“This woman in the supermarket was me 5 years ago. I had it all together. When I saw kids misbehaving, I assumed bad parenting. Then life did a 180. I’m not the supermom I used to be. I’m the mom figuring out how to cope.”
‘The dad handed a chocolate donut to his kicking, screaming child. He let her win. ‘My child will never act like that,’ I naively thought.’: Parent urges for grace, ‘We are all trying our best’
‘Chad is still your emergency contact?’ I’m lucky to be loved by two men. Every day, I’m learning to make room in my heart.’: Widow shares emotional moment of grief, ‘I didn’t give up love, I found more’
“The receptionist had no idea running down the list of ‘catch up’ questions would leave me sitting teary-eyed in the corner.”
To My Special Needs Sibling, I Will Never Stop Fighting For You
“People tell me all the time, ‘This must be so hard for you.’ ‘I don’t know how you deal with this.’ I don’t ‘deal’ with it, I love and advocate fiercely.”
‘We carry a heavy load. Our bags and purses are full. What’s even harder is going to bed and unloading our shoulders.’: Special needs mom says ‘there are plenty of beautiful extras we gladly carry’
“Every morning, I walk to our son’s room to pick up his 40-pound body and carry him downstairs. With each step, I can feel it. As I make my way down the stairs, I start carrying more than just him. I carry gratitude.”
I Don’t Have A Natural Motherly Instinct, But I Am Still A Good Mom
“After 10 hours of labor, they placed her in my arms. As soon as the nurses left the room I turned to my husband and said, ‘What do we do?’ I was terrified. Everyone told me my motherly instincts would kick in. 3 years in, they still haven’t.”
‘We’re going to miss you. Will you visit us one day?’ It was time to take them home to their parents, for good. As I drove away, the tears came flooding.’: Single foster dad shares emotional reunification journey
“You love them through the nightmares and trauma. You hold them when their parents don’t show up. You love them so dearly, because holding back would be so much less than they deserve. When I return the child I’ve nurtured as my own, I must trust their parents will be the best they can be. If not, I will always be there waiting, with open arms and an open heart.”
‘I used to wonder why in the world parents would legally change their child’s name. Yet here I am, absolutely delighted.’: Mom explains legal name change for daughter with Down syndrome
“You see, 8 years ago on the day she was born, we had a different name and a different daughter in mind. She is like nothing I imagined, yet everything I hoped for.”
‘I could feel in my soul something was off about this pregnancy. ‘We can’t find anything worrisome.’ They were missing something, and I knew it.’: Couple uproot themselves for son’s Angelman Syndrome diagnosis, ‘He is our little angel’
“‘He doesn’t have it.’ We hit a dead end. Knowing we needed to be exposed to new doctors, we put a poll on Instagram with three different states. We put our home on the market, sold it and all our furniture with it within 24 hours, and moved from Utah to Texas.”
‘I told a woman at the gym my son got into college. She replied, ‘Don’t celebrate too openly, other families may still be waiting.’: Special needs mom explains importance of celebrating milestones, ‘Let us have this’
“I felt a flicker of rage so strong I had to look down at my hands for a moment.”
‘His mom is a crackhead, isn’t she?’ The woman in line was relentless. She just didn’t get it.’: Mom reflects on complexities of foster care, ‘We are merely called to love’
“This woman, who I’d never met before, inserted herself where she didn’t belong, asking questions about the 2-week-old baby in the car seat. I stared into her judging eyes. She couldn’t possibly begin to understand.”
