Today’s post is a follow up to one that ran on December 17, 2010. The original post told about one mom’s solution to cell phone usage by her daughter with special needs.

Update from Tammy

Recently, Tammy provided an update via a comment at the original post. Her’s what she said:

I thought I would give a follow-up to the cell phone issue as it relates to my special needs daughter. I am still using her cell phone as a safety tool only with parental controls. Unfortunately she is still not ready to be independent on the cell phone use.

I had a recent conversation with her psychiatrist about the cell phone and computer issue. It almost seems as if she’s addicted to social stimulation at any cost! Nothing is ever enough and is a safety issue. If she’s been told she can talk on the phone for 15 minutes…it becomes an over-stimulation situation where she needs more and more. She becomes addicted like a person with drug or alcohol dependency. In any case, the psychiatrist advised me that with her developmental issues coupled with the PDD-NOS, she just doesn’t have the self-control. Unfortunately she needs to have little exposure to telephones and computer access to chat rooms, email, etc.

This is a very hard issue with the world of technology today and how much we depend on our cell phones, computers and other social devices.

Implications for Parents

Thank you, Tammy, for the update and for being so transparent about your daughter’s struggles. We and our children are the beneficiaries of your honesty. Interestingly, the issues Tammy raises aren’t just limited to kids with special needs. This 2012 reporternews.com article about children and cell phones echoes Tammy’s observations, concerns, and conclusions for all children.

What implications do Tammy’s comments and the news article have for parents? First, we need to take advantage of technology that assists parents in safeguarding their children’s cell phone usage. Second, technology alone isn’t enough. Parents must remain hands-on, actively involved in monitoring their kids’ cell phone usage. Doing so isn’t always easy, but who said parenting would be easy?

Your Cell Phone Solutions

How are you handling cell phone usage at your house? What solutions are working (or not working) for you? Leave a comment so we can learn from each other’s successes and failures.

Thanks again, Tammy,
Jolene

Guest blogger Nancy Flanders is here today to talk about how valuable community involvement can be for parents of kids with special needs. Keep reading to learn more about one kind of special need community and how it helps the Flanders family. Maybe it will motivate you to become more community focused, too.

The Importance of Community

My daughter has cystic fibrosis (CF) and the CF community is tight. I’m hoping it’s like that for other chronic health conditions too, because having that community support is life- changing. The unique factor about the CF community is that our relationships are mostly online. People with CF can’t be around each other and if they are, they should remain at least three feet apart. This is because they can spread harmful bacteria and germs to each other that can leave them sick; while you or I would never even know we encountered these germs. So every day, through blogs, Twitter and Facebook, I connect with other CF parents and adults with CF. I hear the good. I hear the bad. There are a few people in my life that think being exposed to this much information about others with CF is detrimental to my sanity. And I get that. But the good definitely outweighs the bad when it comes to immersing myself in the worldwide CF community.

Understanding

There’s nothing like being able to say or type acronyms like CFRD, and PI or words like “the vest” or “enzymes” and not have to explain what I’m talking about. I can say that it’s a bad poop day in my house and everyone gets it instantly and none of them is even the slightest bit grossed out. I can celebrate how much fat I got my kid to eat today and instead of looks of confusion and disgust, I hear “yay” and “awesome”. Quite simply, we are accepted and understood within moments of meeting a new CF friend.

Empathy

Sympathy sucks. I can’t stand when someone feels sorry for me or my daughter. Yes, CF sucks. But don’t tell me how sad it is. I’ve cried my eyes out and I will cry them out again and again. But I love my kid and I wouldn’t trade her for anything. Instead, I will work hard to keep her healthy, so be proud of us instead. Empathy, on the other hand, is good. When bad CF stuff happens, there’s an army of people who have been in the exact spot and can tell you it will be okay and actually know it. They offer hope and advice, not just an awkward silent sympathy.

Knowledge

Our CF doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and nutritionists are all great. But it’s the CF patients and the CF parents who tell it like it is and who have provided me with so much knowledge about this condition. Any question I ask can be answered almost instantly by someone who has experienced the same difficulties or symptoms. They’ve taught me about insurance, medications, how to handle it when your kid won’t take her medications, and about what to look for in terms of signs of complications that can arise. They are a living, breathing, CF textbook.

Hope

When you have an emotional breakdown over CF, you often lose all sight of hope. All you can feel is fear. But the CF community can lift those spirits with reminders of what we have going for us: the latest and greatest treatments, the best foundation in the world, and new drugs that may work to fix the underlying cause of CF.

