Sibling Respite - Even Caroline Needs a Break!
Respite is a popular term in the special needs community. To quote Jill's House , the premiere respite center on the east coast, the term means the provision of "a safe haven to which parents can entrust their children, allowing the parents a time of rest. " I would add that siblings require respite just as much as parents do, and often times more, if they are a heavily relied upon resource or care giver to their special needs brother or sister. That is why, even though it broke our hearts, we sent our 10 yr old daughter, Caroline to an 8 day sleep over camp called Summer's Best 2 Weeks . She is an integral part of our family and not having her here has been hard. We find ourselves a little lonely and bored. Even Jackson has been out of sorts all week, and while not able to communicate exactly what he is feeling, his behavior is speaking loud and clear that something is amiss. Caroline puts a tremendous amount of pressure on herself to be a g...