Cindy and I have recently been reading a book titled: “Holy Ambition” by Chip Ingram. It was in this book that the phrase, “The price tag precedes the reward” jumped off of the page for me. It immediately began my brain to thinking about our parenting experience.
When Josh was born and we were given the news that he had Down Syndrome; after the initial shock wore off and the reality began to settle in, we made a decision.
The decision we made at that point was that we would parent Josh just like we would any child. Now, keep in mind that he was our first, but we were in agreement.
Although Cindy and I are polar opposites in nearly every way—At least that’s what all the temperament tests and our experience says! We were completely together on our approach parenting.
So raising Josh as normally as possible became our family mission. Oh, we had to balance our finances, schedules and priorities, but we realized we were the only two people in the world for this assignment.
We began by taking care of all his basic needs, as every good parent must do in the first months of life. But then we began to do our very best to shape his character.
In our experience many children with a disability, or should I say, “different ability,” are catered to and coddled too much. The result is that the only people who really enjoy them are Mom and Dad and the Grandparents.
We wanted people to really enjoy Josh. So we did our very best to love him and cherish him, but not to “worship” him or spoil him.
He has always had a tender heart and an easy-going personality. But do not be fooled—We worked hared to shape his character and conduct to become an outstanding person that others enjoyed, and enjoyed being with!
We paid the price tag early on in our parenting so that we could enjoy the rewards later in life—And that is exactly what has and is continuing to happen.
The battles fought for your child early on, do pay off in the end.
We love you Josh—Always have and we always will!
