I love being a special needs parent. Oh, it has been hard, and there have been challenges, but I love my children and I have learned invaluable lessons along the way. These truths have changed me, and I am thankful for the changes.
So here are ten reasons I love being a special needs parent.
1. Giving and receiving pure, strong, real unconditional love, with no strings attached.
2. Knowing that who we are not doesn’t matter, it only matters who we are.
3. Understanding that success in not found in outward performance, but in accomplishing even the small tasks.
4. Learning, every day, what really matters in life, what it means to be human, what it means to be loved and accepted simply for being.
5. Getting to witness the determination to reach new milestones, and the effort, strength and grit it requires.
6. Courage is part of my life as I watch my children with special needs face their challenges head-on.
7. The extra measure of joy I live with as my children teach me how to celebrate life.
8. I have become a person with more compassion, acceptance, and humility.
9. My view of brokenness has changed, and I am more aware of the emotional and spiritual brokenness we all experience.
10. I have met some of the finest people because of my children. They have become my closest friends, my confidants. When people say, “Special needs parents are special people,” I agree, they are remarkable; their children have made them remarkable.
I love being a special needs parent because I love my kids regardless of their genetic makeup or their disability. Yes, maybe it is as simple as the fact that I love them. Being a mom is a blessing, and I cannot imagine my life without my children.
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I absolutely love number four, seven, eight and nine. I think this is because I can relate to them the most, especially eight and nine. “I have become a person with more compassion, acceptance, and humility.” and “My view of brokenness has changed, and I am more aware of the emotional and spiritual brokenness we all experience.” My little brother has taught me so much compassion, acceptance and humility. All he wants is to love and to be loved, to fit in and be accepted as he is. Isn’t that what we all want? When you boil everything down and get right to the matter of life, aren’t we all the same? I am no better than him or anyone else with a disability. We are all people and we all have flaws, beautiful flaws that make us who we are and make this life interesting.
As for emotional and spiritual brokenness, I think my brother is in better shape than I am. He doesn’t let little things get to him and bother him, and his faith in God is so inspiring. Oh, to have faith like a child! I know this is a small example, but this still rings strongly in my mind. A while ago, my little brother had warts all over his hands, so badly that my mom was considering surgery to have them removed. She asked my brother what he thought of that and he simply replied, “No thanks, I’ll just ask Jesus to take them away.” A week later, all the warts were gone and haven’t been back since! Spiritually broken, my brother is not. Me on the other hand, I don’t know if my faith is that simply strong. I know my little brother looks up to me, but I don’t know if he realizes how much I look up to him. He really is an inspiration in my life, and I have learned so much from him… more than I think I would ever be able to teach him in return.
Lauren, thank you, thank you, thank you for leaving a comment here. I absolutely love what you have to say, it is so true!