When you parent a special needs child, it’s easy to become overprotective. Kids with disabilities can seem so fragile and needy. The truth is that they’re a lot stronger than we think. Yet it’s hard to quell the powerful desire to control, intervene, and rescue. Sometimes we can overprotect until it becomes obnoxious. So how do you know when you’ve gone too far? Here are a few (sarcastic) suggestions:
You know you’re an overprotective mother when:
- You show up 15 minutes early to your daughter’s birthday parties, with a can of Lysol.
- Your child has a GPS tracker and boundary collar.
- The teacher has written you in permanently on your son’s classroom seating chart.
- Your daughter’s pediatrician says, “Fran, you can’t keep calling me like this. I have a life.”
- The babysitter gets a 38-page instruction manual and an occasional pop quiz.
- Your son’s friends are getting used to the “surveillance cam” around his neck.
- Every time your daughter gets out the front door, she kisses the grass and shouts, “Free! Free at last! Thank Heaven above I am free at last!”
- You read the peanut butter ingredients eleven times, to make sure there’s no saccharine.
- At the movies, your son’s friends say, “If your mom has to sit right next to us, can she at least pass the popcorn?”
- Your daughter’s friends seem surprised that there really are car seats for ten year olds.
- Your son’s field trip permission slip gets turned in stapled to six legal guardian releases and a last will and testament.
- When your child is five minutes late, you’ve alerted the MCA.
- Your son’s body guards are on their third union strike.
- Your daughter’s “emergency information” is tattooed to her cheek.
- You apply sunscreen with a paint brush roller.
- The lady at the “toy recall” desk knows you so well, you’re having lunch next Thursday.
For some less tongue-in-cheek information, see my blog: “The Tendency to Overprotect our Special Needs Kids.” And, “Are You A Helicopter Parent?”
Kristyn Crow is the author of this blog. Visit her website by clicking here.