Positive Impacts Enable Family Gets Back to Normal

The unexpected pandemic brought about severe challenges not just in everyday life but also parent-child relationships.

During the pandemic, *Siu Nic was stuck at home with no group activities and social interactions. After the pandemic, he was unable to re-adapt to normal school routine. He often missed homework and even skipped classes. As Siu Nic is a person with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), he struggles with impulsiveness and has relatively poor social and stress management skills. As such, he frequently got into arguments with teachers and classmates, causing classroom disruptions. 

At the same time, the friction and clash between Siu Nic and his mother were getting worse. One day, his mother pulled him out from bed with force to rush him school for examination. He lost his temper and injured himself and his mother. The situation was not improving as he made some bad friends. On the other hand, Siu Nic’s mother suffered from physical and mental health issues due to parenting problems.

Through a social worker’s referral, they sought help from Against Child Abuse, a member agency of The Community Chest. The social worker arranged Siu Nic to stay in a short-term boarding school. Through a structured daily schedule in the boarding school, he developed healthy hobbies and enhanced his social skills. This arrangement also helped to ease his mother's stress, and she could find spare time to look after his two elder brothers.

After half a year, Siu Nic’s family saw significant changes. Now he knew how to control his emotions and be nice to others. He also helped with doing housework and set his own schedule for studying and playing. During holidays, he went exercise and farming with his mother. These changes helped to strengthen the bonds between Siu Nic and his family.

With the Chest’s funding, Against Child Abuse provides counselling services and support to families in need to overcome their difficulties. 

*The name is pseudonymised to protect the subject’s identity.