Fed up

[Anne B]

Hi

I'm fed up .
Its the school holidays I've got three kids Eight, Four and Two I can't drive and my eye sight is bad enough to stop me from wanting to use public transport.
i really feel like i am letting my kids down. It makes me really sad.
Has anyone else been in this situation?

Anne

[Paul Morgan]

Hi Anne

Well my eyes have only once stopped me from doing something and I remember how angry and useless I felt...so you have my sympathy there.

In terms of kids - I have a four and a two year old - both girls (going on 13 and 4) and I know exactly how hard it is to keep them occupied on a good day (let alone a bad eye day)...so here, have another great big dollop of understanding and sympathy. Here catch!

There's no harder job in the world than keeping kids happy. I'd rather go to work any day!

[Andrew MacLean]

Hi Anne

It's the frustration, isn't it. You know what you want to do, you even know how you would go about doing it, but then you can't.

I am pretty sure that your children don't feel let down. do you talk to them about your eye condition? I spent endless hours talking to mine about it when they were little; children have a built-in fascination with things that can go wrong, and I found that mine were really interested to see what things looked like to me.

John will be able to direct you to some pictures that show how the world looks through KC eyes. Show these pics to your children, you will improve their understanding of your plight, and then you might even get them to do pictures out of the window, how things appear to them and then beside those pictures how they think they look to you.

All the best

Andrew

[Alison Fisher]

Yeah, I can relate to that Anne. Before my grafts my world was very 'small'. I've never driven and I used to stick very closely to places I knew well and felt confident in. Hubbie worked long hours so it was just me and my girls. On the plus side I felt it made the relationship between myself and my eldest a lot closer that I think it would otherwise have been. She used to help me a lot with stuff I struggled with. My youngest was a newborn and then four when I had my grafts so my KC didn't touch her as much back then.

A very tight budget and no transport made school holidays 'challenging' . I used to volunteer to work on the local playscheme. It meant that the youngest was occupied before she was old enough to go in her own right and it got me out of the house as well.

[Prue B]

As a parent we make enough mistakes we can feel guilty about, without feeling guilty about the stuff we cannot change. Now if only I could leve by that advise I would carry a lot less guilt.

We want the best for our kids and strive to do the best for them, sometimes we can't achieve this but I believe it is the wanting and striving that matter.

[Anne B]

Hi

Thanks everyone.

Being a parent can be so hard at times.

Today i am taking them to see a theatre production of Pinocchio, so they should enjoy that. This worries me because it will be dark in the theatre and i won't be able to see the kids.
My eight year old Megan is great and helps me loads but the other two Fay and Arron, work together and are a nightmare.

Tankyou for all the nice words. Its so nice to talk to people who know what it is like to have KC
I'm off to catch the train now wish me luck, and if you don't hear from me soon send a seardh party!!

Anne

[Andrew MacLean]

I am sure that the children would enjoy Pinoccio, and am glad that they gave you an excuse to go too! One of the things I enjoyed most about my children being little was the excuse it gave me to re-read all the Beatrice Potter books (sniffle sniffle snuffle).

And I shall never forget the day when my duaghter worked hard all morning to make a picture of her dad. She drew my face (round), gave me a beard, a nose, a mouth, ears and eyes. Then she went hunting.

In her "making stuff ottoman" she found the box for which she had been seraching. she rummaged some more and found an old Pritt Stick (glue).

From her box she took two sparkly sequins that had come from a costume she had worn in a play group event. She pasted the sequins onto the eyes on her picture of me ... they were my contact lenses!

I still have that picture.

Andrew

[james mckinlay]

HI ANNE SORRY UR FEELING DOWN I DONT HAVE KIDS BUT I FEEL FOR YOU IM 24 AND CANT DRIVE NEVER HAD SIGHT GOOD ENOUGH TO DO IT BUT JUST REMEMBER U GOT LOADS OF SUPPORT ON HERE AND EVERYONE CAN TRY TO RELATE TO HOW YOU FEEL BUT ONLY YOU FEEL THE WAY YOU DO IN A WEIRD WAY. WELL IM TRYING TO SAY EACH OF US HAS UNIQUE INSIGHTS AND FEELINGS THAT ARE COMPAREABLE TO FELLOW SUFFERERS

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP AND YOUR NOT LETTING UR KIDS DOWN THEY WILL BE HAPPY UR THERE FOR THEM AND A DAY ON THE BUS OR TRAIN MAY BE DIFFERENT FOR THEM.

HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER SOON

JAMES

[Anne B]

THANKS JAMES

HAD A GOOD DAY YESTERDAY, SO FEELING MUCH BETTER NOW.
ITS SO FRUSTRATING SOMETIMES BUT I'M LEARNING TO GET OVER THE BAD DAYS.

HOPE THINGS ARE GOING OK FOR YOU.

ANNE

[jayuk]

Anne

Glad to see things are getting better...
What stage are you at interms of your KC?...using lens? etc

J