I am supposed to be working on a project for a charity, but it is not going well and I have been looking for distractions.

Well, I found them this morning, right here.

Why do we feel so isolated? I have just been reading that thread, and am feeling quite down as a result. It has brought back too many memories of our time struggling with school attendance. No matter that half term is with us, we were already thinking of that next Monday morning.

As some of you will know, I started this website so that I could 'meet' people who understood what we were going through. Thankfully, that worked, and I received a lot of support when I needed it most. i am so grateful to everyone who was around at that time. But why is that still the same now? Why is our plight, and that of our children, still not understood? Grr!

However, I know that our situation will change with time. Things become easier, or our children learn to cope. I am car-less today as my daughter is using it to take her portfolio into college, where she hopes to get a place on a degree course next year.

And thinking about that progress makes me feel maybe only a pale blue.

Enjoy your pancakes. My daughter is coming home for hers!

Hi Simon,

Setting up this site I think has saved so many people (myself included) and before that...I felt like the only parent in the world with a son like mine. Not everyone finds the site - but when they do - what you have set up for us is just wonderful. Thank you so much for doing this. And yes the stories that keep coming in new are just the same as ours all those years ago - it is heart breaking to think that all these years later, parents and children are still hitting brick walls on this one. But perhaps a few bricks have fallen...there is a feeling of just a bit more understanding.

Your daughter is an inspiration. She and others are making it through to the 'other side'. It might not always be rosy out there - but from what I am hearing from yourself and Sarah and others is that your children have gained some coping skills (something that we are all struggling with as our children have not reached that maturity in their lives).
Good luck to your daughter - she must be very talented with her artwork.

To see School Refusal listed as exempt from the new laws coming in where I am....I really don't think I would have seen that when my son first showed symptoms. That was 8 years ago and although I know that I am very knowledgeable and that can lull me into a false sense of feeling everyone else is - there is still a very long way to go to educate the public and the authorities. What we need is a huge push for schools to be informed. I think this has to come from the psychologists and parents. I wonder if we could all ask our individual psychologists or counsellors what they think can be done to heighten the awareness...

It is hard for us as parents in the middle of what we are going through to feel we have the strength and courage to be informing those who should already know. When/If I get through this to some kind of 'other side' - I will certainly make sure that I promote School Refusal and offer my support in any way I can. I still think this is a relatively new issue - despite psychologists sometimes waving their hands and saying it has been around for 'awhile'. When I was teaching - now over 15 years ago - I never came across School Refusal. I was a teacher who cared a lot about the welfare of the students - so I am sure I would have been aware. It is possible, however, that there might have been kids out there suffering in silence with their parents...and so perhaps if that was the case- we have come a long way. Either way - we have a long way to go.
Glad you are feeling only a pale shade of blue now : )
All the best,
Linda xx

Simon - I don't come onto the forum very often because it breaks my heart to read some of the threads, and part of me wants to shut the door on that part of my life but it never goes away.

As Linda said you have helped so many people on here and certainly helped me through many a dark day.

Lots of love

Sarah x