Reality

When things are going great and your kid hasn’t been sick in a while, you can sometimes wonder if your child really needs all of these treatments and if maybe CF isn’t so scary. (In the beginning stages of diagnosis, this can happen a lot). But hearing about other people’s battles reminds you that it can happen to you. It’s a constant reminder to cherish life. It keeps us on our toes, battling CF with all we’ve got.

Support

News spreads fast through the CF community and when things are bad, throngs of people you have never even met will offer their prayers, love and support. Nothing beats that.

Fun

We get to work together towards a common goal. We get to throw fundraisers and parties and laugh about having to be on constant poop patrol. We attend CF conferences together. No matter who we are or where we come from, we are in it together to defeat CF. We donate to each other’s fundraisers because helping one of us reach our goal helps all of us reach our goal, which is saving CF lives.

How About You?

Are you part of special needs community, either online or in person? What value have you found in being part of such a community? Leave a comment to second one of the perks Nancy listed or add your own. Nancy and I would love to hear from you.

Jolene

Whew, in the past few weeks DifferentDream.com has tackled some meaty issues – PTSD, power of attorney, and divorce. So, today we’re taking a vacation…to Disneyland. Watch out, Mickey and Minnie! Here we come!

Meet Your Tour Guide

Okay, we’re not really going to Disneyland. But thanks to our tour guide, Niki, you’ll get some valuable advice on doing Disney. Niki blogs at epilepsywarriors.com, and she wants you to know the advice is based on their trip to Disneyland with their son Cole who lives with epilepsy.

One Epilepsy Warrior’s Advice

Niki’s post is on the long side. But it is packed, and I mean packed, with practical advice. Here’s a sampling of what she offers:

• Have your doctor write a medical summary letter so you have it with you in case of a medical emergency.
• Take along extra medication refills.
• Spend time at the Disney website beforehand.
• Go to Disney’s City Hall once you get to the park.
• Use the baby care center.
• Make meal reservations.

Remember, those are just quick samples. To read more, surf on over to her blog post. And remember, though she’s writing from the perspective of the mother of a child with epilepsy, most of her advice is pertinent to most childhood special needs.

How Do You Do Disney?

No doubt, some of you have already done Disney with your child. If so, please leave a comment to share your best tips, too. Or if you’re contemplating a Disney outing, leave questions you’d like to have answered. Mickey, Minnie, and me would love to hear from you.

Thinking about the happiest place on earth,
Jolene

I am not a sports fan. At all. Not one little bit. But unless sports fans like me live under rocks, even we know the Giants and Patriots are doing the Super Bowl thing this Sunday. So, in an attempt to fit in with the majority and in honor of the big event, DifferentDream.com is taking a special needs look-see into professional football.

Enter Friendship Circle

To be honest, I’m not doing the look-see. The good people at Friendship Circle, specifically Annie the blogger, did the look-see and I’m passing on the results to you. Annie visited each team’s community affairs page on their respective websites, and created a list of 12 teams that raise money or sponsor events for special needs.

 Professional Football Special Needs Hall of Fame

So, here’s the list of teams Annie found:

1. New York Giants
2. Detroit Lions
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Minnesota Vikings
5. Seattle Seahawks
6. Chicago Bears
7. Philadelphia Eagles
8. Kansas City Chiefs
9. Jacksonville Jaguars
10. Pittsburgh Steelers
11. Cleveland Browns
12. New England Patriots

And a Few Individual Stars

Annie also discovered that players Dan Flute, Jr. and Dan Marino support special needs organizations individually. Hopefully, your curiosity is piqued, and you want to know what special needs organizations these teams and players support. In that case visit Friendship Circle’s informative blog to get the whole story.

I suspect more players and teams support special needs than made this list. For example, former player Jim Kelly and his wife run Hunter’s Hope, a foundation to raise awareness and encourage research into Krabbe Leukodystrophy, the condition their son Hunter lived with for 8 1/2 years.

Can You Add to the List?

Maybe you’re more of a sports fan than I am. In that case, you may be able to add to the list. So if you know of more teams and players who support special needs organziations, leave a comment with the information…and a prediction of who you think will win Sunday. What’s my prediction? The halftime show will be a spectacle.

Told ya’ I wasn’t a sports fan.

