When I walk my children to school in the morning, we often see other families getting ready for school, too. Sometimes we hear crying. Sometimes we hear parents yelling. Sometimes a neighbor holding a fussy toddler will ask me to walk her third-grader to school. Sometimes I’m the one carrying or walking with a crying [...]
“Without our traditions we are as shaky as a fiddler on the roof.” -Fiddler On The Roof, 1964 Tradition = Regulation I’ve been thinking a lot about traditions lately (both religious and otherwise); observing them, creating them and seeing them through the eyes of my kids. It occurred to me that traditions and rituals are [...]
Leo turned twelve yesterday. By the end of this summer, it will be ten full years since his diagnosis with ASD. It was an incredible opportunity to sit back and watch my entire family busy in the backyard, hanging streamers and setting out the sprinkler for his younger siblings and cousins; my dad on the [...]
There is no shortage of volunteer spirit in America. Over 90 million Americans volunteer more than 20 billion hours a year. I suspect that if the data were available for the Jewish community in isolation, it would be more impressive still. Believe it or not, some folks argue this is not a good thing. They point [...]
10 hurtful comments from relatives about your child with special needs
One of the painful parts of parenting a child with special needs is dealing with comments and questions from concerned family members. Most of the time, these remarks arise from love for the child and consideration for the well-being of the whole family. But the questions and comments don’t always come out that way, and [...]