Is your child SPECIAL?

One of my all-time favorite Jewish parenting books is The Blessing of a Skinned Knee by Dr. Wendy Mogel. If you haven't read it, pick it up. It's a great way to step back and look at what you're doing (raising children) with a new perspective.

One of my favorite passages goes like this:

"I recently read a third-grade school newsletter that used the word special five times on two pages. The Thanksgiving Sing was special. So was the Spellathon. the Emerging Artists exhibition was special. Even the unassuming Pie Drive, was for reasons not clearly revealed by this newsletter's coverage, special indeed. And, finally, this year's third-grade class was in itself, a very, very special class.

I wondered: is it possible? So much specialness concentrated in one place? A cosmic coincidence?"

I agree with Dr. Mogel in that we as a society are a little too obsessed with making our kids EXTRA ordinary -- or in treating EVERY little thing they do as special. We, the parents are often to blame as we ahve sparked the outbreak of specialness, and making everything "fair," when clearly, the world doesn't operate that way.

Did you know that according to Jewish law, parents should not expect their children to be anyone other than who they are? A Hasidic saying, in fact, says "If your child has a talent to be a baker, don't ask him to be a doctor." GREAT Advice indeed, at a time when we all feel the pressure to be The Best.
I'm personally THRILLED to have two average, underscheduled girls.