Updated: 10-06-2026;
Raising a family is one of the hardest but best things people will do in their lives, but when you are raising a family that has a child/ren with disabilities, this job becomes even harder.
While it will still be one of the best things you will ever do, the complexities that come with it, from financial hardship to logistical challenges and emotional toil, can make it feel as though the quality of life you, your child, and the rest of the family are living isn’t as good as it could be.
If you want to improve the quality of life for everyone involved, consider the following suggestions.
Assess Your Child’s Current Support Needs
You need a benchmark, and assessing your child helps provide a valuable one.
Understanding what your child can do by themselves and what causes the biggest challenges for them enables you to put a plan in place for how you can best support them.
Seeing that they can easily get themselves dressed each morning and get breakfast allows you to take a step back here, freeing up time and energy to help them where they might struggle, such as with getting up and down the stairs or expressing their thoughts and emotions.
Your assessment should look into their:
- Daily life activities (including routines)
- Communication abilities
- Social interactions
- How they cope away from home, such as in school and after-school activities
- Mobility/physical tasks
- Education
- Emotional wellbeing
Remember, every child will have their strengths, and they will have their challenges; it is about finding what is unique to your child and how you can best support them moving forward.
Establish Routines That Support Growth and Development
Once you know where your child needs more support, you can start to establish better routines that enable them to grow, develop, and ultimately thrive, which will have a knock-on effect for those around them.
For instance, if your child can get themselves dressed and carry out their own personal hygiene tasks, but needs help with mobility, consider introducing a morning routine that allows extra time for moving between their bedroom and bathroom.
This way, rather than jumping in straightaway to assist them on the walk, grab their clothes, or bring their toothbrush to them, they can practice doing it themselves, knowing they aren’t pressured or rushed for time.
Six months into this new routine, you might find they have got one minute faster; a year might see them improve it by two.
Receive Professional In-home Support
There is no shame in reaching out for help. In fact, seeking Care For Family disability support services can be one of the most effective ways to improve your child’s and the wider family’s quality of life.
Expert carers from companies like this can come directly to your home to provide whatever support your child needs, whether regularly or for the time when you need a break to recharge.
Bringing help to your child rather than going to it is the best way to encourage them to build on skills and work through the hardest challenges, as they will in the most familiar and comforting environment.
Find Ways to Support Emotional Wellbeing
Emotions likely run high in your house. Exhaustion is often the cause of this for adults.
For siblings, they may appear resilient on the outside, but deep down feel resentment and jealousy, while taking on too much to help out, at risk of also burning out.
Some children might even be exposed to the “glass child” effect, in which, because they are resilient and independent, they get overlooked, as their parents care for the child with disabilities.
To ensure everyone’s wellbeing is taken care of, there are several things you can do:
- Take time for self-care: Use respite care services to take a break from time to time, and try to schedule in a little bit of self-care each day. Even having 30 minutes to yourself can help prevent burnout.
- Dedicate one-on-one time: For other children, make time for them one-on-one, such as taking them out to the park, for lunch, or an activity they wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do. Even a simple daily check-in is important.
- Share feelings: Encourage everyone to share how they are feeling, whether anxious, depressed, or burnt out. This can be a great opportunity to hear about the positive feelings, too!