I so often hear people talk about someone they know who is dealing with "the other end of the spectrum" from me. I find that very curious.
When I go to my favorite secondhand book store to find books that were recommended to us by a specialist, those books are filed in the special education section, which seems completely appropriate. What is less encouraging is the proportion of books dedicated to what I assume people mean by "the other end of the spectrum," and how some people clarify the phrase. Many days, there aren't any books on giftedness, which is definitely a special need in terms of education. There is never a day I don't find books on ADHD and autism, among others.
My brother is brilliant and intensely curious. Recently he told me something like, "the world would be a better place if more people had aspergers" and he was referencing a study or article he'd read. Interestingly, most of these things are related to a specific way the brain is "wired". I am fascinated by the ways that different people understand things, and have worked in education since I was 19 because of that fascination. I have a feeling that there aren't really two ends on a straight line. In fact, I've seen information indicating that people can have learning disabilities and giftedness simultaneously. I believe that God separated us from our sins as far as the east is from the west, but I don't believe he created a learning spectrum that works the same way.
When we first started the assessment process with our daughter, I was skeptical. I think we both were. One turning point for me was reading not only on what things gifted children are capable of that "ordinary" children are not, but also what gifted children cannot do that "ordinary" children can. This really isn't about better or worse, but different. That I can get behind. Think about the fact that Einstein failed in school. That fact is thrown around for shock value, but it's interesting in light of this topic, especially.
The most common thing I hear people acknowledge as a downside to high intelligence is "the social aspect" as a teenager put it to me recently. Yes, relationships are very important and socialization for children of all ages. However, it's not as simple as people of high intelligence being wierd. Plenty of people of average intelligence are wierd and very normally socially developed.
My daughter is not a big fan of princesses. She might be the first girl her age to hear we will be near Disneyworld, and ask only if we will go to SeaWorld. When kids her age want to play dress-up or with dolls, she's interested in spending time with them, but not at all interested in dolls, and only a little bit interested in dress-up. She has hardly played with toys since she was about 5. She's simply more interested in other things.
A woman I knew told me that she was very unpopular in school because of her intellect. She is an astonishing intellectual. However, the more I heard about her childhood, the more I noticed things that could lead to feeling ostracized that had nothing to do with intellect. It's easy to focus on one potential cause, I think. I'm trying to keep this in my with my daughter, as well.
I assumed that being an only child whose mother worked from home lead to her being unusually interested in interacting with older people. According to the research we've been given recently, it's a sign of giftedness. Her intellectual age is beyond her chronological age . . . and her maturity-level and experience. As Dr Ruf says, people hang out with people who get their jokes. I love that reference. It's true, and what a delight laughter is in relationships! Now, I need to figure out why I enjoy "dumb humor" as much as I do . . . I've had this theory that when I'm tired, it makes me feel smart again. While I can enjoy being the lesser intellectual in a group whole-heartedly, you'd laugh if you knew the kind of comedy I'm thinking about!
Anything that puts someone in a small percentage of the population can lead to feelings of loneliness or being an outsider. I would be surprised if anyone was without at least one thing that confirms this concept. I think adults can be just as insecure as children, if not moreso. I love efficiency, to the point that I loved working in a factory and managing many raw materials, production schedules and outputs. I'm just wierd that way. I have found several ways where I can be enthusiastic about it with other people, but I don't believe it is something that makes me seem normal in any situation.
I hope that I can encourage and support my daughter's interests so that she sees her indiosincracies and unusual interests as fun. We start meeting with a special interest homeschool group this week. Other parents in the group told me how their kids just felt a sense of belonging when they joined. I hope it will be the same for my daughter.
During her "weekends off," she enjoys geography exploration in various ways with her father, as well as nature documentaries. She also enjoys things like video games, and can beat every adult in our family at driving games. As my husband tells me frequently, she is wierd because we are. Last week, he got protective of a wooden map puzzle, even though we have two larger map puzzles, a globe (prominent in our family room and frequently used) and countless maps. Yep, he's wierd too.
