I first suspected I had ADHD as a teenager, but finding the right professional to take me seriously was much harder than I expected. Previous attempts only ended in frustration and tears.
Enjoying the holidays with a food allergy sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? After all, eating together is an integral component of the holiday season. I looked forward to making our traditional holiday foods until I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy in 2012. What was to enjoy about the holidays when the foods associated with it were off limits to me?
It was a short, ten-minute drive from the hotel to the residential facility. I maintained composure while I navigated the busy public roads, and then residential streets. I had a whole range of emotions racing through my body, mind and spirit as we pulled into the campus. This was not just a pleasure drive or a routine errand, this was a significant milestone in the life of my son and our family.
While Halloween is a fun time of year for many children, it can be a really difficult time for some, including many children with additional/special needs. For them it can be a confusing, anxiety-inducing, or even utterly terrifying time. But it doesn’t have to be like that. If we stop for a moment to think about the things they might find hard and how to put things in place to help them, children with special needs can safely join in the fun, too. So what are some of the things about Halloween that children with additional needs can find hard?
“While we’ve had many years of travel speaking together on marriage, discipleship, and other topics, we are seldom alone and ‘just us’”Joe & Cindi Ferrini write on the struggle of never truly being along as special needs parents, and the importance of making time “just for us.”
Whether it’s with my neighbors, the people with whom I minister; my family, my friends, the people with whom I disagree, or people I just don’t really care for, I realize that I need to be mindful of my directive: to sincerely want and need to CONNECT more than I want to CONFRONT. Here are some quick and easy steps for each of us to consider and when to take action.
I begrudgingly took out my Bible, half-reading the words of Jesus, when He reminded us not to “store up treasures on earth,” but rather focus on Heaven, and the glory that awaited us in the afterlife. Did I really believe those words? Or was it just too easy to forget those words when I faced the threat of a material loss, and allowed myself to become someone else? What do I really value and treasure in this life?
