The Challenge Of Raising A Child With Down Syndrome

Raising a child with Down Syndrome is a loving job, but it is also challenging for many reasons. The challenges can come from different aspects, it is health, education and social development; This is why this condition demands an additional touch of courage from the mother.

Down syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality that has characteristics common to all patients, which are easy to identify for most people. However, not all children who suffer from it are the same, because above their condition, they manifest their own personality traits.

In this sense, each day in the life of the parents of a child with special needs represents a challenge, because from birth they had to test many aspects of their person. Knowing that the baby has this condition, parents can see the future before their eyes, because unfortunately this situation will accompany them for the rest of their lives.

Therefore, the first challenge that can be mentioned is an emotional one; that is to say, that feeling that sometimes you have to control to face the situation. Emotions vary according to the person, that is why love is the essential requirement to manage the upbringing of a child with special needs.

What are the challenges of raising a child with Down Syndrome?

One quality that fatherhood has is that we take care of and prepare our children so that they grow up healthy and capable of facing their future life. In the parenting stage we train them in values, we teach them skills and we are motivated by the idea of ​​seeing how they develop themselves.

However, children with special needs, although they can make life as normal as any other child, the process can become a bit more complex. For example, their mental and motor capacities prevent their evolution from being so fast or so successful in the first attempts, this implies that perseverance must be the inseparable companion of the patience and effort of the parents.

To make a general approach, we are going to explain in no order of importance, what are the common challenges that arise in these circumstances:

Challenge No. 1: Emotions

We do not always know how to react to such surprising news as receiving a child with a disability, so fear, anguish, frustration and anger could appear at any stage of parenting.
Dealing with mixed feelings can be a common challenge in the life of parents of a sick child. In these cases, it is imperative that there is tolerance, calm and wisdom.

Challenge Nº2: Have the ability to respond quickly

Not all of us respond quickly to difficult situations, but with these children you have to be on time. Getting over any personal crisis quickly is imperative for your life to move forward, because you will almost always depend on your parents to continue.

Wasting time blaming each other or thinking long before acting could be life-threatening for our little one.

Challenge Nº3: Face society

Once we become almost experts in children with Down Syndrome and we have overcome the mixed feelings, or even in the midst of crisis; we can come to coincide with interrogations, malicious glances or humiliations towards our children.
Unfortunately, there is still some precaution to openly treat people with disabilities. The child may be rejected in groups of children and not all schools are suitable for him.
In addition, it is common for parents to feel a contempt that perhaps does not exist, because the personal challenge in part leads us to become defensive of our child. We can get to perceive unpleasant looks, gestures or words, although the curiosity of others is normal.

Challenge No. 4: Little Help, No Answer

The child with special needs does not respond in the same way as one without disabilities ; That is why he is not going to collaborate easily with simple actions such as raising his arms to put his clothes in, learning to tie his shoes or going to the bathroom.
In other words, he will be a child who will demand attention for a long time, but his capacity for evolution will be longer. Therefore, you will spend a long time being a child without a correct answer.
But the most important thing in these cases is that the solution is very simple. Each of these challenges individually and anyone in general, can be overcome with large doses of affection.
Love is the fuel to overcome a difficult motherhood, a sick child and all its complications.