involves getting angry with his kindle and smashing the screen apparently.

I absolutely loved reading as a child/teen/young person, I still love reading – my concentration isn’t always great and I tend to fall asleep and forget stuff but still I persevere.  I have found reading poetry is great for my less focused brain as it doesn’t matter if I forget stuff! Caveat, long poems not so good.

I know it’s difficult with me being less than mobile right now but I really don’t think having an hour away from screens should be so hard… and breathe.