Greetings!
I am new to this site and haven't spent much time yet reading through posts. But thought I would do a quick intro...
Seems wonderful to know that we are not alone in having more than one child diagnosed with ODD. The family therapist that first brought that term to our consciousness didn't actually write the diagnosis anywhere (to my knowledge)...said he wasn't a big fan of labels. I'm ok with that.
We are the exhausted, burned-out, disillusioned, disheartened parents of four beautiful, wildly creative, intelligent, mouthy, disrespectful, beligerent, frustrating, heart-breaking girls who are all ODD to one extent or another.
I asked my husband tonight if he just felt like crying after run-ins with the three youngest (about supper and a trip to the mall, nixed because the rule of a clean room before going shopping), he said, 'No. Not really.' I DO!!!!!!!!!!! I just feel like we are NEVER going to have a nice, connected family life!
The therapist that we saw (how we ended up in his office is a whole other LONG story!), helped us come up with Rules, Consequences and Rewards to implement. Unfortunately, we caved in on each other as I ended up with a dianosis of severe depression (on top of a host of other frustrating ailments and diseases that I have been battling for the last 7+ years!). I am the one who has always been the most consistent of the two of us and when I fell apart, so did the new way of parenting. (And this was not the first thing we have tried, nor the first professional we have seen! We actually started searching for answers since difficult child #1 was 2 - she is almost 17 now!)
One of the things I am supposed to be doing as I attempt to treat and heal two of the major health issues is 'remove stress.' There is absolutely NO WAY to do that while parenting these four girls!!
I know we can't give up, but I sure want to!!!
That's all I have time to post for now....
Thanks for reading!
LauraK
I am new to this site and haven't spent much time yet reading through posts. But thought I would do a quick intro...
Seems wonderful to know that we are not alone in having more than one child diagnosed with ODD. The family therapist that first brought that term to our consciousness didn't actually write the diagnosis anywhere (to my knowledge)...said he wasn't a big fan of labels. I'm ok with that.
We are the exhausted, burned-out, disillusioned, disheartened parents of four beautiful, wildly creative, intelligent, mouthy, disrespectful, beligerent, frustrating, heart-breaking girls who are all ODD to one extent or another.
I asked my husband tonight if he just felt like crying after run-ins with the three youngest (about supper and a trip to the mall, nixed because the rule of a clean room before going shopping), he said, 'No. Not really.' I DO!!!!!!!!!!! I just feel like we are NEVER going to have a nice, connected family life!
The therapist that we saw (how we ended up in his office is a whole other LONG story!), helped us come up with Rules, Consequences and Rewards to implement. Unfortunately, we caved in on each other as I ended up with a dianosis of severe depression (on top of a host of other frustrating ailments and diseases that I have been battling for the last 7+ years!). I am the one who has always been the most consistent of the two of us and when I fell apart, so did the new way of parenting. (And this was not the first thing we have tried, nor the first professional we have seen! We actually started searching for answers since difficult child #1 was 2 - she is almost 17 now!)
One of the things I am supposed to be doing as I attempt to treat and heal two of the major health issues is 'remove stress.' There is absolutely NO WAY to do that while parenting these four girls!!
I know we can't give up, but I sure want to!!!
That's all I have time to post for now....
Thanks for reading!
LauraK