Every morning I wake my son up at 5:45 am and push him to hurry, hurry, hurry. He needs to be able to make the bus at 6:45 am. Mornings are not his thing. Hurrying is almost impossible for him to do. At least it seems that way, and I’ve had various teachers and therapists nod their heads in agreement.
This morning as I snuck back to bed while he was in the shower for a few minutes, the thought that pressed on my mind was, “I need to tell him to hurry up. He’s already been there for 20 minutes.”
But then I stopped. There was singing in the shower. He was happy. He was calm.
This is not something that usually happens during our mornings. He’s not happy and singing. He’s moving like a sleepy turtle that can barely walk and often refuses to head into the shower.
I looked at the clock. He had 30 minutes until the bus came. I could give him 10 more minutes in the shower. He had time. I could calm down my urge to make him rush.
Those of us with children with Special Needs often find we are rushing them. Trying to make appointments, trying to make developmental milestones, trying desperately to get everything accomplished we need to in the very short 24 hours we are given.
Today made me pause. It made me say to myself, “Breathe. It’s been a good week. It’s okay to take your time this morning. He’s going to make it.” I don’t do that enough.
For this morning,
Oh this is a beautiful post. Whilst my children don’t have special needs I do feel like I am constantly rushing them along – always hurrying them. Maybe somedays we all just need to slow down!! #triumphanttales
Thank you for your kind words.
I think we could all learn something from this post if I’m honest. Perhaps we all need to relax a bit more and panic a lot less. Thanks for sharing with #TriumphantTales.
Thanks. It’s something I’m trying to be more cognizant of.
I love this. It is hard to remember that the journey is important, not just the end goal. I’m so glad there was a morning of singing! #GlobalBlogging
Thank you.
Ahhhh … mornings and special needs. I can soooo relate! It is so hard to not rush because we know the bus or the bell is waiting for us. Yet, when I start saying “hurry up” everything seems to spin into a downward cycle. We are in a much better place this year and goodness, am I thankful! Keeping our routines as similar as possible helps so much.
Blessings to you and thank you for joining me each week!
Lori
Thanks for stopping in and reading each week. This year is hands down better than last year and for that I thank God.
6.45 is early! I cant imagine getting my boys out for that time! I admire you and hope you enjoy more calm mornings!
Thank you.
I think as parents we could all do with thinking about this. I often find myself hurrying L, I sometimes just need to step back and let him be. For our school runs the worst that will happen is he will be late, we can walk and we are close, but that in itself is something for him to learn from and maybe I should just let it happen? #TwinklyTuesday
I’m all for letting kids learn from their choices. In our case if he misses the bus it means I get to spend more than hour on the road in traffic taking him to school so I’m not so much for that.
What sweet and simple perspective. laurensparks.net
Thank you.
This is a lovely post. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rush and feels hard sometimes to hit pause for a moment or two, even though we should. Thank you for reminding me that I need to do that too! #TriumphantTales
Thank you for stopping in and reading. I appreciate it.
This brought me back to when my son who had severe ADHD as a child would be exasperating at times. We were seeing a child psychologist to help us with the ins and outs of raising a special needs child, and the advice that stood out the most to me was when she said, “there is ALWAYS something in our children that we can find to praise, even if it is how they are breathing”. lol. But indeed, dealing with exasperating situations with gratitude helps to diffuse our impatience and focus instead on our sweet child.
Thanks for sharing.
Some days. . . Breathing may be the only thing. Thanks for that laugh and thanks for reading.
Great post. Sometimes it is good to just stand back and enjoy the moment. What a pity we are always rushing! #TwinklyTuesday
I agree. I’m working on trying to do that better.
Yes! Good reminder to take time to just breathe sometimes and not rush on to the next thing.
Thanks for reading.
I can relate to this. My eldest son had special needs and had to be ready for the school taxi. Looking back I don’t think I gave him enough time just to stand and stare and enough praise for things he was good at.
Exactly what I was speaking to. It’s so hard to balance it all.