In today’s blog post, I wanted to talk about something that I don’t hear very many people talking about that often….and that is, if you have a child with special needs and you also have another child that doesn’t have special needs…..how much time are you spending with your child that does Not have special needs?
Because it can be so easy to focus on our child who has special needs, and think that our other kids are doing just fine…..like “Oh they’re ok. They are just fine.”
And it can be soo easy to think that because they look like they are doing fine and they are acting normal.
But I would like to encourage you to consider for a moment what it would be like to be in their shoes.
So having a sibling that is constantly needing a lot of attention and having a ton of doctor appointments and therapy appointments, I mean, you can just imagine what it might be like in their world, so regardless of their age, I just want to encourage you to make sure that you are carving out quality time to spend with each of your children, regardless of whether they have special needs or not.
Now when my older son Elijah….he is 20 years old now, but when he was about 11 years old, we started going once a week and having breakfast together and it was SUCH a treat! 😊💕
He really looked forward to it and of course I did as well and we would have this one on one bonding time every single week. It was SOO awesome!!
We use to go to Safeway, for those of you who are wondering what in the world Safeway is, it’s just a grocery store with a deli, kind of like subway, where you can order what you want on your sandwich or breakfast burrito.
So anyways, Elijah and I use to always get the breakfast burrito there every week and then we would go next door to this local coffee shop and we would always get a hot coco to drink with our breakfast burrito and we would sit there and talk and eat and drink our hot coco and I tell you what…...THAT was priceless!! 😊💕
You can’t put a price on that because the memories that we shared together and that one on one bonding time we had to look forward to each week. It was SOO precious.
And even now, to this day, even though there’s Covid and we can’t go out to eat and we can’t do a lot of things that we use to be able to do, at least a lot of can’t, I guess, depending on where you live….
BUT!!!!
You can still go to a park and walk around.
You MAY have to wear a mask as you walk around, BUT, at least you can still like, you know Go outside and there are still things that you can do for fun or to bond with your child, EVEN with the pandemic and a lot of things being closed.
And so, now I pretty much do something special with my daughter Gabriella, who is 22 years old, we do something special together one on one about every 2 weeks and Elijah and I are still doing something special together about every week or sometimes every other week depending on our work schedules.
But the point is, even though they are grown and have jobs and live on their own, that it is STILL important to have that one on one time together.
So I don’t want you to think, well my kids are teenagers now or my kids are getting older now and so they don’t need or want as much time with me.
NO! That is not the case at all.
It is SOO important to carve out time for each of your kids regardless of how old they are or whether they are super busy or not!
It’s not something where your kids just need your one on one time when they are little.
You know…..which I think can be something common that we think.
You know the idea that our kids just need our time and attention when they are little but that is actually not the case at all.
Even when your kids grow into adults, they still need our time, our love and our attention.
I mean, I still need time with my mom and I am 43 years old! 😂😂😂
So, I just wanted to throw that out there, something to consider…..
If you have a child that does NOT have special needs, if you want to talk with your child and ask them, that is of course if you don’t already have something in place.
You could say something like “Hey! Would you like to….” and then throw out an idea of something fun that you know that your child would really enjoy.
Even if it’s just coloring (if they are younger) or if they are older, just ask them what they would like to do together, just for fun.
It doesn’t have to always include money or going out to eat.
That was just something that Elijah and I did and really enjoyed looking forward to that special one on one time together every week.
To enjoy that nice and relaxing time to talk together and eat and drink our hot coco before he would go to school.
So anyways, let me know if you have a child with special needs as well as a child without special needs.
Are you spending a nice amount of quality one on one time with each of your kids?
If so, what are some of the things you do during your one on one time together?
~ If you are a parent of a child with special needs, I would Love to invite you to join my private FB group. It is a safe environment, strictly for parents who have a child with special needs, where you can get the encouragement and support from other parents who can relate to what you are going through. The name of my private FB group is called “Special Needs Parenting SOS.” ~ 😇💕 I look forward to connecting with you there. 😊 Just click this link if you'd like to join my private Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1187518441624603/
#time #qualitytime #kids #specialneedskids #sibling #oneononetime #bonding #qualitytime #important #togethertime #teenagers #priorities #child #SpecialNeedsParentingSOS