Laughter Is Always a Good Thing
Sisters Gina Gallagher and Patricia Konjoian have written a book, Shut Up About … Your Perfect Kid! in which they (as the May 7th Sacramento Bee notes) “celebrate all imperfect children.” Gallagher’s son has bipolar disorder and Konjoian’s has Asperger’s syndrome.
“There are so many self-help books out there, and they paint such a dark picture,” Gallagher says about imperfect children. “We wanted to offer hope to parents. It doesn’t have to be the worst-case scenario. Take comfort — you’re not alone.”
Here’s some samples of their humor:
“We really don’t mean to be so hard on parents who brag endlessly about their perfect children (OK, we do),” they write. “It’s just hard to listen to how good their kid is on the baseball field when yours would rather catch real flies …”
……….
Gallagher and Konjoian have come up with their own versions of those bumper stickers. For instance, “My bipolar kid loves me and hates me,” and “I’m spending my kid’s inheritance on co-pays.”
(Make that my retirement money………) You can read more about Shut Up About … Your Perfect Kid! at the authors’ website (where you can find a got issues? bumper sticker).
Just one thing I’d like to note: My son Charlie is autistic, disabled, and a lot of other labels……and perfect.
Now I’ll shut up.
8 opinions for Laughter Is Always a Good Thing
Leila
May 9, 2007 at 1:05 am
I think it is natural that parents want to brag about their kids. But some parents are just so obnoxious and competitive… Geez, one good side of having an autistic kid is that I won’t have to hang out with soccer or baseball moms every weekend.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 9, 2007 at 2:24 am
I feel that we have “fallen out” of the “rat race” of raising a child with Charlie; I feel that there is no script or roster of things he “has” to do—-rather, we have to look to him and see what he can do, and go from there. And he gives us plenty to brag about.
Em
May 9, 2007 at 10:01 am
As long as the child is making personal progress, the parents should be proud of him or her no matter what. Even though these “perfect kids” often make good progress and parents are proud of them, I’ve also seen many teachers who are more proud of their learning disabled students who finally understand a concept that is made especially difficult for them because of their LD.
In mathematical terms, it is the delta (or change in) progress that should be measured, not necessarily where the child started.
Julie
May 9, 2007 at 11:56 am
I also am no longer in the rat race and I tend to tell people who brag that is nice, my children are perfect too perfect for me.
Daisy
May 9, 2007 at 9:27 pm
I worry now about Amigo getting through high school successfully. I don’t need any “bragging rights”. Like many parents, I revel in the small moments.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 9, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Em, I’m embracing that notion of the delta…. Charlie has come a long, a long way. And he is one happy boy who enjoys his days and all those who know him very much.
Julia
May 11, 2007 at 4:42 pm
There was a family newsletter edited by my mother-in-law. One of the mothers in my generation liked to brag about her kids, usually taking up at least a quarter of the space to do so. This was before we had any kids.
So one month we submitted a detailed report on how our dogs were doing, including the squirrel caught by one, and the opossum left on the back porch one evening. (One of my husband’s cousins came and complimented us on our wonderful parody the next time we saw him.)
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 11, 2007 at 5:46 pm
And did you include photos….
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