When the going gets tough

Former Member

It's been just over a month since mrriot and his 3 year old son moved in with me and it's clear that this situation is much harder than we thought it would be. We're waiting on money to come in which is making things tight, his ex has made life difficult because we're having to spend £50 a week on train fares just to drop his son back off to her and pick him back up on a Sunday, we're a long way from our friends, mrriot is wondering if he goes back to looking for a job - but we can't find any nursery places for his son before September and we don't know if we can afford to because I'm not well enough to be working full time but my benefits will be taken away too. We get no time to ourselves when we're not totally shattered, I'm constantly anxious, he is getting annoyed because he feels like he can't do anything to cheer me up and he's also not getting a good sleep because of me waking up with nightmares every night. My mum won't look after little one during the day on her own because he doesn't always listen to stop or no and he's very hyperactive (theres the possibility of ADHD but he's too young to be diagnosed still, and that's another story) so I think both Mrriot are feeling like tearing our hair out.

Any ideas how we can cope whilst things are this tough?

Former Member

Hello Miss_Riot!

I'm sorry to hear you are having such a tough time.

There's no easy way to escape these kind of difficult situations but there are ways that can help you cope with them.

If you haven't read this useful article about how to deal with stress & anxiety at The Site yet, you can do it here:
http://www.thesite.org/mental-health/stress-mental-health/coping-with-stress-5599.html. I hope it will help!

With time and support, you will be able to feel and do better, I'm sure. Sending you a virtual hug!

Former Member

Hi Miss_Riot, it's really tough when both practical and emotional issues collide - you've got loads on your plate and have experienced a lot of change in one month. I just wondered if you know whether there are any Children's Centres local to you? They can be great places to access support around child care and finding nursery places. Might be worth checking out. Another decent service is Family Lives (used to be parentline plus) and they have a number of ways to connect whether it be telephone, Skype or their chat room. Here's the link to those services: http://www.familylives.org.uk/how-we-can-help/confidential-helpline/

It's really positive that you're looking for ways to manage, do keep us posted on how you get on with exploring support options.

*hug*

Former Member

All the childrens centres are closing for the summer so we're been told to get hold of them come september! ARGH! Will try family lives though that sounds really helpful, thanks!

Former Member

Eep yeah Children's Centres are struggling with austerity measures sadly, but if your local one is back up in September it could be a bit of a god send. Keep us posted - having somewhere you can come and get things off your chest is really important.