I think with Covid-19 causing so much isolation and difficulties to our families, it became very obvious that a lot of our parents were struggling with the sudden increase of providing everything for your child. At first view, that may not seem any more than anyone at the time was going through, but on top of basic care and home schooling can you imagine incorporating physiotherapy, sensory play, emotional support, medications as well as a multitude of other necessities that are required in caring for a child with additional needs. As well as being a parent, our families suddenly found themselves teacher, physio, doctor and emotional support. And maybe for more than one child. And it was hard! Parents told us they were struggling and we saw an increase in requests for our Counselling sessions.
Our team got together and decided that when we were allowed, we would do something just for the parents – to try and give them an evening off from it all. And as a consequence, our Parent/Carer events were formed!
Our first was apparently a huge success and was held at Escape Hunt in Leeds. We had two groups of 6 attend in different rooms: The Fourth Samurai and Our Finest Hour, and you’ll be pleased to know that both groups managed to escape and we didn’t have to lock them in for the night 😉
I didn’t attend this event myself and what goes on in Escape Hunt stays in Escape Hunt so I can’t tell you what happened inside but here are some comments from the parents that attended:
“I spend most of my time trying to navigate and figure out the EHCP system which is a puzzle in itself, so it was great to spend an hour figuring out some puzzles that were actually fun and leave the fight behind for a bit! Thank you xx”
“This was literally an hour of escapism you couldn’t think of anything else other than figuring out how to get out”
“It made parents come together and work together. Every contribution helped. Bit of a slow start but once we got going everyone got into it xxx”
“Kid free night just what everyone needed.”
“It was really fun and something different.. it was good feeling normal again and not having to keep watching the kids and made me want to do another straight away… the time went so fast and the cheeky drink at the end was definitely appreciated. Thank you again xxx”
“Fantastic guys – thank you!!”
So hopefully we will do more of these in the future! If you have an idea for a Parent/carer event, email us in info@littlehiccups.co.uk and we’ll see what we can do!
You can find out more about Escape Hunt on their website: https://escapehunt.com/uk/leeds
