This anxiety was almost paralysing, so much so that when my baby fell asleep I was checking endlessly to see if she was still breathing. I couldn’t understand this as she was my second child and I had no problem coping with my first baby, a gorgeous boy, who wasn’t a great sleeper either. She was gaining weight, albeit slowly but was doing fine, however I was always anxious about her. My tiny baby girl had been born 2 months premature after a traumatic pregnancy and she wasn’t sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time and I was so worried about her. I had never heard of this group before and the advertisement registered with me big time. I had the radio on low in the background when I heard the advertisement for Parentline. In the early hours of the morning I was sitting up in bed, with my beautiful 3 month old baby girl wide awake in my arms, yet again neither of us having slept a wink. Parentline is open from 10am until 9pm Monday-Thursday and 10am to 4pm Friday with an out of hours answering service. Most of all Parentline is there to listen and guide parents to help them to find the answers they seek. There is no problem too big or too small and no typical call or caller and our service is entirely confidential. They do this in a completely non-judgmental manner and no time limit is placed on calls with a typical call duration of 50 minutes. Our volunteers, who are trained in listening and counselling skills, are there to offer support, guidance and information on all aspects of being a parent. That is where we believe Parentline comes in. It can be easier talking things through over the phone with somebody who you have never met before and will never meet.
But for a variety of reasons, there are times when parents don’t feel comfortable revealing issues to others close to them. Often we can use other family members as sounding boards. At these times, parenting can be a particularly solitary and isolated occupation. The unconditional love we feel for our children mean any problems they are having, particularly with us, tend to be magnified. Supporting parents, individuals, families, teens, adults and children affected by Dyspraxia/DCDīeing a parent is the most wonderful and important thing the majority of the time. Promoting awareness of Dyspraxia/DCD in Ireland in order to create a better understanding of the challenges children and parents face. Supporting regional support groups throughout the country. Being able to offer them the services of Parentline at no cost is greatly appreciated by Dyspraxia/ DCD Ireland and our parents.Įstablished in 1995 by parents of children with Dyspraxia/DCD, we are active in the following areas: Most of our parents do not have the financial means to even consider intervention for themselves. The lifeline for them is for us to transfer them through to the ‘Parentline ’Helpline for support, guidance and to have the ear of experienced volunteers at the other end.
Sometimes our parents feel there is no one there for them as they focus on their children with Dyspraxia. We have been working with ‘Parentline’ for the past 5 years and have found it to be a great organisation for our members to tap into.