I would like to spend some time today focusing on how someone could help a special needs family. It’s probably safe to say that each families needs might be different.
While I’m not proud of this, my family needs all the help that we can get, from whomever is willing to offer it.
This very likely applies to many other families as well.
What I would like to do is help others to better understand the kind of things that could help families with special needs kids.
There are always people willing to help, they just might not know how to.
The truth is, at least in my experience, most special needs families don’t want to burden anyone else with their problems.
Can we please share how someone could help your particular family? I want to open this dialog so the public is better informed and maybe, just maybe, someone can apply what they have learned to a family in need.
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Chloe123 LarissaKlymenko SarahChierico you gotta love people who care. 🙂
@Chloe123 that’s exactly what I was thinking. Great minds think alike. 🙂
Rob, what about creating like an amazon wishlist?
when my best friend comes over she cooks a meal and destroys my cleaning cloths by using them excessively. Thats why I love her!
Another mother of two special needs children (one with Autism), had an idea of starting up a non-profit to do just what everyone is talking about here, housecleaning services for special needs families. It is what a lot of us need. That and respite care services. Maybe every family would be allowed up to 10 cleanings a year (for free), and grouped as needed. Sounds good to me!
I’ve been kicking this idea around lately. What about a wish list. A lot of you blog and that awesome. What if a family put together a wish list and added it to their blog? In my family’s case, we could use things like gas cards or gift cards to the grocery store.
I be actually had people suggest this before but I hate asking for help because I don’t want people to feel obligated.
On the other hand, is there really anything wrong with asking for help when you need it? It’s not like we wouldn’t don’t he same for someone else. Right?
Perhaps there are people out there that would love to be able to help but can’t give of their time. Something like a wish list would be of great assistance to them.
Thoughts? trippeduplife MBee lostandtired
Why is it that we need help but never ask?
@CarlYoung @fibromamaby3, @katrinamoody, @autismfather I think this is an important conversation and your voices go a long way. What advice do you have for someone that would like to help a special needs family in need but doesn’t know how?
I wish someone would have helped me clean my house (and keep it clean). It got bad when I had flare-ups AND was running after little wee ones and, once they were big enough to mind themselves for any length of time, the house was overwhelming. Clutter and dirt. No clue where cleaning stuff was and no place to move things to when we were working.
If someone had offered to help me for an hour or two a week it would have been a Godsend. I don’t mean ‘take the kids for a few hours’ I mean ‘help clean house for a few hours.’ It was more than one person could do and when the kids left, it was so daunting I could determine where to start so I never started.
Outdoors too. Hubby would come home and cook and play with the kids and I’d sleep. So there was always some deferred work to be done. He could have used about 8 hours a month with a second pair of hands.
I remember reading a story about someone (from church) coming to a woman’s home and taking ALL of her laundry and returning it, folded, every week for years. What a blessing that would have been. But, I was most taken by the idea that someone came and said that was what she would do, just accept the gift.
Another thought – information about services. I attended a church for years that hosted a food cupboard and even though we were struggling, no one ever told me about it. I didn’t know about times, guidelines, or contact info.
MBee I can relate to this as well. House cleaning seems to be a common theme and I can understand why. Sometimes, at the end of the day I just have absolutely nothing left and it’s all I can do to simply stay awake.
Promoting available resource would be of great benefit as well.
For our family the 2 best ways to help us is with respite & house-cleaning, seriously. Take my triplets for a couple hours and let the big people in the house breathe a little. Or help us with babysitting while we either take kids to therapy, do a home project, do laundry, or other housecleaning. Or honestly, offer to come and clean at my house for an hour. We are of course cash-strapped, so paying for sitters or help with housework is usually quite difficult, yet 2 of our highest needs.
trippeduplife I can totally relate to this. People don’t realize how giving of their time can have such a positive impact. Thank you for sharing so honestly.
Some of the best FUN I have ever had was helping a friend…
Her hubby worked out of town and she had a colick-y newborn and a 2yo. I had a 2yo and 5yo. We’d go over and my son took the little ones into the kids’ room to play. Hubby took the baby and they both slept on the easy chair (seemed the little one was comforted by a big chest and arms like daddy’s) and my friend and I visited while doing dishes, laundry, housework and had ‘grown-up talk.’ We just never rotated to my house because by that time it was getting buried… 🙂