Today is a continuation from yesterday, entitled:
3 THINGS I WISH YOU WOULDN’T DO:
Feel sorry for us
Its interesting how sometimes when you tell someone the news about your child's diagnosis, you hear the sounds awww, or I'm sorry.... It makes it sound like you feel sorry for us. Please don’t feel sorry for us. We have a fantastic life with our two little guys. We love our life. We cherish our sons. Does our life look a little different? Yes, of course. We have some added challenges. But, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Treat Lincoln differently
I often wonder if I sometimes treat Lincoln a little differently than Parker. There are times I “cater to the Down syndrome” so to speak, and let Lincoln get away with attitudes and behaviors that I shouldn’t. I want Lincoln to know that he is held to the same standard as Parker. To the same standard as his typical peers. I want him to learn respect, to learn manners, to learn sharing, and to be polite. He will have the same values, morals, beliefs, and attitudes I teach Parker. I want him to know that there are consequences for his actions. Though, the timeline for him learning those things may look a little different.
Use the “r-word”
I know I’ve talked about this in a previous post... I used this word before I had Lincoln, I used it as part of my vocabulary. At that point in my life, i couldn't imagine what the big deal was. I never intentionally used it in a derogatory way, I never used it when I was talking about individual people, and I NEVER associated it with actual disabilities. It was just one of those words that seemed to fit in certain situations (I have now replaced it with the word “ridiculous”). After I had Lincoln I immediately stopped using it. The word took on a whole new meaning for me. It made me recognize the impact of the word as it took whole new meaning in my context.
Its interesting how sometimes when you tell someone the news about your child's diagnosis, you hear the sounds awww, or I'm sorry.... It makes it sound like you feel sorry for us. Please don’t feel sorry for us. We have a fantastic life with our two little guys. We love our life. We cherish our sons. Does our life look a little different? Yes, of course. We have some added challenges. But, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Treat Lincoln differently
I often wonder if I sometimes treat Lincoln a little differently than Parker. There are times I “cater to the Down syndrome” so to speak, and let Lincoln get away with attitudes and behaviors that I shouldn’t. I want Lincoln to know that he is held to the same standard as Parker. To the same standard as his typical peers. I want him to learn respect, to learn manners, to learn sharing, and to be polite. He will have the same values, morals, beliefs, and attitudes I teach Parker. I want him to know that there are consequences for his actions. Though, the timeline for him learning those things may look a little different.
Use the “r-word”
I know I’ve talked about this in a previous post... I used this word before I had Lincoln, I used it as part of my vocabulary. At that point in my life, i couldn't imagine what the big deal was. I never intentionally used it in a derogatory way, I never used it when I was talking about individual people, and I NEVER associated it with actual disabilities. It was just one of those words that seemed to fit in certain situations (I have now replaced it with the word “ridiculous”). After I had Lincoln I immediately stopped using it. The word took on a whole new meaning for me. It made me recognize the impact of the word as it took whole new meaning in my context.
Thanks for reading :)
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