Most of the time I think this government really has no idea which way is up and definitely haven't had kids. I mean it cant just be me that thinks this!
They are currently showing adverts like the ones above and basically saying its the parents fault. And that kids who are worried in the morning will be fine once they get into school.
But this is not what it looks like, this is nothing at all like what it feels like and as a parent this hits my every nerve.
My youngest has anxiety. Its all consuming and we are trying to get it under control but being under 18 she cannot access medication. Its horrible the struggle that her brain has on days when its nope not happening. I have her in tears and shaking and even the thought of going in later which the school has allowed, leads to full on panic attacks. She wants to go in, but every being of her body stops her. She can't access mental health support because CAHMS are under funded and have waiting lists longer than the years she has left in school. GPs don't help - we have met with two, one who was understanding but couldn't refer her onwards because she wasn't severe enough!! and one who told my child to get over it and talked over her. We are now going private for counselling but so far this isn't working.
As a parent, I feel useless and helpless and sometimes it hurts so much because there is nothing I can do to take it off her. I don't need the powers that be telling me that attendance counts. We know this but it doesn't help - there needs to be more mental health support for our children, we need GPs to be aimable and available to provide support, we need a list of supported counselling services that we can access. We need our children's voices heard and not just a kickbox for the Education Secretary to say yes I did this before the next election. We need support on main stream media and not being ranted at by TV presenters who thinks that all kids who don't attend are naughty. No, we have neurodiverse kids that also struggle to attend and sometimes struggle with daily tasks.
Team Sqaure Peg and the parent focused facebook group Not Fine in School have been my lifelines during these times - its not just me and its not just my child that is struggling. Maybe the government just needs to look around and stop being so insular in their thoughts.
Ffi
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