Top 5 Posts of 2016

Can you believe that 2016 is almost done? There is so much we can talk about that has touched all of us in some ways, so rather than focusing on that type of recap, here are the top 5 posts on the blog. Posts to offer you some hope and encouragement as you finish the year.

5. Special Needs Parent, Are You Surviving?

It’s no secret many special needs parents are weighted down by the everyday demands in life. Sometimes, it feels as if you’re merely surviving.

If you have ever parented from the trenches, you know how desperate you can feel and how even the smallest task – like doing laundry – feels so overwhelming that you lock yourself in the bathroom and cry. I’ve been there.  <<<keep reading>>>

This post has a freebie: The Special Needs Parent Survival Guide, so make sure you get your copy!

4. To the Special Needs Parent Who Thinks They Are Not Enough

Sometimes you feel as if you are not enough. But you don’t need more motivation, inspiration, or research. You don’t need more one-on-one time with your child. You don’t need more medical knowledge. You don’t need to know about all the new ground-braking therapies or interventions for your child. You don’t need to compare your kid with other kids who have the same diagnosis yet seem to be doing better. You don’t need any of that because even if you doubt it, you are enough! <<<keep reading>>>

3. When a Stranger Thought I Was Disabled

I sat on my daughter’s wheelchair at school one day, and a stranger thought I was disabled. The interaction I had with her was eye opening to the disability attitudes that permeate our society, and the type of ableism and pity my daughters who have disabilities have already experienced even at their young age.

It was one of those days, you know? The type of day you get the kids out the door dressed, fed, and looking good, but you barely manage to get out of your pajamas. All I had to do was drop of the kids at school, no bid deal. Except that once we got to school I remembered I had to get the flyers sent for the fundraiser. At that point I was hoping that not too many people would see me in the school office for the 30 minutes it would take me to get it done. But then there was a school assembly, and it was a wheelchair basket ball team, and how do you not stay for that? And before you think, how bad could it be, really? Let’s just say I did not look pretty, and I can prove it. <<<keep reading>>> 

2. Confessions of a Special Needs Parent: This Is Life

This post will make you smile, because the pictures!!! This is life parenting kids with disabilities.

Sometimes as special needs parents, some of us feel overwhelmed.

There is too much going on and we cannot focus.

Parenting is hard. So hard. There is no manual and you just try to do the best you can. And if your child has a disability, hard can turn into I-have-no-idea-how-to-do-this-and-I feel-like drowning.

And maybe when we’re out in public you see us having one of the hard days. When our kids are overstimulated, or when we’re frazzled to the tips.

But even though there are hard days and hard moments and hard hours, that is not what steers our life. What really matters – what is most important – is love.

Because there is the good, there is the joy, there is the pride we feel for our kids. There is the excitement of even the smallest accomplishments. And always, always the unending love.

And if you ever see a child with a disability and think you could never do it, yes, yes you could do it. Because of love. <<<keep reading>>>

1. Please Don’t Praise Me For Loving My Child With a Disability

It happens to most of us as we parent kids with disabilities, we hear statements like, “You are amazing, I could never do it.” “It must be so hard.”

Yes, it’s true, sometimes parenting kids with disabilities can be hard. We do have extra challenges that most parents of typical children don’t have to deal with, and our lives might look a little different than yours. But I hope you recognize that our lives look similar to yours too. <<<keep reading>>>

Looking forward to next year in this corner of the internet.

May your 2017 be a year of blessings, and may the memories of 2016 help you to move forward and find ways to grow.