At the edge of our garden!

All the above are photos of plants and flowers at the three edges of our garden. They are less visited unlike the others in the centre and periphery of the garden. Each of these flowers or flower bunches has a story of their own. 

The two rose flowers are from two different bushes which were planted by my parents and have a history of about thirty five years. 

The two rose bushes were planted by my parents and have a history of 35 years,. The rest of the garden was designed by Anna since we started living here ten years ago. 

Yesterday a family with their four years old twin children visited us, both of them have multiple developmental needs. They behaved hyperactively and looked disruptive. The parents were not able to regulate their behaviour. They had a long history of being in a similar situation that even my professional colleagues found it difficult to sustain them in a regulated environment to engage them. 

We do come across similar families who have been in inhospitable terrain of their homes where children grew up acquiring undesirable or disruptive behaviour. They have far too many strands in the causal pathway for their challenging situations, that families and professionals have a difficult time to process and find the way forward. 

They are families who live at the edge feeling the stress and strain, finding coping too demanding. 

My colleagues who discussed this issue at the end of having spent a good bit of their time with both children suggested that we ought to have a plan for such families too. They need more attention and support. 

I find that there are more challenges ahead of us than when we started ten years ago. We have had some instances of accompanying some families, who lived at the edge carrying the burden of their children. Some of them who found the path ahead are examples of how extra attention helped them to move on!

Here we are now, made to think about the families living on the edge!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)