I'd love to hear the ways you're odd and wonderful . . . I think people who appear normal are probably just faking it, anyway :)
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
How Do you Know?
A friend asked how we knew to even look into it. It's a great question! The honest answer is that we didn't know. What we knew was that there were problems that needed to be addressed. We tried the things offered by the school she was attending. They didn't work, so we started looking elsewhere. Eventually, we found answers that we were able to follow-through see progress. It's completely trial and error. We are still learning. There is SO much information out there, and not all of it applies to every kid.
My husband was telling me how fast our daughter is not long ago, and a relative was telling me that she's unsure her son is at all advanced. Honestly, I don't buy either assertion.
Our daughter is a slow test-taker. She's a fast learner, though. We went over the concept of single-digit multiplication for about 10 minutes and she got it. Of course, she doesn't have the multiplication tables memorized. She also took longer than the average child for finishing the state testing for first grade. She got a very high percentage of them right and took it mid-school-year.
The consultant we worked with explained something that helps me. Public school traditional curriculum loops. By repeating information we absorb it more fully. Standard curriculum averages about 6 loops of the same material. The sphere our daughter is in needs about 2 repetitions, on average. That sphere can only tolerate about 3 repetitions of the same information. In those two sentences, it helps me take a logical, unemotional look at the ups and downs of the situation in a simplified way.
Reading "5 Levels of Gifted" by Dr Deborah Ruf has been enlightening. The beginning of the book describes the families she has worked with, in addition to her experience with her own (now adult) children. There is plenty of research included. I have recommended it to a few families with younger children, as it lists some of the things that are common in gifted children from birth on . . . as I read through it the first time, I found myself remembering things and thinking, "Doesn't everyone do that?" This is very similar to the experience my friend was relating to me in her own mothering last week. If you want concrete information on younger kids' behaviors that might indicated giftedness, I would recommend the book. Whether or not any alternative plans are ever needed, it's nice to know what to have some ideas and information.
The relative boy referenced earlier is younger than my daughter. Before children are exposed to reading and math in school, it's difficult for parents to know how they compare. I have one child, so I have zero comparison. The ranges tend to be hereditary, so comparing siblings doesn't help parents understand if their children are gifted. Actually, comparing our children to our own childhood doesn't tend to help for the same reason. Beyond that, many children adapt themselves to make their current situation work, which isn't all bad, I'll admit readily. However, my husband played dumb with his friends to fit in when he was in school. Is that really what we want for our kids? Before last Fall, that's exactly what I wanted for my daughter. I wanted her to feel "normal" and happy. The problem is that she's different than many kids her age and she was not happy.
While being miserable in her classes and convinced she wasn't keeping up or pleasing her teachers, I was at a loss. How could I convince her that she was doing just fine, help her relax, and still help her remember that she is no better or worse as a person than anyone else?! I was worried about her all day every day while she was at school, then being strong for her when she was home, and barely sleeping from worry and brainstorming. Then, we entered a four-day holiday weekend. We had intentionally planned little and turned down most plans. We all needed to relax, and our daughter had been so lethargic. . . The first day of the long weekend, however, she was giddy.
That weekend, I gave her a new drawing book. She loves art and I was trying to encourage her to just have some fun. The book has all these really cool animals that are drawn using numbers - 2 is for Toucan - and it's wonderfully creative. The first one, though, I thought was really wierd - a paramecium, made from 1's and 0's . . . I shrugged it off, thinking they had to come up with something to make the theme work for all numbers, I supposed. It was the paramecium that our daughter wanted to draw, ask lots of questions about, etc. In fact, we heard a lot about paramecium for more than a week. That is when I started to realize that her struggles were around school, specifically. She was hungry to learn, but dreading school. You will get tired of hearing me say that it is a fabulous school with an amazing staff and incredible principal. However, her problems clearly revolved around school not being a good fit for her.
