Days 25-27. What My Child Has Taught Me About Myself

What my child has taught me about myself.

Life is not all about me.

I’m stronger and smarter than I thought.

Being negative gets you nowhere.

I should never give up.

The way I look matters a lot less than who I am.

Being different is not a bad thing. Being just like everyone else is boring.

Becoming a parent is never what you expect it to be.

Being a parent is not just one job.

Responsibility can be overwhelming.

You can't take care of another person well, until you take care of yourself.

I need to draw near to what gives me strength.


What are some of the things your child has taught you about yourself?

Day 21-24. What My Child Has Taught Me About Others

What my child has taught me about others.

Others need the chance to get to know my child.
They need a chance to adjust to something they don’t know.
They want to be kind, I just need to give them that chance.
They want to be there for me, I just need to tell them how.
Most of the time they are just scared and don’t know what to do.
They want to love my child they just don’t know how.
Others are hurting just as much (or more) than I am.
There are more kind people than negative people.

I am still amazed every day at the kindness and generosity of others.
As parents raising kiddos with special needs it seems like we can get sucked in to negativity so easily. We can get overwhelmed with our to do lists and appointments, as well as all the emotions that seem to bombard us every day. It just seems easier sometimes to be depressed and stay there, to not work to bring ourselves out of the pit.
What I have found lately is you really need to give others a chance. If you give people the opportunity they really will fall in love with your child. You would be amazed at what your child can teach others, if you let them, by just being themselves. "People don't want to be rude. They want to be kind. Give them the opportunity to be kind." ~Joy Blackburn
I have found, for myself it has been much easier on me to think the best of others. To give them the benefit of the doubt. To know, most people don’t mean to be inconsiderate, they don't mean to offend you by their words or behavior, they just don’t know what to do.
As the parent of a child with special needs I have also become a teacher and I need to embrace the opportunity to help others learn.

Thank you Janet for sharing your amazing talent with our family, and showing us the beauty that others can see if you only let them.
If you are interested in having a painting like this done of your child you can email Janet at www.harrold.janet@gmail.com 100% of the proceeds go to her granddaughter Hailey's Conductive Education.

Day 19- Blessed

I wrote a post the other day about not listening to myself or others tell me that my son can’t do something so why do I still think it’s ok to say the same thing to myself. Why do I still have moments where I say, “I can’t do this”?

It doesn’t matter how bad things are, we all have positives in our lives. It’s hard to remember when we are overwhelmed with life but they really are there. Take some time to write them down and remind yourself of how blessed you are.

“Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some” ~ Charles Dickens

Here are some of mine (some are serious and some are silly)