Barbara Fox

The Smilemaker Barbara Fox

The challenges of being the parent of a child with obvious and significant differences are terrifying. It is a 24/7 career and the pressure to succeed is both internal and external. However, what is soon understood is the beautiful blessings in seeing progress in development when it is often not expected. My journey may help some parents see that the similarities ion our children are usually more real than the differences. They are all children first. They are not limited by the norm for their disorder or differences except by those who don't understand. In discussing differences with children I have cut out twenty or thirty little happy faces that all look alike. I give each child one and then ask them to put it with the others. I then mix them up and tell them the children are at school and your mother has arrived to take you home. Which one are you? As they begin to try to identify the happy face they had, I tell them the world would be very boring if we were all alike and they begin to see that our differences are not only acceptable, they are desirable. Our differences make us unique. This is not only important in our acceptance of others but it's also important in learning to accept out own strengths and weaknesses. In some way people with significant differences have a definite advantage. They know what their weaknesses are and they know they have to address their issues. Some of us take a lifetime to figure that out.