Emotional Support Sisters

Special Guest: Our Mom

I have 4 amazing daughters. It has been a privilege to raise them. For this blog, I will write a little about what it is like as a mother to have children with mental health challenges. My first daughter to show signs of depression was only in 6th grade. Going to the doctor for a diagnosis was heartbreaking to face, but also a relief when the doctor confirmed what I already knew. After we started her on an antidepressant I could tell a difference in her pretty quickly. One of the challenges was to stop our habitual struggle–meaning the struggle between the two of us, or really, between the two of us and her depression–and allow her to move forward. When my youngest started struggling with school anxiety, it was also a struggle to deal with a child that cried every day before school. She wanted her hair done in a ponytail every day and it had to be tight! My husband was great at distracting her with things like letting her cut his hair in the morning. Talk about sacrificing for a child! When daughter number 3 was in high school we moved to a new home and it threw her into a deep depression. During this time she started struggling with sleep issues. She got to the point where her anxiety was so high over going to bed that my husband would need to lay on the floor of her room until she was asleep. Years later she was diagnosed with ADHD. So many of her struggles all of a sudden made sense. My oldest daughter didn’t have problems until after her first child was born. It was more difficult to help her because of not living under the same roof and being several states away. I am grateful we have a good enough relationship that she has been very open about what is going on and I have helped her as much as possible over the years. Dealing with children with mental health has taught me a lot about unconditional love. It was vital that my husband and I were on the same page as far as parenting. We couldn’t have done it without prayer and the support of really good doctors. You love your kids so much that your heart aches for them as they go through these struggles. As a parent, you wish you could just make it all better but you can’t, so you love them and help them the best you can. Mistakes are made along the way and you hope they can succeed in life in spite of it all.