Play ball!
Jolene

About two weeks ago at DifferentDream.com, guest blogger Kathy Guzzo posted an important article based on her experience as a paralegal and the parents of an adult child with a chronic medical condition. In it, she explained how important it is for parents of adult children with special needs to have a medical power of attorney in place. Today, she’s back to talk about the importance of another legal document, the power of attorney for property.

Power of Attorney for Property

In my last post I explained the benefits of having a signed power of attorney for healthcare as well as a signed medical authorization. I would now like to share the purposes of a power of attorney for property and why it’s important to have for any child that reaches 18, but even more so for a child with a chronic illness. As I explained previously, having been a legal assistant for years, I knew both power of attorneys were important, but when our 18-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus and Epstein Barr Replication, I became even more aware of their importance.

The Purpose for a Power of Attorney for Property

A power of attorney for property gives the designated agent the ability to handle any type of business for the principal listed, in our case our daughter. When anyone fills out and signs forms for any purpose such as to open a bank account, register for classes at college, finance a large purchase, get a cell phone account or other utility bills they are the only person that has access to any information on those accounts.  The document holders, i.e. bank, college, utility company, have a legal obligation not to give out any personal information regarding the business relationship between them and the person who signed.

When to use a Power of Attorney for Property

I have to admit I have not used the power of attorney for property as much as the one for healthcare but it’s great to have on hand for the following purposes.

• To contact any company other than healthcare providers to discuss a bill.
• To withdraw money or check balances in a bank account unless the parent is on the account. We purposely had Andrea get her own account without our names as a sign of our trust in her ability and her need to be responsible and there were times I needed to withdraw funds.  Of course with online banking if you have your child’s passwords you can check the balance.
• To have a cell phone temporarily turned off without being charged a fee.
• To close any type of account.
• To discuss a lease or any other issue with a landlord.
• To discuss information with instructors, financial office or any administrator at college child is attending. There were a few times I had to contact instructors because Andrea was ill as well as discussing special needs she had with the administration when they required signed permission from her.

As with the power of attorney for healthcare, there may be times when someone may hesitate to give out information or want a verbal consent, but legally all they need is a power of attorney.

Respecting the Power of Attorney

Another important thing to remember with regard to using either power of attorney is that once signed, they can be executed at any time. The principal on the form doesn’t have to be unable to act on his or her own behalf. By signing the document they give their chosen agent permission to access their information at any time. For this reason, a parent needs to be very careful not to abuse the privilege their child has given them, by accessing information or contacting people when it really isn’t necessary.

Final Thoughts

Some attorneys combine the power of attorney for healthcare and the power of attorney for property as one document.  This document will be called simply Power of Attorney or possibly Living Will. There are pros and cons to this, one being that a person may want to designate different people for each of the separate documents. So be sure you discuss things prior to your appointment and be prepared with any questions you may have for the attorney. As I mentioned before, having an attorney prepare powers of attorneys should be relatively inexpensive, but regardless of the cost it’s worth it because of the problems and stressors it can eliminate.

Have You Had a Similar Experience?

If you’ve dealt with these legal issues or similar ones, Kathy and I would love to hear from you. Share your best advice, your questions, your concerns, whatever is on your mind. And thanks to Kathy for sharing both her experience and expertise again today.

Jolene

Regular visitors to DifferentDream.com know I occasionally climb on the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) soapbox. If you’re a new visitor, type PTSD in the website search box and see how many posts pop up. Pretty substantial soap box, isn’t it?

The PTSD Soapbox

This particular soapbox is a logical response for a parent whose son lived with undiagnosed, untreated PTSD until he was 26. As a parent who saw her son’s life transformed after treatment, I would be remiss if I didn’t share what we’ve learned about the condition in the past three years. No child should suffer as our son did. No parents should watch their children battle a mental illness when effective treatments exist.

A Book about PTSD in Kids

Because I am so passionate about PTSD in kids, I am working on a book proposal on the topic. A book written in plain language parents can understand. A book to explain causes of PTSD in kids, how it develops, its symptoms, effective treatments, important resources, and preventative measures. Our son’s PTSD was caused by early, invasive medical treatment, so I have a pretty good handle on kids dealing with medical trauma. But so far as other causes go – natural disasters, divorce, adoption, moving, accidents, death, abuse, and anything else kids perceive as trauma – I am woefully ignorant!

