Later this afternoon I am headed to pick up a bike rack for the car. And I'm publicly sharing this mundane errand, why? Because if someone had told me six months ago that we'd need a bike rack fitted to our car, I would have snort-laughed. Bicycle rides - as a family? Impossible. That's something other families do. It's an activity (one of many) I had mentally scratched off as being unrealistic or unachievable for us.
By the time you read this, schools across the country will be in full swing. Teachers may be easing into a groove with their new students. But for parents of children with special needs, those initial jitters never truly subside. For every great, gifted educator out there, there are countless others who are clueless and incompetent when it comes to teaching our children in the unique way they need to be taught.
Having a child on the autism spectrum can be a very insular and isolating experience. I spend so much time spilling my own thoughts and experiences as a mom that I sometimes wonder if I am the only one thinking what I'm thinking, feeling what I'm feeling.
Unlike some girls, I hadn’t grown up dreaming of babies, knowing the exact configuration of my future family. In fact, for a long time – even after I got married - babies didn’t really figure. Mr Green and I were happy, financially stable, well-travelled. We even had a dog, a four-legged baby of our own. Still, relatives pestered us to get on with the business of procreating.
Like many parents, Hayden Desser was in the dark about what it means to have a child with special needs – until he became a father. It’s a journey that the Toronto-based singer-songwriter admits “can often feel solitary.” He and his wife, Christie Greyerbiehl, feel lucky to have found a community of resources and support at their daughter's school on Beverley Street, and want to help families like theirs.
It's not at all surprising that envy is one of the seven deadly sins. When you become a parent, your capacity for envy doesn't disappear overnight because you've magically become this selfless, beatific human being. No, that capacity for envy is still there; it just changes focus. Instead of coveting another woman's hair, clothes, thighs or boyfriend, you move on to her children. Her lifestyle.
Telling a parent not to worry is a lot like telling a swimmer not to hold his breath underwater. You could be the most easygoing person in the world up until the precise moment you become a parent. Suddenly a giant sinkhole of awful possibilities appears out of nowhere. One day you need only concern yourself with the roof over your head and the food in your belly. The next, you are charged with meeting the physical and emotional needs of a defenseless HUMAN BEING. And you can't afford to screw it up. Yeah, no pressure...
Have you seen the latest superhero to join the ranks of comic book greats? Sure, like all superheroes, he has extraordinary powers, such as a "mathematical mind, artistic gift and an abundance of compassion." And like all superheroes, saving the world from heinous villains is all in a day's work.