One family told us that they began homeschooling their children when their son started asking successive questions about pipes and plumbing. That day, they ended up on a tour of a sewage treatment plant and decided to homeschool so that they could encourage this in-depth desire for learning. Our daughter also thinks and connects things very creatively . . . when she has time for that. Public school didn't fit our schedule in a way that promoted it.
One girl I knew shut down in first grade, and was treated as though she was falling behind. That family applied at an alternative, gifted school. A year and half into the new school, the girl was doing seventh grade math.
A man I know was steered toward a learning disability label in first grade. He continued through public school, and is brilliant. Always has been, and will always be brilliant. He pursued education that interested him, Greek as his language in college because the text was the New Testament in the original language. He also studied the skills that advanced him in his career quickly, managing several engineers by his mid-20s, being flown to Asia on business as the company rep, and much more.
Another man I know attended middle school part-time and kept up easily. He was a professional actor, even that young. Like every example I know personally, he had some very unhappy times in his life. Unfortunately, those coincided with times when he was exposed to substances before he had the maturity to handle them well. He is now happy and successful, but had years of struggle and regret in between.
One of my favorite examples is the man who was in accelerated classes throughout public school. He finished college and scored in the 98th percentile on the LSAT (which qualifies him for Mensa membership, although he's not interested). What really shows his intelligence to me, is that he realized he didn't want to be a lawyer and didn't go to law school. Instead, he became a courrier for many years, listening to sermons and worship music during work for character development and to seek God. He never held a prestigious career position, but chose things that would make him happy and provide the best opportunity for his family to be healthy and happy. That is the most incredible kind of intelligence, I think. He is my husband.
I will offend people, but please don't see me as elitist. Every mother thinks her child is incredible, of course. It's true, also. My friends' Downs children are incredible. Some of the many children that impress me excel in: compassion, relationships, dance, figure skating, fashion, music, science, math, loyalty, dedication, acceptance, curiosity, pursuing their dreams, finishing well (which doesn't mean extremely talented, but persevering), and much more. Every child should feel proud of every goal achieved. . . and adults could learn more of that, as well.
Our goals for our daughter are not too altered. We want her to be happy. For her, that includes being reasonably challenged intellectually and physically, having downtime to allow her thoughts to wander creatively, and being around other people (of all ages) that she enjoys. For the last couple of months, she's been happy again. That's enough.
My husband was telling me how fast our daughter is not long ago, and a relative was telling me that she's unsure her son is at all advanced. Honestly, I don't buy either assertion.
Our daughter is a slow test-taker. She's a fast learner, though. We went over the concept of single-digit multiplication for about 10 minutes and she got it. Of course, she doesn't have the multiplication tables memorized. She also took longer than the average child for finishing the state testing for first grade. She got a very high percentage of them right and took it mid-school-year.
The consultant we worked with explained something that helps me. Public school traditional curriculum loops. By repeating information we absorb it more fully. Standard curriculum averages about 6 loops of the same material. The sphere our daughter is in needs about 2 repetitions, on average. That sphere can only tolerate about 3 repetitions of the same information. In those two sentences, it helps me take a logical, unemotional look at the ups and downs of the situation in a simplified way.
Reading "5 Levels of Gifted" by Dr Deborah Ruf has been enlightening. The beginning of the book describes the families she has worked with, in addition to her experience with her own (now adult) children. There is plenty of research included. I have recommended it to a few families with younger children, as it lists some of the things that are common in gifted children from birth on . . . as I read through it the first time, I found myself remembering things and thinking, "Doesn't everyone do that?" This is very similar to the experience my friend was relating to me in her own mothering last week. If you want concrete information on younger kids' behaviors that might indicated giftedness, I would recommend the book. Whether or not any alternative plans are ever needed, it's nice to know what to have some ideas and information.
