Hi am 12 years old both of my parents are wonderful and amazing but thers a promblem there both disabled my dad is blind and my mum was born with leg promblem witch means she can walk but her leg is not stright. Am having promblem its hard for me to foucs on school and firends and at home. i Have got to younger sisters but 1 of them am having promblems coping with, sometimes my parents aruge wich makes me really really scared bceause i dont like poeple gtting angry or having figts besacuse am sacred. As a yonger carear can u give addvice on how and what i can do to stop and make me and my slef happy again thnnxs Sam
Sam
Hello,
Thank you for getting in touch with me.
I can hear how much you care for your mum and dad but its becoming hard to manage everything. Caring for someone can be hard work, especially when youre not an adult and youre also trying to focus on your school work and friends.
These are a lot of difficult things for you to cope with but you dont have to do it all on your own. Im so glad that you decided to write to me.
I imagine that it can be very upsetting to see your parents arguing but its important to remember that it isnt your fault. It might be helpful to think if theres a way to let your mum or dad know how scared you feel when you hear them argue. They may not even be aware of how this can make you feel. Your family are the people that you should feel the safest with.
It sounds like the situation at home is becoming very overwhelming for you and I was wondering if youve been able to let anyone else know a little about how youre feeling maybe theres a teacher at school or someone else in your extended family like an aunt or uncle?
I can hear that you really care about your family and youre doing all you can to take care of everyone. As a young carer its important that you can also get some rest regularly and have some quality time just for you. Sometimes having that time is important to help you focus on other things like school and spending time with your friends.
You havent mentioned if you have any support already but there are organisations that help families in similar situations and your family might be able to get extra help.
Youngcarers.net have an online team that offer support on discussion boards, emails and chat rooms. They are there just for young carers like you.
You may also want to ask an adult at school to help you they could get in touch with someone like The Childrens Society or your local social services. They might also be able to offer support to young carers.
If you would like, you could get in touch with us and we could help you talk to someone when you are ready, so you can explain to them what is going on for you. The message boards are a good place to talk to other young people who are also young carers.
I hope we hear from you again when youre ready.
Take care, Sam
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