find time to exercise and release the stress. Walks in the morning are also helpful.

Thanks everyone☺️ Seems like being dazed and confused is the norm. And what is this thing called respite? We need our own personal assistant 24-7!

I got asked this question once at a parent support group, and the pathetic answer was "running errands by myself". I'm eligible for respite hours through the Regional Center but we can't afford the cost shares so don't take them. On paper it looks like we have a good income, but between housing, medical bills, and taxes, we don't have much discretionary income left for paying the respite cost shares.

This is always a problem and when parents are at each other because they are worn down it gets worse. Generally one parent ends up doing more with the children because the other works. Then when the working parent comes home they are expected to take over and this causes issues. Both parents need to understand that they other needs a break and that there must be equal time to themselves even if it is only and hour here or there.

All that being said, I have an autism blog and I write for that and it is posted to a few autism groups. I answer questions others pose to me in regards to my posts. Other than that it is just TV or movies after the children are sleeping.

When my kids were younger scheduling me time felt impossible. Now that they are older I have carved out time to sing with a group once/week which is a great distraction. The other thing that really helps is to read engrossing fiction before going to sleep--gets me out of my own head and I can forget about challenges and problems for awhile.