I Resolve to Make Resolutions for Those Who Especially Need Them
It's 2009. Whopee. The old year's behind, the new year's ahead, and we've got our work cut out for us. Chances are, you already know what you need to do. You're self-aware like that. Second-guessing yourself every day and thinking of all the ways you could be doing better makes it easy to pick resolutions when the opportunity arises.
So let's not waste time figuring out what we need to do. Let's help others out with their deep-seated resolution needs, of which they are apparently unaware. I'll kick it off with these:
Kids: I resolve to behave the same way at the doctor's or therapist's office as I do at home, neither so much better that my parent looks like a fool for worrying, or so much worse that my parent looks like a fool for not worrying.
Doctors: I resolve not to keep people waiting for hours and then expect their children to behave.
Celebrities: I resolve not to seek cheap publicity by attacking people's parenting or mocking their disabilities.
Medical Writers: I resolve not to write flashy headlines that do not accurately reflect the content of the study reported on, thus inaccurately increasing or decreasing parents' panic.
Special-Education Professionals: I resolve not to act like I know more about a child than her parents because I've scanned the file. Also, to stay out of handicapped parking spots.
Teachers: I resolve to communicate with parents and respect their concerns.
Teachers Who Don't Do E-mail: I resolve to act on the notion that refusing to come along into the 21st century does not make me look like an effective educator.
Churchgoers: I resolve to remember that when I give the evil eye to some kid struggling to hold it together in church, the evil lies with me.
Spouses: I resolve to read everything my co-parent gives me about our child's disabilities, even if it looks really boring, even if there's something really good on TV.
In-Laws: I resolve not to do things that would cause my loved one who is a special-needs parent to write about me on this page.
Now it's your turn. What resolutions would you write for the IEP meeting attendee, the medical specialist, the bully, the mean lady at the grocery store? Give them your assistance in the comments.
This post is my submission to January's All About Parenting Blog Carnival, hosted by About.com Parenting Teens.
More for the New Year: Special Needs News | Site of the Day | Love Notes for Special Parents 2009 Calendar
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Police Liaison: I resolve to learn more about the disabilities of the children in my school, and not to use threatening as a first line reaction when working with children.
Grocery store lady: I resolve to remember that my true knowledge of parenting is limited to my experience of my own children, and that my unsolicited advice may be totally irrelevant to the situation of the child whose behavior I am judging.
For parents who email teachers: Please remember that teachers are responsible as professionals for their communications with parents. Their email communications must be carefully thought-out and meticulously phrased or they could put their careers at risk. Please don’t expect instantaneous responses.
(As a former teacher, I agree that all teachers should utilize email and that they should appreciate parents who care enough to communicate.)
Everyone: I resolve to use People First language and treat all those with special needs with respect.
Health insurance companies: To consider the brain as part of the human body and not be so stingy when it comes to covering anything that smacks of a learning disability. It makes it difficult to diagnose what the issue is since so many tests aren’t covered.
Restaurant patrons: I resolve to love dining around toddlers, respecting their interest in touching food and cherishing their desire to communicate their wants and needs to everyone around them. (Thanks, Terri!)
Everyone – I resolve to remember that I add as much pain to the world when I take offense as when I give offense.