Celebrating our children’s strengths

Having a kid with special needs often means that a good part of your life is spent working around or through your child’s challenges. Friends and family may say things to you like “How do you do it?” but the answer is simple: you do it because this is a normal part of your life, this is your child and you will do whatever you humanly can to help him or her.

But obviously, our kids have their strengths. Ones I think we sometimes forget to relish because we get so caught up in the whirlwind of it all. These are some of Max’s:

• The determination Max has to keep at something that is hard for him. I’ve often watched him struggle to grasp a cup handle (manipulating objects does not come easily to him) and yet he tries again and again and again until he gets ahold of it. And even if his grasp is not the firmest, he is somehow able to hold on and take a chug. Amazingly, he never has any trouble pressing the itty bitty TV “on” button.

• The way he charms everyone with his smile.

• His ability to figure out another way. Like when you ask him to blow bubbles through a wand, he sort of snorts through his nose (he’s still working on breath control) and it works.

• His strong opinions on everything from which jacket he’d like to wear to which road he’d like us to drive down. This is a child who wasn’t supposed to be bright.

• His speech. Every single time he says “Hi!” still seems like a miracle to me. This is a child who wasn’t supposed to be able to talk at all. 

• His big, wet, open-mouthed kisses. This is a child who maybe wasn’t going to survive.

I’d love to hear about your child’s strengths. 

Ellen blogs daily over at To The Max

 

 

 

 

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