10 Things That Parents of Children with Special Needs Never Take For Granted
We are a select bunch, you know. When you have a child with a disability, you’re drafted into a sort of Special Forces division of parenting. Special needs parents are essentially the Navy Seals of the parenting world, and without any special training, we jump into this whole new world and make incredible things happen on behalf of our children. We know we’re different, and if there’s any question, just reading an average parenting blog drives home that point.
But I tend to think that in the day-to-day care of our remarkable children, we learn an awful lot about the preciousness of life, and learn to never take many “normal” things for granted, such as:
- Holidays: Whether it’s navigating the terrifying noises of Independence Day fireworks, or always bringing the blender to every holiday dinner, the special days of celebration end up being that much trickier than they ever were before.
- Sleep: Enough said. Sleep is your Holy Grail when you parent a child with a disability.
- School: The days of just getting your child onto the bus in the morning and calling it good are foreign to us. Between phone calls, meetings and IEP planning (and so much more), sending our kids to school can be a full time job!
- Date night: What is this thing that so many couples do? It sure looks like fun!
- Baby sitters: See date night. We don’t get date nights because it’s almost impossible to find someone qualified to stay with our children, and be able to afford to pay them and pay for a date.
- Friendships: We have them, and they are more precious to us than gold. Some of our friends disappeared when things changed for us, and we learned to let it go, but the friends that stayed, and the friends we have made along this journey are the best anyone could ask for.
- Healthcare: What is a topic of debate for many people is a literal life or death situation for our kids, and we don’t have the luxury of not being opinionated about it.
- Milestones: Each one is a special blessing. They don’t have a timeline, they come with incredible effort and intervention, and we celebrate like crazy for every single one of them!
- Resilience: We don’t have time to wallow in self-pity after setbacks or challenges. We get up, dust off and keep going because we have no choice.
- Life itself: Many of us have had near-misses and scares that are only a worst nightmare for most parents. We treasure each day with our amazing children because we know how very precious each moment is.
While in so many ways it would be nice to fit back into the typical crowd with everyday stresses like homework and sports, some of these things that we grasp, because we learned them through life experience, can be cherished and valuable life lessons. I, for one, am thankful to see these things as the treasure they are!
