Fostering Independence in Your Children (part 2)
Raising children with disabilities looks an awful lot like raising able-bodied children. At least, it can with the right tools and mindset. My parents raised three children, and two of us have SMA Type 2. They made important decisions daily to help navigate our interactions with the world around us.
“By this, we grew up learning how to have rich experiences with our communities and each other.”
In follow-up to my previous article, here are a few more tips from my mom and dad sharing their perspective on how they raised children with disabilities.
- Open Door Policies:
An open heart is vital for you and your child to survive. Get your family out into the community and have people in your home, too. This breaks down the walls that come up when people don’t understand your family’s circumstances. Letting people into your world can hurt, but it can also be rewarding in the most beautiful ways you wouldn’t expect. We were not meant to carry burdens on our own, nor to celebrate without a party. This will help you to have support, and it will help your child to experience community, how to foster and engage it alike, which will prove invaluable as they set out on their own later in life. - Relatable Moral Support:
Not only is it important to assimilate your family into everyday community experiences, but on top of that, find a few other families with comparable challenges to your own. This will help you, your spouse and children all feel a better sense that you’re not alone in this different kind of life. Interacting with the outside world is paramount, but you also just need, sometimes, to hear someone say, “I get it.” - There’s Always Another Way:
As your family runs into obstacles, take advantage of these opportunities to foster innovation, creativity, and flexibility by example. I heard a story recently of a family who uses this motto, “There’s always another way!” If you and your family have dreams that seem impossible, work together and think outside the box to find a way. Traveling, picnicking, camping, whatever it may be, it will be encouraging to you, your children, and those around you to accomplish it in your own unique way. And it may be difficult, or take a lot of time and trial and error, but your family is worth figuring it out for, aren’t they? Growing up, my family found the wildest solutions to the weirdest dreams, and now as an adult, I travel the world in a backpack carried by my friends!
“Your choices now as a parent will help shape who your child grows up to be.”
Do you want them to be free, to have friends, see the world, be a writer, lawyer, scientist, spouse, parent, contribute to society, change the world? At the end of the day, the most important thing is for them to know you love them, and these steps can help in the details of what that looks like.