Plenty of Room on this Soapbox

In this case, my ignorance leaves plenty of room on this soapbox for anybody in the following catagories:

• Parents of kids who’ve experienced PTSD from any kind of trauma.
• Adults who experienced PTSD as children.
• Mental health professionals who treat children for PTSD.
• Mental health and medical professionals who work with children to prevent PTSD.
• Professionals conducting research about PTSD in kids.
• Other parents and professionals with experience in this field.

If you fit into any of those categories (or know someone who does) and are willing to be interviewed about your experiences, please contact me.

Jump on the Soapbox with Your Comment

To jump on the soapbox, leave a comment below and I will contact you privately. Or, if privacy is a concern, click here to email me directly.

Thanks, in advance, for your help!
Jolene

Hello, friends! Are you checking in to read the second half of guest blogger, Christine Lester‘s post about why she almost missed EA/TEF Awareness Month? Or are you here to discover who won the book give away in honor of EA/TEF Month? Whatever reason you have for visiting DifferentDream.com today,, I’m glad you’re here.

At the end of yesterday’s post, Christine had her fingers in her ears and was singing “La La La, La La” to drown out her children’s prayers for snow. Since it wouldn’t be nice to leave her in such a precarious position, she’s going to finish the story before the give away winners are announced. Take it away, Christine!

Why I Almost Missed EA/TEF Awareness Week

My Mom Wish

I am pulling rank. Here is my mom wish. I wish that the bitter cold would take a vacation.  NOW! The barrage of croupy coughs is interrupting my sleep and more importantly my ability to function.  I bargain that yes, it can snow but again, I have rules:

1. It cannot interrupt our power as we rely heavily on our medical equipment.
2. It cannot alter our ability to grab bags and run to the doctor or hospital in a moment’s notice. This includes being snowed in or preventing emergency staff from reaching us if need be. This is a MUST…even if these little doe eyed children wish to be snowed in.
3. It should be noted that just because it snows it does NOT need to be so cold that my little one can’t breathe. Pretty please?

How I Celebrated EA/TEF Awareness Week

This is how I celebrated Esophageal Atresia & Tracheo-Esophageal Fistula Awareness month:

• A few times a week I force myself to write 2012 on that dwindling stack of checks made payable to our favorite Children’s Hospital or specialist.
• We go through our tour of waiting rooms and patient rooms waiting for the doctors to make an appearance. They gleefully ask how our break was and if we had a happy New Year. Before they depart they hand me a stack of prescriptions for yearly test, blood draws and the names of few other specialist they think we should see.
• This week I found humor when they asked what items they should do for a blood draw and I pulled out last year’s lab form (still uncompleted) to reference. When they shot me an evil glance I reminded them that there was ‘no rush’ and they wanted it done in my ‘free time’. Frankly, 2011 did not allow us much free time for unnecessary blood work. Especially since every admission and primary appointment results in a blood draw.
• Oh and the sleep studies and appointments with even more specialist just kept getting pushed aside for more pressing issues. “What was more pressing and important?” they ask.  How about GI bleed’s and not being able to eat solid food without choking or turning blue for starters.

Fun huh?

My New Year’s Resolution

I’m going to attempt to do better today. Consider it my New Year’s Resolution. Well, that and trying to spread the word about our Awareness Month before January ends!  So before the month is gone, here goes:

• For more information about EA/TEF Awareness month please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/161537773936267/ and click attend.
• Additional resources can be found on our national Bridging the Gap of EA/TEF website http://bridgingthegapofea-tef.com/home  or our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bridging-the-Gap-of-Eatef-US/134886699886413?ref=ts.

Now, I need to schedule some more appointments, fill up a few more voice mail boxes, plead for a mental health day, and order checks. Hopefully, I can complete this all before the kids invite a blizzard to our doorstep! Let me wish you all a very healthy & happy New Year and an uneventful last day of EA/TEF Awareness Month.

Jolene’s note: Thanks, Christine, for so beautifully expressing what it’s like to be the parent of a child with EA/TEF. Now that my boy is grown up and on his own, I can smile about those days. But for those of you in the thick of things, including Christine and her family, you are often in my thoughts and prayers.

And the Winners Are…

And now, to top off DifferentDream.com’s EA/TEF Awareness festivities, here are the winners of this month’s book give way.

Amy Peedle is the winner of  Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs.
Alisha Hauber is the winner of A Different Dream for My Child: Meditations for Parents of Critically or Chronically Ill Children.

Amy and Alisha, please send your mailing addresses via email, and your books will go out asap!

