I saw a post on Facebook earlier about inclusion. It was about talking to your children about children with special needs and it has stayed on my mind. It’s important. Maybe your kids haven’t been around that many different children to know. With school getting back in session, now is the perfect time to talk to them.
The post I saw was one of those “copy and paste” status updates, but it made a ton of sense…
I would just like to put this out there! If your kids are not around special needs kids at school and have never been taught that not everyone is the same-maybe you could take 10 minutes tonight to explain this to them, because even though they may not be around these kids at school they may see them at church, at the mall, at the grocery store or even at the park. In the light of recent events on the exclusion of *a child who has autism* from participating in a school trip and a Downs Syndrome child being kicked out of dance class because she couldn’t keep up, I feel the need to write this. There are boys and girls that nobody invites to birthday parties for example. There are special kids who want to belong to a team but don’t get selected because it is more important to win than include these children. Children with special needs are not rare or strange, they only want what everyone else wants: to be accepted !! Can I ask a question? Is there anyone willing to copy and paste this post to their wall without sharing it, like I did for those special children out there.
Here’s the thing, I don’t think these kids want any kind of special treatment, they just want to belong. Really, it comes down to those basic conversations that a lot of parents these days just may not have with their kids. If you know parents that just blow over some of that basic home training that kids need, maybe talk to the parents. It could be that it’s not just the parents, back in the day grandparents, aunts and uncles could straighten you out to. I remember one whooping in particular that my mom’s friend gave me.
Look, I am not saying smack your kids for no reason, as I am certain there are times they give you a reason. Just teach them about the struggles that some kids face, teach them to be good people.
