I'm a stay-at-home mom right now and for the foreseeable future. I try to spend a lot of time playing with my kids. In an ideal world I'd do some sort of special, planned activity every day (art, cooking, building, etc). I don't actually do that every day of course, but I try - or I used to.
Ever since Ava's diagnosis I've been doing all of the things a parent needs to do in such a situation: phone calls, research, and taking Ava to appointments or having appointments here. It all consumes an extraordinary amount of time. Then, on top of all of that, I'm trying to research as an SLP to guide my work with Ava. I'm studying the disorder of CAS, learning about the various approaches to intervention, purchasing and reading books on the subject, and beginning to make therapy materials.
Instead of playing with my children or planning activities to do with them, I find myself at the computer most of the morning. I stop to kiss boo boos, get drinks, mediate conflicts, help various children potty, and make meals. And I try to tell myself that I'm encouraging independent play. After all, they've been playing with each other more. Yesterday they built a fort out of chairs and blankets and played in it pretty much on their own. They travel upstairs and play in their rooms or downstairs to the playroom in the basement. All of that is good. But I still feel guilty that I'm not doing more with them right now.
Life will balance out again eventually, right?
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