Emotions run high

Today was a emotional day for all parties involved with my son. Today was his first day of summer school which he was very much looking forward to. The classes he is to take is in a classroom environment and all his assignments are at his own pace via the computer on a program called nova net. The emotional part started after class had begun. The teacher explained all the courses lessons were all up front and what they needed to complete to pass the classes. My son ( which suffers from bipolar) was highly overwhelmed. All he saw was the enormous amount of work he had a head of him. So at the 10 min break, instead of my son telling the teacher how overwhelmed he was with the information he provided, he left the school grounds with out telling the teacher.

Though my son was trying to call me I happened to be in a meeting, first clue that I should have been pulled out of the meeting is my son is crying and asking to speak to me, I didn't know he was calling, so instead of someone letting me know my son was in a state of irrationality, the receptionist asked my boss where I happended to be and told the receptionist I was in a meeting. I was furious and asked why I wasn't called out. The reasoning on their part was that he didn't state it was an emergency. Okay that might have been acceptable had I not already many times before state my son Has BIPOLAR disorder and at time can become manic or irrational and I need to take his call. When I am answering the phone and one of the other employee's children call 3 times in a row or even before I ask them if it is an emergency, common sense would tell you that you should, or maybe it is just I am too nice of a person and understand when you have children there may be circumstances in which the child is not able to articulate.

So during the heighten state of my sons emotions he decides the class is too much and when he can't get a hold of me he starts to walk to my work ( found this out after the fact as well and people are extremely lucky that my son was not hit by a car and such) his high school and my work are about a mile and a half away, the problem with that is there are 2 major intersections in which he has to cross, one in which that involes off ramp interstate 4 way light stop but very dangerous as there isn't a side walk. So thankfully my son calls my boyfriend and he finds my son 2 blocks away from my work crying and distraught. (My boyfriend tried to call me as well, but he got the same response, but again he didn't state it was an emergency).

So here is what I learned today.

Have a safety plan in place at summer school when my son feels overwhelmed.
Use the code words " I am Overwhelmed I need to speak to my mother at the front desk so they know that it means it is an emergency or crisis. ( Not everyone is going to remember to say it is an emergency when manic or irrational. Duh)
and lastly know that some days just suck, and you just have to vent. I am glad and can breath now that my son is okay. I am upset that the teacher didn't call me right away when he didn't return back from break, apparently lazy teaching is the new craze.

So round two will be writing down the expectations of the teacher when it comes to not returning from break ( hello if the child was there at the beginning of class and didn't return from break why wait 2 hours later to notify the parents) I could go on and on but I will end now, I am sure that there are many parents that have been throught this, I just wanted to complain.

Thanks for listening

www.bipoalrcentral.com