The relative boy referenced earlier is younger than my daughter. Before children are exposed to reading and math in school, it's difficult for parents to know how they compare. I have one child, so I have zero comparison. The ranges tend to be hereditary, so comparing siblings doesn't help parents understand if their children are gifted. Actually, comparing our children to our own childhood doesn't tend to help for the same reason. Beyond that, many children adapt themselves to make their current situation work, which isn't all bad, I'll admit readily. However, my husband played dumb with his friends to fit in when he was in school. Is that really what we want for our kids? Before last Fall, that's exactly what I wanted for my daughter. I wanted her to feel "normal" and happy. The problem is that she's different than many kids her age and she was not happy.
While being miserable in her classes and convinced she wasn't keeping up or pleasing her teachers, I was at a loss. How could I convince her that she was doing just fine, help her relax, and still help her remember that she is no better or worse as a person than anyone else?! I was worried about her all day every day while she was at school, then being strong for her when she was home, and barely sleeping from worry and brainstorming. Then, we entered a four-day holiday weekend. We had intentionally planned little and turned down most plans. We all needed to relax, and our daughter had been so lethargic. . . The first day of the long weekend, however, she was giddy.
That weekend, I gave her a new drawing book. She loves art and I was trying to encourage her to just have some fun. The book has all these really cool animals that are drawn using numbers - 2 is for Toucan - and it's wonderfully creative. The first one, though, I thought was really wierd - a paramecium, made from 1's and 0's . . . I shrugged it off, thinking they had to come up with something to make the theme work for all numbers, I supposed. It was the paramecium that our daughter wanted to draw, ask lots of questions about, etc. In fact, we heard a lot about paramecium for more than a week. That is when I started to realize that her struggles were around school, specifically. She was hungry to learn, but dreading school. You will get tired of hearing me say that it is a fabulous school with an amazing staff and incredible principal. However, her problems clearly revolved around school not being a good fit for her.
One family told us that they began homeschooling their children when their son started asking successive questions about pipes and plumbing. That day, they ended up on a tour of a sewage treatment plant and decided to homeschool so that they could encourage this in-depth desire for learning. Our daughter also thinks and connects things very creatively . . . when she has time for that. Public school didn't fit our schedule in a way that promoted it.
One girl I knew shut down in first grade, and was treated as though she was falling behind. That family applied at an alternative, gifted school. A year and half into the new school, the girl was doing seventh grade math.
A man I know was steered toward a learning disability label in first grade. He continued through public school, and is brilliant. Always has been, and will always be brilliant. He pursued education that interested him, Greek as his language in college because the text was the New Testament in the original language. He also studied the skills that advanced him in his career quickly, managing several engineers by his mid-20s, being flown to Asia on business as the company rep, and much more.
Another man I know attended middle school part-time and kept up easily. He was a professional actor, even that young. Like every example I know personally, he had some very unhappy times in his life. Unfortunately, those coincided with times when he was exposed to substances before he had the maturity to handle them well. He is now happy and successful, but had years of struggle and regret in between.
One of my favorite examples is the man who was in accelerated classes throughout public school. He finished college and scored in the 98th percentile on the LSAT (which qualifies him for Mensa membership, although he's not interested). What really shows his intelligence to me, is that he realized he didn't want to be a lawyer and didn't go to law school. Instead, he became a courrier for many years, listening to sermons and worship music during work for character development and to seek God. He never held a prestigious career position, but chose things that would make him happy and provide the best opportunity for his family to be healthy and happy. That is the most incredible kind of intelligence, I think. He is my husband.
I will offend people, but please don't see me as elitist. Every mother thinks her child is incredible, of course. It's true, also. My friends' Downs children are incredible. Some of the many children that impress me excel in: compassion, relationships, dance, figure skating, fashion, music, science, math, loyalty, dedication, acceptance, curiosity, pursuing their dreams, finishing well (which doesn't mean extremely talented, but persevering), and much more. Every child should feel proud of every goal achieved. . . and adults could learn more of that, as well.
