12-year-old young carer's support is incredibly important, says Essex mum
Jasmine helps her mum with the care needs of three of her siblings
An Essex mum has told us that the help of her 12 year old daughter in the family's caring needs is incredibly important, and that she can bring a smile and laughter into the family dynamic.
Jasmine supports her mum with the care needs of her three siblings, who have varying needs.
Her siblings all have a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD, with the eldest having epilepsy.
Jasmine said that she likes to bring joy to her siblings:
"It's important for me to be there because now I can help out.
"It feels really nice to make them all calm and happy.
"It's fun because some of the games I play with my siblings are pretty fun to play, and then it's also chill. My mum can calm down for a bit whilst I can play with them, and it's sometimes fun the games we play, so we get to play together and have family time.
"You get like good things at the end, so if you can help out then my mum doesn't have to stress."
Jasmine plays games like Roblox with her siblings, and her mum Ruth says the help and the joy she brings is great to hear.
"Quite often Jasmine will make one of her siblings laugh really, really crazily and it's lovely as a parent to hear that laughter.
"And even though about 10 minutes before we could have had a meltdown, we could have had screaming and upset. And then we have got that happy, smiley, laughing hysterically.
"Having someone else when things get really tense, having her come in, she brings calm, and makes the situation less stressful because she brings a different kind of energy.
"With Jasmine, she is my back up person. So when things go wrong in the house, Jasmine is there as the person that will try and help calm things down."
Jasmine is a part of Young Carers and can talk to others her age in a similar position.
"I think Young Carers helps me every week when I can go to somewhere where I can talk to people who have the same thing that I have, and we can all talk together and have fun, have a bit of laughter and be ourselves."
She is one of over 10 thousand Young Carers in Essex, according to local charity Action for Family Carers.