I’m guessing that I’m not alone in my daily dilemma of which battles to take on. Everyday, parents of special needs children all over this world get up and have to choose which of the many dragons they are faced with to actually take on today and which ones get put off until tomorrow. My to-do list has never read as long as it does now. Not once when I worked a more-than-full-time job in a fast-paced career did I have so many and varied things I needed to accomplish. And they definitely weren’t as critical to me, my family and the world in general as they are now.

How do you prioritize it all into your day – the immediate, the important, the mundane, the necessary? Here’s what is on my to do list today:

1. Easter grocery shopping and finalizing the Easter Bunny loot.
2. Drafting a letter to members of the Georgia legislature about the importance of SB 10 and the necessity of special needs vouchers for many special education children not being educated in Georgia’s public school system.
3. Faxing the latest communication from the school system to my attorney.
4. Preparing a response to the latest communication from the school system regarding my due process case.
5. Proofreading a website that my business partner asked me to do. I may not be working much, but the business is still in operation and my partner is trying to put food on her family’s table…how can I deny her that?
6. depositing checks and cutting payroll for the business so said partner gets paid!
7. email LuLu’s doctors and therapists about her progress (or lack thereof) in the last couple of weeks so everyone is on the same page, knows where we are medication and treatment-wise.
8. starting on a grossly overdue article that I promised Nancy Spoolstra for the Attachment & Trauma Network’s newsletter.
9. answering about 30 emails requesting information or support from other stressed out moms of traumatized and special needs parents.
10. finishing the laundry I started yesterday.
11. buying an iron because ours broke months ago and we’ve limped along. But Easter finery needs pressing before we can wear it!
12. researching a unit on Indians that will become next week’s homeschool project. (Thank goodness this is spring break and I don’t have lesson plans to do this week!)
13. cleaning the office – yeah right!!!
14. going out with my hubby this evening to hear our oldest, my stepson, play in a band at a local restaurant…gee almost like a real date!

Yes, I’ll bet other dragonslayers’ days are as jam packed and varied as mine. Anyone else as overwhelmed as I am about prioritizing the immediate (Easter, business) with the personally important (school due process response, homeschooling lesson plans, communicating with doctors, ironing Easter clothes) and the globally important (advocacy, ATN work, supporting other families) and the necessary (date with hubby and cleaning). I won’t get it all done! I know that every morning when I rise at least half of my list won’t get completed. I don’t know what to do about that, and am sorry to report that some dragons get much more attention than others. (The housekeeping dragon is almost always the LOSER!)

Special needs moms, how do you decide which dragons to slay today?

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