Thoughts on children

Because of the job I was blessed t0 have for fifteen years, I met some of the most amazing children and their families. Some of the children had what we know as "birth defects'. Some of the children had suffered some type of trauma such as car accidents. Some had been shaken so badly that there little brains were turned to mush or abused in other ways. Some were children that had visible issues and some did not. Some were exposed to drugs while they were forming. Some had had strokes in utero for no apparent reason, some had strokes due to some type of stress or trauma that the mother suffered while pregnant. Some were born way to early. Some were wealthy, some were poor. The thing that they had in common was they had an issue that qualified them for our program and a spirit of resilience that was amazing.

Great intelligence, extraordinary athletic ability or beauty is greatly valued in our society. Many appear to believe that if you have any or all of these that you are somehow superior. Some also appear to believe that the parents or caregivers have something to do with the person having that trait. The belief or attitude that people that have these attributes are amazing is an odd belief or assumption. Where did that ability or beauty come from?

As I watched those little infants and toddlers struggle to achieve the developmental milestones that we all watch for in children, I decided that those children were the super heros. They were the ones that had adversity that made development laborious and at times, quite impossible, but they kept trying. They kept getting up when they fell. They kept trying to form words when all we heard was verbage like Pebbles Flintstone or just vowels. Some had to learn to be mobile without the benefit of sight and some had to learn sign language because they could not hear. These children were little warriors that rose above their circumstances.

So I have to ask, who is the more amazing? Who should we be more awed by? The person that was given a gift of good intelligence, superb athletic ability or great beauty? Or the ones that were told they could never achieve milestones that met them ? No matter how long it took? Even if it will take them forever?

I believe that those precious little children that struggled to achieve are the ones that we should proclaim as amazing. Because they are.