SpacialDelivery

Omg yes, pretend play is the worst for me and my kid can literally do it nonstop for hours. I’ve learned to say, “I don’t play pretend, but we can do ____ instead.”

Overwhelmed ND mom here to a very intense, extroverted child! I think what’s been most important for me is to adjust my expectations and reframe. Your kids do not need every positive experience under the sun to have a good childhood. If you hate sensory bins, don’t do them. Every household is different: some are really sporty, some have lots of pets, some go on vacation a lot, some have lots of extended family, some are really artistic, etc. Get comfortable with what household you have. As for feeling touched out or overstimulated, I excuse myself into a dark, silent room with the door closed. When I can’t do that I wear Loop ear plugs, put on long sleeves so no one can touch my actual human skin, lower the TV/ipad volume, or even turn them off. I might ask for people to not talk to me unless it’s necessary. I had a frankly terrible childhood, which puts things into perspective. My mom never played with me, never read to me, and never did arts and crafts with me—but those AREN’T the worst parts of my childhood. I knew even back then that that’s just how she was, and I found other people to meet those needs. You don’t need to do as much as people seem to do on social media. Just do what you can handle and give yourself some grace.

If your circumstances feel harder, they probably are harder. It’s not fair, but you’re playing the hand you were dealt, and nobody would handle it better than you’re already handling it.

Absolutely. Sleep training seems to be the standard these days, so I doubt they haven’t already considered it. In fact, I vividly remember all the pressure I felt to sleep train my daughter even though we didn’t feel it would work for our family. We ended up co-sleeping and I don’t regret it at all.