Mom and Dad Weekend

Do mothers and fathers have different reactions to parenting children with special needs? They do seem to write different sorts of memoirs on the process. Mom-moirs tend to be more emotional and focused on the day-to-day experience of helping, agonizing over, and making choices for challenged children, while dads more often split their reflections between personal experiences and dispassionate research on their child's particular disabilities. Two good examples of these forms occupy our Harried Parent's Book Club shelves this weekend: Read today's review of "A Slant of Sun: One Child's Courage" by Beth Kephart for a mom's point of view, and come back tomorrow for "Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism" for a dad's perspective.