Thanks again, Christine, for ending EA/TEF month with a bang by sharing your story yesterday and today. I am praying for Billy, your family, and the doctors as you work together to solve your little boy’s esophageal issues.

Blessings to you friend,
Jolene

Well, the last two days of EA/TEF Awareness Month have arrived. And just in the nick of time Christine Lester managed to bang out a guest post in honor of the occasion. She’s been trying to write something since November, but life as the mom of a little boy with EA/TEF kept getting in the way.

Why I Almost Missed EA/TEF Awareness Month

I’ve been a bit overwhelmed in my life as lead superhero, advocate, and personal assistant for my child. My intention was to blog all month about everything EA/TEF related. But this year, having our awareness month in January when my child is battling EA/TEF complications seems a bit ironic to me. These same January days that we are trying to spread awareness are filled with the obligatory onslaught of yearly appointments and test. Any free time I have is used to hunker down and research new things to hand to the next doctor I see.

GPS Set for Local Children’s Hospital

I feel like lately my trusty vehicle’s navigation is set on the local children’s hospital. Try as I might I can’t alter its course.  I can’t even assume it’s just me, as all my other EA/TEF & VACTERL family is doing the exact same thing right now. The onslaught of January appointments has filled nearly every day on our brand new calendar. So much so, it’s now trickling into February and March. I pity our referral specialist as I fill her voicemail. When the voicemail box gets filled to capacity, I resort to emailing her. I’m sure she is considering taking a mental health day now.  Ah, a mental health day sure sounds divine. As I’m on the brink of a meltdown, all I can think of is that I have to order checks or I will be unable to pay all these copays!

Seriously, that’s how my mind works.
Order checks.
Then have meltdown.

Life in an EA/TEF Household

January in any EA/TEF household is hectic, including ours. I’m going warp speed through my to-do list and then I see my children trying to thwart my attempts to check some of these items off.  I watch my children gaze out the window willing it to snow. Instead of dreaming of a completed to-do list, they dream of multiple snow days, sledding, snowboarding, snowball fights, snow angels, igloo’s and lots and lots of hot chocolate! I even heard a rumbling that they wished we got snowed in!

Forgive me as I place my fingers in my ears and sing “La La La” loudly!

Does Christine lose her mind?
Have a meltdown?
Remember to order the checks?
Ever take her fingers out of her ears?
Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story…and for the announcement of the winners of the book give away.
In the meantime…

Can You Relate?

Okay parents, can you relate to Christine’s experiences over the last few months? (Not just EA/TEF parents, but all parents of kids with special needs.)  How often do you feel like you’re losing your mind? What do you do to find it again? Leave a comment to show new parents they’re in good company!

And come back tomorrow for the rest of Christine’s story and to learn who won the book give away in honor of EA/TEF Awareness Month.

Trying not to lose my mind,
Jolene

Amy and the Iowa State Fair Queen

In yesterday’s post, guest blogger Amy Stout described her worst nightmare – being separated from her daughter Kylie in a crowded place. She also shared the seeds of the solution that could put her dream to rest forever. A fashionable safety harness. In this post, she explains the process of designing the halter and shows us pictures. Prepare to be impressed!

A Fashionable Safety Harness

I shared my thoughts about a fashionable harness with my mother-in-law who is a wonderful seamstress. While she was, at first, intimidated, she quickly embraced the idea and began to experiment with ways to help me create the ideas that had been forming in my mind.

This is what we came up with. We basically used a jumper pattern and created the harness to look like the top of a jumper – or basically a sleeveless shirt/tank. We used cute, breathable, fabric that could be worn with or without a shirt underneath (we didn’t want it to be uncomfortably hot or thick. We wanted it to be able to be worn underneath a jacket or coat of need be). We also used cute embellishments to enhance the design.

Front View

Back View

We decided to have it fasten up the back so Kylie could not easily undo it, and chose to have it snap so it was less noisy than Velcro would have been in public places.

We reinforced the side seems so they would not easily tear – even if Kylie were to pull against it in her eagerness to get somewhere or if she tried to make a run for it. We also had two connection points on each side so the force of the connection was distributed (again, protecting against tearing).

The Harness in Action

This worked fabulously! We found a tiny retractable cord with a pink handle that matched the harness. It was great to be able to give Kylie some run/breathing room while also having the capability of reeling her in/limiting the distance if the situation became crowded or dangerous.

We received so many positive comments about the harness and had many people stop us and ask us where we found it.

Milking the "cow" at the State Fair

How About You?

