  |
|
|
|
It’s only been recently that I’ve realized the incredible pain threshold my daughter possesses. Naturally, when I saw her immediately forgive and kiss the hand of the woman who had just drawn her blood, I knew she had a forgiving nature, but I never suspected just how much her small body could take.
Just the other day she was playing with her sister and made a foolish attempt to jump onto her sisters’ back from the couch. She missed of course and went tumbling to the floor nearly head first. She never cried out or shed one single tear, instead she paused a moment considering what had happened and her failed attack on her sister, then simply said, “ow”, as if it were more of a question than a statement. After a bit of giggling from both my oldest daughter and myself, my mind began to scroll back through all of the recent mishaps and how little she seemed to complain. A bumped knee or a scratch to the hand just didn’t seem to warrant tears. One would think a swan dive from the couch to the floor would merit at least a whimper, but I suppose in the grand scope of things it may have seemed a bit trivial to her. I began thinking about a great many other children I know with special needs and how adept they are at handling pain. It seems these children have already been exposed to so much in their lives, that the usual scrapes and falls of childhood just don’t register on whatever pain scale they have inside them. On the flip side I noticed that my oldest daughter is virtually incapable of handling anything, even a hangnail and it’s worth noting that she has been ill very few times in her life. What strange sides of the coin I have living under one roof. I have one child that is virtually a mini Terminator and another who has as much fortitude as the skin on pudding that’s been left out too long. I can’t clearly decide if her pain tolerance is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand it’s clear that she is able to handle much more than the average child, and in doing so, can handle many of the medical tests she is so often subject to. On the other hand, what a sad statement that such a small child could have already gone through so much in her life as to make her so tolerant and even a little calloused. Often when her older sister gets a bump or a scrape, she is both perfectly willing to give her a kiss and encourage her to get over it quickly. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Bring It On in Parenting: Down Syndrome is owned by Rachael Smith. Permission to republish Bring It On in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
