The Science of Aging Well: How Your Beliefs Affect Your Health
When you’re parenting with a disability, the challenges can be especially formidable. However, as every parent knows, the joys and the rewards far outweigh the difficulties, no matter what kinds of obstacles you may encounter. When you have a disability, there are things you can do to parent effectively while still attending to your own health and wellbeing.
1. Cultivate a Support Team
Every parent needs a little help sometimes, but when you have a disability, cultivating a strong support team becomes especially important. If your disability impacts your ability to physically care for your child on a daily basis, then you might consider having a family member move in with you. Not only will this ensure you have ready, in-house support when you need it, but it will also gift your child with strong, extended family bonds.
Indeed, studies have shown that living in a multigenerational household can provide significant mental health benefits for family members of all ages, from grandparents to young children. For parents who are disabled, similarly, the opportunity to connect with, be supported by, and offer support to your loved ones can help to mitigate the loneliness and isolation that many parents with impairments experience.
2. Prioritize Self-Care
When you become a parent, your needs suddenly seem to take a backseat to the needs of your child. This may be natural, but it can also be dangerous for parents with disabilities. However, you’re doing neither your child nor yourself any good by playing the martyr and failing to attend to your health and wellbeing.
Your child needs you to be as healthy and strong as you can possibly be. That means that, at the very least, you ensure you’re getting adequate rest, eating a nutritious diet suited to your health needs, and drinking plenty of water each day to minimize the risk of dehydration.
3. Tailor Quality Time to Your Abilities
Parents who have a disability can find it difficult, if not impossible, to engage in many of the physical activities their child enjoys. For instance, you might not be able to get down on the floor and roughhouse with your toddler or play a game of basketball with your older child.
That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy bonding time with your child, that you can’t make some extraordinary memories with them. The key is to tailor activities with your child around your specific abilities. If your health condition impacts your mobility, then consider instituting a nightly reading hour with your child. In addition to reading aloud to your child from their favorite books, you can ask them to read to you.
This can not only become a special pre-bedtime ritual to share with your child, but it may well foster a lifelong love of reading. Best of all, you can use this opportunity to introduce your child to stories featuring characters with disabilities which, in turn, can launch important conversations with your child about disability in general and your own condition in particular.
The Takeaway
Parenting is the toughest, and best, job in the wide world. When you have a disability, though, the challenges of raising a child can seem especially daunting. With support, self-care, and some creative bonding time, you can mitigate the obstacles and amplify the rewards.
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