By Atlanta Parent Editorial — 2021
I am autistic. I am also the mother of an autistic child, and the wife of a neurotypical (nonautistic) partner. We are a neurodiverse family.
Read on www.atlantaparent.com
CLEAR ALL
Autistic traits can amplify the conditions that lead to burnout, and burnout can cause these traits to worsen.
A few months and many deaths ago, I woke up exhausted, again. Every morning, I felt like I was rebuilding myself from the ground up. Waking up was hard. Getting to my desk to write was hard. Taking care of my body was hard. Remembering the point of it all was hard.
Feelings of ambivalence about parenthood aren’t necessarily going to do harm to children. But when regret suffuses the parent-child dynamic, the whole family can suffer.
New research demonstrates parental burnout has serious consequences. As defined by the study, burnout is an exhaustion syndrome, characterized by feeling overwhelmed, physical and emotional exhaustion, emotional distancing from one’s children, and a sense of being an ineffective parent.