Thursday, January 15, 2009

You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry! REPRINT FROM June 11, 2008



I recently found myself in a weird situation. Having Bailey with us is having the out of ordinary as the norm. The strange quirks she has are daily life to everyone in our family. We are used to adults asking us about her or commenting on her limp when she walks, etc. But really, she has led a sheltered life. She’s always with people who love her and she attends a school where everyone else is just like her. But she’s almost 7 years old and we’re about to encounter her peers.
The situation was this, I was in a room with some toddlers and one 6 year old. Of course, Bailey was with me. She began her usual routine of staring at the 6 year old and following her around (her way of ‘making friends’) She would laugh at everything she did. The little just looked at her blankly. “She’s keeps staring at me!” the little girl said. “She likes you,” I responded. Then I noticed that the little girl was avoiding Bailey. She would walk to the other side of the room to get away from her or turn her back to her.
I’m sorry, but the “Hulk” inside of me began to get a little angry with this child who was treating my Bailey so awful. It’s then that I accepted that this is the reality of Bailey’s life. It is a challenge that will only become worse as she gets older and is around other ‘normal’ children. It is a fact that we have to deal with, the ‘weird’ kids are usually shunned and not very popular. That scares me to death, to think of people ever treating her badly or giving her the cold shoulder or teasing her. It is worry that any mother would have. We want our children to be accepted and have lots of friends. Although I know God is in control, I also know that that fact doesn’t mean there won’t be heartaches or sticky situations with Bailey.
Please pray for me that I won’t ever lose my temper with others who don’t know quite how to deal with Bailey. I understand that most of the reactions come from being ignorant of her condition. I don’t think that most people would want to be mean, it is usually the reaction when you don’t understand something.

1 comments:

PorchSitter said...

Oh, sweet Bailey and you too! I will be praying for you both, for all of you! If ever I can do anything for you, please ask it of me! I just love Bailey, and Shelbi and Brody too! My thoughts and love are with you on this!