I love this so much. I know you have at least one other child besides Ellie and I wondered if there were any techniques or advice you could share about raising siblings of a neurodiverse child. This article is full of wisdom and I am going to share it with friends who have children or grandchildren Leah's age. I remember one of my friends who had a high school son who was working on a tennis scholarship, which he ended up getting. It was a full ride to a 4-year private college. But I remember when his son would get mad and fly off the handle or beat himself up over a loss, Rog would just ask him, "Did you do your best? Did you use all you had? Then that's all you can do." No advice. No pointing out flaws. I always admired that. I love those questions you asked Leah. You second to the last paragraph is pure gold. Leah and Ali are better for it.
Thanks @Jane Anderson! I love your friend Rog’s comments too - sounds really supportive and a helpful reframe for his son. The pressure out there can be pretty overwhelming for kids - sometimes our job as parents is to take it down a notch, especially when they are already motivated.
I absolutely LOVE this post! I am an avid "morning pages" writer. This morning I was writing about the importance of youth spots. NOT to be a track for professional sports, but for many other important aspects (ex. exercise, being outside, playing together on teams, teamwork, and how learning how to lose and learning how to win).
I love youth sports for so many reasons, but not a exclusive track for college, Olympics, or pro sports....
@April Daniels thanks so much! I admire you for writing morning pages- I would like to get into that practice too as a daily thing. I’m with you on the importance of youth sports for so many character building traits beyond winning games and becoming a star athlete. I think when my kids were young, I was much more focused on whether they won that game or not. It’s only recently that I’ve seen the benefit of losing and how it builds resilience.
I love this so much. I know you have at least one other child besides Ellie and I wondered if there were any techniques or advice you could share about raising siblings of a neurodiverse child. This article is full of wisdom and I am going to share it with friends who have children or grandchildren Leah's age. I remember one of my friends who had a high school son who was working on a tennis scholarship, which he ended up getting. It was a full ride to a 4-year private college. But I remember when his son would get mad and fly off the handle or beat himself up over a loss, Rog would just ask him, "Did you do your best? Did you use all you had? Then that's all you can do." No advice. No pointing out flaws. I always admired that. I love those questions you asked Leah. You second to the last paragraph is pure gold. Leah and Ali are better for it.
Thanks @Jane Anderson! I love your friend Rog’s comments too - sounds really supportive and a helpful reframe for his son. The pressure out there can be pretty overwhelming for kids - sometimes our job as parents is to take it down a notch, especially when they are already motivated.
I absolutely LOVE this post! I am an avid "morning pages" writer. This morning I was writing about the importance of youth spots. NOT to be a track for professional sports, but for many other important aspects (ex. exercise, being outside, playing together on teams, teamwork, and how learning how to lose and learning how to win).
I love youth sports for so many reasons, but not a exclusive track for college, Olympics, or pro sports....
@April Daniels thanks so much! I admire you for writing morning pages- I would like to get into that practice too as a daily thing. I’m with you on the importance of youth sports for so many character building traits beyond winning games and becoming a star athlete. I think when my kids were young, I was much more focused on whether they won that game or not. It’s only recently that I’ve seen the benefit of losing and how it builds resilience.
Love the opportunities it opens up in our boys as they grow older…
Beautiful reflections on the importance of building resilience ❤️
Thanks @Logan Steiner!