Our goals for our daughter are not too altered. We want her to be happy. For her, that includes being reasonably challenged intellectually and physically, having downtime to allow her thoughts to wander creatively, and being around other people (of all ages) that she enjoys. For the last couple of months, she's been happy again. That's enough.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Sometimes it's hilarious!
I was reminded today of one of the fun idiosincrosies and want to make sure I'm not painting an overly dark view of the whole thing.
Driving through McDonald's, my daughter started asking us "Do you have your payment ready?" Now, this sounds pretty funny coming from a small child, but especially because on her own, she probably would have phrased it differently. After a few times, I broke down and said, "why do you ask?" She was reading the sign over the drivethrough window over the payment window and wanted to make sure we were following the rules :)
Another time, she asked if we could drive a different way to swimming. That isn't a normal request, so I asked about it. She didn't like the "deaf child" sign in that neighborhood and was afraid kids might die if we kept going that way. She had learned to read quite well, but spelling and sounding out words had not yet melded. Poor thing thought she was taking her life into her hands by riding to swimming lessons each week!
The most endearing part, personally, is her love of animals and science related to them. I share this interest and thoroughly enjoy hearing her tell me all about the things she's learning about different animals and species and habitats. Given the choice, she's just as likely to choose a National Geographic documentary to a Disney animated movie. . . maybe more likely, even.
Is any of this resonating with anyone reading it? I'd love to hear your chuckles, whether or not you consider your child gifted! In fact, most of the active parents in our local gifted group never thought they would be there in the first place, and I love them for that :) I wondered what on earth I was doing even looking into it before we got any test results on our daughter.
Driving through McDonald's, my daughter started asking us "Do you have your payment ready?" Now, this sounds pretty funny coming from a small child, but especially because on her own, she probably would have phrased it differently. After a few times, I broke down and said, "why do you ask?" She was reading the sign over the drivethrough window over the payment window and wanted to make sure we were following the rules :)
Another time, she asked if we could drive a different way to swimming. That isn't a normal request, so I asked about it. She didn't like the "deaf child" sign in that neighborhood and was afraid kids might die if we kept going that way. She had learned to read quite well, but spelling and sounding out words had not yet melded. Poor thing thought she was taking her life into her hands by riding to swimming lessons each week!
The most endearing part, personally, is her love of animals and science related to them. I share this interest and thoroughly enjoy hearing her tell me all about the things she's learning about different animals and species and habitats. Given the choice, she's just as likely to choose a National Geographic documentary to a Disney animated movie. . . maybe more likely, even.
Is any of this resonating with anyone reading it? I'd love to hear your chuckles, whether or not you consider your child gifted! In fact, most of the active parents in our local gifted group never thought they would be there in the first place, and I love them for that :) I wondered what on earth I was doing even looking into it before we got any test results on our daughter.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Is there a downside?
The most difficult reaction I get to what we are going through is the rose-colored-glasses approach. There are people who cannot imagine a problem with any level of extreme on some things, and intelligence is one of those things. I'm more of a moderation-in-all-things kind of person.
My daughter started displaying extreme anxiety. I don't think anyone who witnessed it could see it as a good thing. It was pretty out-of-character and pretty quickly onset. People asked me if she could have been abused. That wasn't a helpful question, but of course, I asked it of myself - I was simply stunned at the bluntness of people who frankly didn't know us well enough or have an appropriate relationship to our daughter to ask such a thing.
She was obsessed with rules, and paralyzed by the idea that she was doing her absolute best handwriting. She would wake up crying and inconsolable because she was afraid she might have accidentally broken a rule at school but the teacher may not have seen it. This was not the fault of her teachers. They were compassionate, encouraging, concerned and communicative. When they started praising her more, she got upset that she didn't deserve the praise, etc.
We worked with the school psychologist and that helped a bit, but it quickly regressed. We had made assessment appointments with a carefully selected pediatric psychiatrist when it was recommended that we have her look into a school for gifted children. The school that was recommended to us requries an IQ test, and we ended up finding a woman who answered many questions in a balanced manner and gave us many tools to move forward. As it turns out, our daughter isn't the most extreme example, but she is rare enough and affected enough that traditional schools aren't able to make accomodations to make school work for her.
