P.T.O

Let’s set the picture, the entire family has had a good day. You’ve managed to go out to the shops keep the kids clam come home all calm.

An hour into this fleeting moment you start to sense something isnt quite right. Something is about to go down but nothing has changed. You rack your brain searching for the”unknown thing” you must have done that has started the slow but sure winding up of the overwhelm cogs.

You brace your self for the storm… Take a deep breath but nothing happens, well not on the surface anyway. To an outsider your ND person is calm, quiet a typical “NT child” (OMFG). But you notice the extra stims the extra bouncing from one thing to another and a significant increase in other minutiae, tells you that something larger is on its way.

Fast forward to bedtime… You and the family have been in PJ’s for hours one less thing to do. Everyone brushes their teeth, no problem a little song and wonder around the kitchen later that’s done. Head upstairs slow but alright no problem… Now the final step getting into bed. You see the body language change shoulders drop. SPONTANEOUS OVERWHELM that simple task that you and I do without thinking is just taxing enough that they are pushed over the edge and you find yourselves talking your ND person down.

After going through various methods and change of faces you as a team finish the task of getting everyone to bed you settle down for the night and it hits you. There is no such thing as SPONTANEOUS OVERWHELM.

As you lie in bed the clouds of fog from that days memory clear and it hits you. It finally dawn’s on you. At around lunch time you gave one schedule of how the afternoon was going and what we would have for food that night. Then 30min later you (without thinking about it) swapped the schedule of the afternoon (strike 1) and then that same evening you found out you didn’t have chips only waffles (strike 2 – your out).

Great you’ve worked out why this happened and vow to remember that most overwhelm can be tracked back to something and that you will act differently going forward. Only to find your making the same discovery again next time it happens.