by Whitney Barthel posted in Parenting

I know you probably mean that I am an awesome mom with crazy beyond human superpowers, but when you say that could never do what I do when caring for my special needs child, it feels like what you are saying is I could never love a child like yours.
It hurts. It hurts even though I know you do indeed love my special boy.

The other day I was having a discussion on adoption with a person who I am close with. We were talking about the outlandish expenses involved in adopting. I simply mentioned that there are a lot of grants for adopting children with special needs. Then, bam. "I could never do it. I could never do what you do."
I applaud this honesty. I really, really do. But I think this person is wrong. I think that, given the opportunity, 99 percent of individuals lucky enough to become a special needs parent would do swimmingly. Even if they didn?t...even if this thought is accurate and a parent does ends up being less than mediocre, surely having a less than stellar parent is better than the alternative -- sitting in an orphanage, or worse.
I push the thought away that what might have been meant was I would never do what you do.
Because who wouldn?t want this"

Is the work that goes into parenting a special child more intense than parenting a non-chromosomally-enhanced child" Probably. Is it more rewarding than parenting a typical child" Definitely.
Okay, bottom line: Next time you want to compliment me...