One of the most surreal experiences has been having my daughter "norm" a new version of a children's IQ test, specifically with a group in the gifted range. She did this one month after we originally had her tested and only a couple of weeks after we started homeschooling her (to have time to continue considering our options). The assessor was amazed and VERY impressed with how far her emotional symptoms had improved in such a short time. While I will never minimize the wisdom of considering mental health as a part of overall health, our daughter had symptoms that were related to something else. We have learned that this is quite common, and that many children end up having incorrect mental health diagnoses simply because the people trying to help don't have the information and training to relate it to giftedness as a cause.
There are many other ways that giftedness can present itself and many "right" answers as to how to approach a solution. I will explore some others sometime soon. For now, I just wanted to say that, yes, there is definitely a downside. I still can't talk about last fall without crying. It was SO hard on all of us. It was a very rainy season inside our home.
My daughter started displaying extreme anxiety. I don't think anyone who witnessed it could see it as a good thing. It was pretty out-of-character and pretty quickly onset. People asked me if she could have been abused. That wasn't a helpful question, but of course, I asked it of myself - I was simply stunned at the bluntness of people who frankly didn't know us well enough or have an appropriate relationship to our daughter to ask such a thing.
She was obsessed with rules, and paralyzed by the idea that she was doing her absolute best handwriting. She would wake up crying and inconsolable because she was afraid she might have accidentally broken a rule at school but the teacher may not have seen it. This was not the fault of her teachers. They were compassionate, encouraging, concerned and communicative. When they started praising her more, she got upset that she didn't deserve the praise, etc.
We worked with the school psychologist and that helped a bit, but it quickly regressed. We had made assessment appointments with a carefully selected pediatric psychiatrist when it was recommended that we have her look into a school for gifted children. The school that was recommended to us requries an IQ test, and we ended up finding a woman who answered many questions in a balanced manner and gave us many tools to move forward. As it turns out, our daughter isn't the most extreme example, but she is rare enough and affected enough that traditional schools aren't able to make accomodations to make school work for her.
One of the most surreal experiences has been having my daughter "norm" a new version of a children's IQ test, specifically with a group in the gifted range. She did this one month after we originally had her tested and only a couple of weeks after we started homeschooling her (to have time to continue considering our options). The assessor was amazed and VERY impressed with how far her emotional symptoms had improved in such a short time. While I will never minimize the wisdom of considering mental health as a part of overall health, our daughter had symptoms that were related to something else. We have learned that this is quite common, and that many children end up having incorrect mental health diagnoses simply because the people trying to help don't have the information and training to relate it to giftedness as a cause.
There are many other ways that giftedness can present itself and many "right" answers as to how to approach a solution. I will explore some others sometime soon. For now, I just wanted to say that, yes, there is definitely a downside. I still can't talk about last fall without crying. It was SO hard on all of us. It was a very rainy season inside our home.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Should I?
I was already wondering if actually going through with this Blog is a good idea.
As my daughter was diagnosed as highly gifted, we were discouraged from talking about it much. It's seen as bragging, and even other families with gifted kids don't really deal with conversations about it well . . . or so we are told. People have asked more probing questions than I ever expected, and we're not that far into having words to describe it, so it's awkward. From some, the initial advice has been spot on.
However, I believe that part of the reason it's not well understood is that people don't talk about it. Also, Dr Deborah Ruf, in her book, "Levels of Giftedness" says that we naturally are proud to discuss our children's milestones and celebrate them. I never thought about it that way before, but she's right. I also want my daughter to celebrate her milestones, and not see intelligence as an illness.
