I was wondering if anyone else has a hard time getting their children to school on time, or getting to work on time? or oversleeping (through ten alarms) and then missing school or work completely, What do you do so you or your child do not get in trouble?
I did, both of these. I'll tell you what I did, but asking for workplace accommodations can be tricky so I suggest you ask your local Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, or Office of People with Disabilities before you disclose a disability and ask for an accommodation.
At my job of 12 years my boss Knew I had narcolepsy. I had a key to open (daycare at a school) and made it clear to anyone I trained to open with me: "It's rare, but I can oversleep. If I'm not here at 7AM, ask the custodian to let you in and then call me at home." That exact thing did happen and the employees did what I'd asked them to do. But that accommodation was never agreed to in writing with my boss, and when she became displeased with me for other reasons she took my key away and had someone else open, stating that "nobody would respect me" as a manager if I couldn't get there on time. I wish I'd had that accommodation in writing when I was teaching rather than managing because it still applied.
My son also had trouble waking up and we have an alarm clock collection, too.
Since getting my son to school was his responsibility according to the school, my son took the school bus near our home. Yes, and when he was late he got into trouble. Our district used to be punitive with truancy problems, but this has changed and they look into why a child might be late to school. Relying on me was definitely no guarantee for being there on time - he had to learn to rely on himself, and couldn't arrive to an 8AM class until it was the only way for him to get out of college!
Getting places on time was one very stressful thing about parenting for me. Sometimes I'd improve with planning ahead and getting enough rest, but on tired days it was really tough.
[RAISING MY HAND!!!!!] I have a terrible time getting up in the mornings! My alarm goes off and I hit the snooze button. Now, truthfully, I feel pretty good this first time and I should probably go ahead and get up. But I don't....! I go back to sleep and have crazy vivid dreams and hit the snooze every 9 minutes, without knowing it most of the time. By the time I finally really wake back up I'm running late. Luckily, I have a very flexible, laid back work atmosphere. But I fear any day now my boss is going to call me in her office b/c I've been so consistently late lately!
I have got to do better!
For some reason, I never saw these responses. Thank you for responding. As for my son, he is only 4 and in preschool, so it will (is not) his responsibility to get himself to school on time and we live too close to the school for him to "qualify" to ride the bus. I got a few letters near the end of school about his tardiness and even though I explained my N to them, they did not think that it was a good enough reason. I actually asked if there was any way he could qualify to ride the bus because of my N (ADA) but they never got back to me about it. My jobs (I have 3) have been ok in general, but I work with children and adults who have Autism (ASD) and my job that starts the earliest is to help the adults get up and ready for work, so if I do not show up or I am late, it affects them. I have told them if I do not come on time, they should call me and it has been ok the few times that I did oversleep. I have to have my son to school at 820 and to work by 845. So many times he was late, but I made it within fifteen mins. I explained to them, if I overslept, I can't just scramble to get ready and run out the door, because I need to be sure that my medication has enough time to work before driving. To me that is more important than him missing a few minutes in the morning (although, I do know it is important for him to be on time too). If I could magically wake myself up I would not have to worry about any of this. They need a pill that wakes you up 8 hours after you lay down or something. I did find an app that can call you at a set time and it has helped as the phone generally wakes me up more consistently than an alarm clock does. Getting places on time is a night mare and everyone just assumes that it is laziness on my part or poor planning but it still happens even when I think I have everything set up perfectly to arrive on time.
Carol said:
I did, both of these. I'll tell you what I did, but asking for workplace accommodations can be tricky so I suggest you ask your local Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, or Office of People with Disabilities before you disclose a disability and ask for an accommodation.
At my job of 12 years my boss Knew I had narcolepsy. I had a key to open (daycare at a school) and made it clear to anyone I trained to open with me: "It's rare, but I can oversleep. If I'm not here at 7AM, ask the custodian to let you in and then call me at home." That exact thing did happen and the employees did what I'd asked them to do. But that accommodation was never agreed to in writing with my boss, and when she became displeased with me for other reasons she took my key away and had someone else open, stating that "nobody would respect me" as a manager if I couldn't get there on time. I wish I'd had that accommodation in writing when I was teaching rather than managing because it still applied.
My son also had trouble waking up and we have an alarm clock collection, too.
Since getting my son to school was his responsibility according to the school, my son took the school bus near our home. Yes, and when he was late he got into trouble. Our district used to be punitive with truancy problems, but this has changed and they look into why a child might be late to school. Relying on me was definitely no guarantee for being there on time - he had to learn to rely on himself, and couldn't arrive to an 8AM class until it was the only way for him to get out of college!
Getting places on time was one very stressful thing about parenting for me. Sometimes I'd improve with planning ahead and getting enough rest, but on tired days it was really tough.
It's really frustrating, isn't it. Recently I haven't had enough sleep at night which causes me to be less effective during the day. Fortunately, I'd been doing pretty well after trying to gradually get up earlier daily. I can't wait to get back on schedule, but it's usually difficult. Froggzzz, do you feel you get enough rest? Have you been tested for both narcolepsy and sleep apnea?
Yes, I have both due to weight gain throughout the years with the Narcolepsy. I unfortunately do not feel any differently when I use my cpap. I need to use it more because I know it helps but I have gotten complacent since I do not feel the benefit. I often fall asleep while working on my homework as I attend school online. I am actually a few terms away from graduating, I can not wait!! I hate it though because since I fall asleep sitting in the computer chair I wake up with swollen feet and legs and of course that causes more issues. I sleep the same amount of time, just not all of it in my bed.