Everyone I’ve ever met who has a child with autism is exhausted by:

- the refusing behaviour,

- by the chronic ongoingness of it all,

- by the fact that you never really know what’s going to happen,

- by the judgment of other people who say, “isn’t he just naughty?”

- by the not sleeping and the difficult eating and the fussiness around clothes and shoes

- and the yelling and the tantrums

- and the expensive treatments

- and the teachers who don’t know enough or who can’t do enough because there’s not enough funding,

- and the needs of their other children and their complicated reactions to their sibling,

- by the strain placed on the marriage relationship

- let alone the difficult relationships with peers and the fact that not many autistic kids get invited to birthday parties,

- and the embarrassment when they say something odd, or run away for the 50th time

- and that’s not even talking about the fear of their future

- or the heartache that happens every time the other children of the same age achieve goals that your child will probably never get to.

If you're one of those parents, take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back right now. Courage and grace to you.