God had an even better way of encouraging me to continue in this adventure. Today, i met with a friend I hadn't seen in years, and she brought her daughter. From facebook, she had a very general idea of what's going on, and I trust her. However, we hadn't talked directly about much of it. We planned it all very last minute and as she asked questions about our journey and then told me about her current considerations as a parent, I could see God's hand arranging it all. The timing was perfect, and none of it planned ahead, including starting this blog. . . How many others are wondering where to start or who it's safe to talk about without sounding like a bragging parent? How many are debating the ease and friendliness with going along with a situation that may be stifling a child's abilities because the alternatives are unknown and not discussed openly?
It reminded me of a promise my husband and I made years ago. We were going through a difficult time and feeling like we were alone in the world. As we began to open up about it, we learned that we were in no way along. Since then, we do not want people in contact with us to believe they are alone in something that we have experienced. That is something we take seriously, and I have been in tears of thankfulness as friends have told how our openness helped them work through things or get the courage to start a particular adventure. I think God planned that connection, as well. I will continue. Who will join me, I wonder . . .
As my daughter was diagnosed as highly gifted, we were discouraged from talking about it much. It's seen as bragging, and even other families with gifted kids don't really deal with conversations about it well . . . or so we are told. People have asked more probing questions than I ever expected, and we're not that far into having words to describe it, so it's awkward. From some, the initial advice has been spot on.
However, I believe that part of the reason it's not well understood is that people don't talk about it. Also, Dr Deborah Ruf, in her book, "Levels of Giftedness" says that we naturally are proud to discuss our children's milestones and celebrate them. I never thought about it that way before, but she's right. I also want my daughter to celebrate her milestones, and not see intelligence as an illness.
God had an even better way of encouraging me to continue in this adventure. Today, i met with a friend I hadn't seen in years, and she brought her daughter. From facebook, she had a very general idea of what's going on, and I trust her. However, we hadn't talked directly about much of it. We planned it all very last minute and as she asked questions about our journey and then told me about her current considerations as a parent, I could see God's hand arranging it all. The timing was perfect, and none of it planned ahead, including starting this blog. . . How many others are wondering where to start or who it's safe to talk about without sounding like a bragging parent? How many are debating the ease and friendliness with going along with a situation that may be stifling a child's abilities because the alternatives are unknown and not discussed openly?
It reminded me of a promise my husband and I made years ago. We were going through a difficult time and feeling like we were alone in the world. As we began to open up about it, we learned that we were in no way along. Since then, we do not want people in contact with us to believe they are alone in something that we have experienced. That is something we take seriously, and I have been in tears of thankfulness as friends have told how our openness helped them work through things or get the courage to start a particular adventure. I think God planned that connection, as well. I will continue. Who will join me, I wonder . . .
Hi there - glad to meet you!
People will undoubtedly wonder what on earth I'm talking about. Many who know me personally do, as well. My family has had an interesting journey, and I'm trying to put it all into context with some new information to light the way.
I believe that there are many people out there who have had similar and/or related experiences that will be comforted by hearing that they are not alone. This journey can be VERY lonely. I'm also hoping I will be reassured to hear from others that they understand, can relate, or support us. I am prepared for people to be harsh at the political incorrectness of some of it. However, it is what it is. It is our story and my experience with it.
I have always preferred to organize my thoughts in writing. This seems a good format for me to put pieces in here, hopefully connect them, and hopefully find some peace and direction through the expression and exploration of my thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
Thanks for stopping by and meeting me. I hope you will stop back and see me again, or subscribe for e-mails of posts to be sent to you. God bless your day.
I believe that there are many people out there who have had similar and/or related experiences that will be comforted by hearing that they are not alone. This journey can be VERY lonely. I'm also hoping I will be reassured to hear from others that they understand, can relate, or support us. I am prepared for people to be harsh at the political incorrectness of some of it. However, it is what it is. It is our story and my experience with it.
I have always preferred to organize my thoughts in writing. This seems a good format for me to put pieces in here, hopefully connect them, and hopefully find some peace and direction through the expression and exploration of my thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
Thanks for stopping by and meeting me. I hope you will stop back and see me again, or subscribe for e-mails of posts to be sent to you. God bless your day.
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