Parenting kid with special needs can be overwhelming.
Stressful.
Frustrating.
Enough to give a person high blood pressure.
We all know that. What we don’t always know is how to cope with the demands of care giving.

Resources for When You Feel Overwhelmed

Mary Mazzoni blogs about parenting adult children with special needs at Life Beyond IEPs. Her blog is full of practical tools and tips. Many of them are applicable for young children with special needs, too. Even if your child is still quite young, Mazzoni’s blog is a wonderful place to go when you’re overwhelmed at the though of your child as a young adult. Looking through the resources she offers and reading her advice can have a very calming effect on worried parents.

5 Ways to Move Beyond Overwhelmed

In a recent post, Mazzoni suggested these 5 strategies for moving beyond overwhelmed:

1. Adjust your own oxygen mask. Your first priority is to build wellness into your regular routines—and your child’s.
2. Begin with the end in mind. Having a vision for the future clarifies our perspective and helps us set clear priorities.
3. Grow a support network. You can’t go it alone. No one can. Your child needs a network of relationships—and so do you.
4. Consume information wisely. Discern what information is truly helpful.
5. Start to move. A small step in the right direction creates energy for the next step.

How Do You Lower Your Blood Pressure?

Now that you’ve seen Mazzoni’s suggestions, what would you add to the list? Which of them works for you? How have you learned to lower your blood pressure while raising a child with special needs?

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