Here’s proof that every gray cloud has a silver lining:
When my beloved (dearly, dearly beloved) grandmother suffered a series of strokes a couple of years ago our entire family was devastated. The woman who had loved us unconditionally all of our lives was suddenly stripped of her dignity. She could no longer walk, talk or move around without the aid of another human being or electronic apparatus.
It tore my heart out to see my energetic grandmother confined to a wheelchair, eating pulverized food from a baby spoon, barely able to keep her head upright. Fortunately, with the help of physical therapy and the love of family and friends, my grandmother has slowly regained some of her faculties, though she remains in a wheelchair.
Interestingly, my grandmother’s wheelchair is part of what makes this otherwise sad story somewhat tolerable. Or, perhaps, more accurately, my young daughter’s reaction to her great grandmother in a wheelchair is what makes the situation less deplorable.
A wheelchair as the silver lining in the dark cloud that is brain damage… who knew?
My daughter was just 3 years old when my grandmother suffered her debilitating stroke and I wondered how she would react upon seeing “other side grandma” in a wheelchair.
Wheelchair? What wheelchair?
Seriously. My kid was completely and utterly unfazed.
My daughter could have cared less if my grandmother rolled into the lobby of the assisted living facility in a three-wheeled wagon. All she cared about was hopping on my grandma’s lap and going for a spin.
At first my daughter referred to grandma’s wheelchair as her “stroller.” However, in the years since, my now 5-year-old has learned a lot about wheelchairs, thanks in large part to the staff at the assisted living facility (which gifted her with a Barbie doll in a wheelchair and a book about a boy whose father was an amputee), and in larger part to the fact that the relationship my daughter had with my grandmother prior to her stroke was incredibly strong.
Amazingly, a wheelchair has done nothing to diminish the bond those two share.
In fact, my daughter’s exposure to wheelchairs has proven to be quite beneficial.
Whereas other kids her age shy away from injured or elderly people in wheelchairs, my youngster has a tendency to ask for rides from complete strangers rolling around the mall in wheelchairs. She is especially intrigued by the motorized versions, and often asks when “other side grandma” will be getting “hot wheels.”
What’s more, there have been at least two times when my daughter has encountered kids her age at the park mocking elderly women in wheelchairs, and on both occasions she has not-so tactfully intervened and shouted “Wheelchairs are COOL!!” at the top of her lungs.
Rude, but yet, incredibly effective.
How do your children react when they see someone in a wheelchair?
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