hear me roar.

I want my child to be offered the service and help that she desperately needs.  She is not coping at an age appropriate level, she is not emotionally 'well'.  I have been with her since she was 2 hours old, and she has never experienced trauma (minus the prenatal stuff) or abuse.

I finally got her in to see a child psychiatrist for her moods, and impulsiveness.  I KNOW there's more to her than just prenatal exposure, and perhaps ADHD.  It was a hard fight, but I advocated and got my young girl in to see a very busy child psychiatrist.

NO I do not want my child to have a psychiatric illness.  I'm really hoping she doesn't, but I know how she behaves and how she cries, that there is something else there.  If my child can FEEL better, I'm going to try to help her. The way she cries when "low" is so painful to hear. It is as though her parent has died.  It breaks my heart everytime she cries like that....not a normal cry.... a painful, deep seeded, empty, desperate cry.

After explaining all Sedona's symptoms to the psychiatrist, he implies all her issues are related to her prenatal exposure.  No way; 100% not the case in my opinion.  It's not normal, even for prenatally exposed kids, to have this many rages, this many tears, this much aggression.  and then to be laughing your head off 30 seconds later.  I've parented my kids with the expectation that they are full blown FASD (just found out they are not), but even so, NONE of the fasd literature says anything about mood swings this severe. 

So then the psychiatrist starts to tell me about how I just wasn't parenting her right. I needed to provide more structure, more activities for her to do, keep her busy.  What....the.....heck?????????????????

Activities?  Seriously, lets think about this.  My girls have every toy known to man and they have good toys because their grandmother is a play therapist and knows what to buy.  They have bikes, scooters, a sandbox, a pool, a mini tramp, a wagon, TWO playgrounds (one in front and one in back), access to a trampoline/outdoor pool at grandparents, are in gymnastics, daycare, YOGA, will be taking dancing soon.  This is just the stuff from home, and doesn't include the playground trips, trips to wildlife parks, trips to vancouver, camping etc.

Getting my child a label only has ONE benefit.  She MIGHT be able to get some help to control her emotions a bit better which will in turn help her development expand.  It will help me understand her better, and it will help her have a better quality of life.

Don't dare come after this very protective mama bear and tell her she just needs to parent better.  No flipping way.  I'm dedicated, intelligent, strong and know how to advocate.  I'm a great parent and I have great girls.