Being a parent is one of the hardest jobs in the world, and no one knows that more than the parents of children who learn a little differently.
As mom and blogger Amy Betters-Midtvedt of “
Hiding in the Closet with Coffee“ showed with her heartbreakingly beautiful post about one of her children, though, sometimes it’s the kids whom other people are the quickest to judge who shine the brightest of all.
Betters-Midtvedt shared a post with a photo of her 8-year-old son, who is one of her five children.
As she explains, this particular one of her children isn’t the easiest one to take care of—but as she goes on, it’s clear that she loves him no matter how unique it is to parent him compared to her other children:
He’s the kid who never listens the first time, or the second. Or even the tenth.
You can pick him up out of the line up in the school hallways.
He’s the one who doesn’t walk in an orderly fashion. He runs or spins or stops in his tracks if something catches his eye.
He has a hard time keeping his hands to himself.
His handwriting and spelling don’t betray his intelligence ... you might be fooled into thinking it’s all a struggle if you’re not paying attention.
As she explains, though, he’s whip-smart and loves his family; he just approaches everything in a different way. And although it isn’t always the easiest thing to understand, she makes it clear that their family loves everything about it.
He can understand stories on a level well beyond his years and will floor you with his insights. He is smart as a whip yet school isn’t always his jam. He’d rather talk about why Sally is giving away 24 of her apples instead of solving the story problems in math.
He loves fiercely and deeply and without reservation. He will tuck a blanket around you if you look cold and will always share a bite of his cookie. He can read your emotions on your face and will always know who is lonely on the playground.
He is so many things ... sometimes the world wants to label him with letters and words and numbers ... and sometimes these help us understand him better. But the letters and words and scores are not what he is. They cannot capture his essence. There is no data taken anywhere on big hearts, but if there were this kid would be the shining star.
Like all our kids he is just himself. The sum of gifts and struggles all bound together with love.
Betters-Midtvedt goes on to explain that she hopes that we can all see children not for what makes them easy to love, and let them be themselves. And after the post went viral, there were more than a few other parents out there who wanted to explain just how impactful the words were to them, as well.
“Beautiful, thank you so much for sharing, it was so reassuring and powerful ? This describes my eldest son too,” one woman wrote.
“Wow.....for a moment I thought you must have bugged our home and listened in. This completely describes my son,” said another. “One day, he will make an amazing husband and father!”
These moms are truly showing how amazing every child can be—and how great it is when parents are the ones who realize it!
