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Having children in general can be very frustrating. They don’t listen to you or do what you tell them to do. You can tell them a thousand times that they can’t play with friends until their room is clean and they will still ask to go to a friend’s house despite the Lego pieces scattered across their bedroom floor and their bed with a mound of blankets. Sometimes you feel like as a parent that you can’t seem to get through to them.
But having a child with a disability can be frustrating to the nth degree, especially when you feel like your child has the ability to understand, but isn’t working up to his or her potential. All you want is for that child to grow and learn so on e day he or she can be independent and productive.
But when it comes down to it, you can’t force anyone to do anything. You can suggest, guide, encourage, inspire, recommend, and command, but it will still be up to the other person. When your suggestions seems to fall on deaf ears, or when your child isn’t making the progress you had hoped he or she would make, it’s important to stay positive and keep your good attitude. That is one thing that no matter what happens will be under your control. It’s easy to let situations get you down, especially if it just seems like one thing after another wrong is happening, but keeping a good attitude will not only help you to be happier and will help your child from getting discouraged and feeling sad about not accomplishing a goal.
You’ll also be setting an example for your child — that when things don’t go your way, you deal with it by looking on the positive sides of things. It will also help decrease the chances of yelling out of frustrating, which can make children feel insecure (and teach them the bad habit of yelling). If you find yourself about to lose your cool and yell, then take a minute to cool off and put on a smile.
