Margaret* was struggling to support her son, and was finding it hard to cope. She attended our parent programme earlier this year. Here she tells us how, with Chance UK’s support, everything has changed.
My son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was three years old. He had just started nursery when his behaviour began to change. He would refuse to eat, he’d act out and the nursery recommended I get a referral to get it checked out.
After his diagnosis we had some extra support and things were going well. However he’d just started school when the pandemic hit and we went into lockdown. It was a really difficult time as all the support stopped and we were just together at home all the time, unable to go and do anything. It was a very frustrating time and I was finding it hard to cope with his increasingly difficult behaviour. Eventually I saw my GP and got some support. Part of that support was being referred to Chance UK’s parent programme.
I started going along to the parent workshops and I also had some individual time with their family support manager. I really loved the group workshops. We would do an activity like crocheting and I think that made it easier to talk and open up. As a single mum I find it quite hard as there’s just me, so going to the group was like therapy because I had some time for me and I could chat to other mums.
The one-to-one support was really helpful because it gave me some practical advice on how to deal with particular situations and behaviours. My son would quite often get home from school and just scream and scream and it was so hard to know what to do. Now I have various strategies and I find I am shouting a lot less and he is responding a lot better.
I’ve learnt when to leave him alone and when to give him some attention. He really likes to hug me and now I make sure that I stop what I’m doing and take time to hug him back. Before I used to get frustrated because he’d always ask for things when I was busy but I’m much calmer now. He is a very loving little boy and he likes going out and on the train, so we try and do that more.
Every child is different and Chance UK helps you think through what works for your child. I definitely have more peace of mind since I took part in the workshops and I don’t feel like a bad person anymore. I’ve learnt to just say to myself, ‘calm down and start again’ rather than getting angry.
*Names and images have been changed to protect privacy