Have you ever adapted a product to help keep your child safe – or even come up with your own design? I’d love to hear about it!

What are your thoughts about a safety harness? Have you ever used one? Did anyone ever approach you in public or judge you for using one? I’d love to hear your experiences, how you responded and how they processed your response.

Amy

What’s your worst special needs parenting nightmare? Can you narrow it down to just one? Guest blogger Amy Stout can pinpoint hers in a thumping heartbeat. It’s the topic of today’s guest post. See if you can identify with her deepest fear…and with the seed of her idea about how to overcome it.

My Worst Nightmare

It is a glorious day.

I am clutching her precious baby hand tightly within my protective mommy hand. I love the feel of her soft skin and her little fingers spooning with mine. I often take a snapshot of these moments in my mind. I so treasure these seemingly insignificant little things.

We are at the Iowa State Fair and it is so crowded! People are jostling us and bumping into us. I squeeze my little girl’s hand tight. I know she doesn’t like crowds, or sound, or light, or noise… but it is the State Fair… there is so much to see! I don’t want her to miss out!

In one hand I am balancing all of our “fair loot” piled precariously high. In the other, I hold my greatest treasure: The baby girl that I waited and prayed for longer than I care to remember.

The Reoccurring Dream

The heat is stifling, people are cranky, babies are crying, papas are scolding. Someone bumps into me from the left and my pile shifts… it begins to tumble. I drop my girl’s hand to catch the mementos of our day. When I reach for her again – just a split second later- she is… gone.

I frantically turn around – my head is whipping back and forth as my eyes search the crowd… she is gone!! Where is she? I catch a glimpse of her several feet away – scared – really scared. My heart catches in my throat- I literally cannot breathe- I try to scream- nothing comes out. I push against the crowd, but I can’t get through fast enough. I see her turn in circles-disoriented- looking for me. I see her start to panic, jerk, the people are getting too close – she runs…

The people are so heavy! Why can’t I break through? When did I become so weak? Kylie! I am here! Why can’t you hear me? Baby, just stand still… I am coming! “Please!” I hear myself scream out loud. “Let me through!”

And then… it happens… one of two things.  It always happens… The things I dread the most… at this point, I see – literally see- a vehicle hit my baby or- even worse- I see someone grab her and take off with her!

It is always here that I wake up in a cold sweat, heart thumping, TERRIFIED of what I just lived through in my worst nightmare.

Anxious and Unreasonable Thoughts

I know these anxious thoughts are unreasonable and way overboard, but even so, they still come to me.  The other day I was reading aloud to my husband as he drove and I stopped mid sentence and said “Did you buckle her in?” He looked at me as though I had lost my mind and said “Yes”… the reason I asked is that as I was reading, I had this vision of her flying right by me in the front seat and going through the windshield.  (I KNOW!! so crazy!!  but this happens to me ALL the time!!  Talk about mommy fears on overload!!)

I do not know how people go through the loss of a child. Having my daughter hit by a car would be a tragedy, but having her kidnapped- to me- is far worse. It would be everlasting torture wondering where she was, if she was alright, what was happening to her, Did she miss or want me? Were people hurting her? Did she think we abandoned her?

While having everyone – and I mean everyone – stop us and tell us how beautiful our daughter is (and we can take no credit – as she is adopted) is so much fun, it is also extremely scary as I know my girl is a target for predators. People are always watching her.

Seeking a Solution

It was after one of these horrifying dreams that I began to put my thinking cap on and explore ways of keeping my daughter more safe. The “easiest” way was to utilize a safety harness, but with so much controversy surrounding these, I really didn’t want to go that route.

I had even recently read an article that said that parents who used these were “lazy parents” – I wanted to jump through the pages of that magazine and throttle the author. They obviously have never parented a child who experiences special needs – let alone autism. “lazy parenting?” let me trade places with them for One single solitary day. They would change that description faster than they could sharpen their pencil.

I finally decided that I didn’t care what other people thought, a safety harness was the best option for keeping my daughter safe.  So, I began to dream up designs that would be more acceptable in public. Designs that would be more fashionable and less offensive to people who do not understand mental health issues or autism in general.

Can You Identify with Amy?

Are Amy’s emotions similar to yours? Can you identify with her struggles? Or do you struggle with different emotions? Leave a comment about the emotional battles you face as the parent of a child with special needs. And come back tomorrow to see the safety harness Amy designed for Kylie. It is amazing.

Until then,
Jolene