Thankyou for the clearheaded advice.

I realize that, yes, there's been a high level of anxiety on most fronts as
of late - and admit that I may have been focussing too much on this being a
problem. I guess I just needed to hear it from someone.. ..and
everything has been very difficult for me, and him, me with classes and
work, and juggling his daycare and organizing the legal administrative
beurocratic mess his mother left in her wake.

I do get some support from friends.. ..but it is mostly that kind of support
that isn't *active* support. My father is generally non-helpful as a
grandfather (he lives a mainly dysfunctional lifestyle) and my mother passed
away when I was 18. My older brother takes my son about 1 weekend day a
week, and my son's grandmother (mother's mother - a long story. My son has
an older half-brother who is in her care) takes him very occasionally. The
rest is up to me.

So, no, I'm not always dealing well.. ..and that's why I came here.. ..and I
thankyou for your feedback, as I needed to hear it, and as it's contributed
to making me feel a little more like a person again, and less like a
daddy/student/work machine.



"Sidheag McCormack" wrote in message
...
My son is a little younger, and doesn't have many words yet at all, but I
gather that this kind of thing is really common when children are under
any
kind of stress, as your son certainly is, however much you've been able to
protect him. More generally, any kind of fairly recent development can be
temporarily lost, either in particular contexts or altogether. The stress
can even just be an advance in some other area. The advice I've read,
which
makes sense to me, is basically: don't worry about it per se, though
obviously see whether there's anything you can do to alleviate any stress;
don't pester the child to do things s/he isn't doing; the inability to do
them in the affected contexts is genuine, even if psychologically caused;
read it as an "I need to be looked after, I'm not ready to grow up any
more
right now" signal. He'll get back to normal all the faster if you give him
all the reassurance he needs that you'll take care of him and that you
aren't expecting more of him than he's ready to provide.

You're obviously in a difficult situation, I hope you're getting adequate
support from friends IRL as well as online. Good luck,

Sidheag
DS Colin Oct 27 2003