Potholes

I’m popping into school tomorrow to have a chat with my daughter’s teacher.

After a few week’s of ‘Good day!’ comments in her home/school diary, I got a missive on Friday saying my girl had been ‘difficult and challenging’.

‘Rude to staff, lots of refusing to do things, couldn’t get to the bottom of the difficulties,’ the message read.

That last bit says it all. Because with my girl, you never quite know what’s going on beneath the surface, and finding out the cause of anxiety and difficult behaviour isn’t always easy. Granted, if you burn the dinner, or forget to buy that low-fat ice cream you promised her, it’s pretty obvious. But a lot of time it’s something worrying her that gets suppressed, and when it manifests it’s not always clear where it’s coming from.

Was last weekend’s trip away with her friend a little daunting for her? Is it the upcoming school residential trip causing her to fret? Is it her ongoing anxiety over whether to choose size 3 or size 4 wellies when working on the school farm? Is it her mood disorder stepping up a gear again? Or is she just knackered?

A bit of detective work is in order.

It’s hard to picture, the ‘difficult and challenging’ side, isn’t it? I tend to post positively here, because there’s a heck of a lot of positive things to post. (Look, I’ll even bung you in a picture of her and Prader-Willi Syndrome Best Friend Forever sharing a cheeky champagne and lemonade spritzer at their traditional birthday sleepover on Saturday).

But the PWS road we’re on does have bastarding bumps and potholes along the way. Lets hope me and Mrs D can smooth the path a little tomorrow. And let’s hope it doesn’t take a steamroller and a lorryload of tar.

Song is Mercury Rev - Holes