Special Mothers

Mothers of children with needs are very special. I meet them every day in Sensory Space. They’re all different but they all deserve to be called special, and this is why:

• Most of them are extremely educated, especially in occupational therapy, sensory integration, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, teaching, special needs assistance, nursing, nutrition, behaviour, play therapy and many more professions because they are expected by others or believe themselves that they have to be all in one for their children and sometimes they actually forget to be just their mothers.
• Most of them have two types of haircuts: short or put in a ponytail. Those are the easiest to manage and don’t require too much time to keep tidy.
• They normally can’t afford to be in a full time job because their children need them 24/7. If they go to school, the special mums are constantly looking at their phones to make sure they will not miss the call from school in case their child is having a difficult day and needs to be collected from school immediately.
• They normally have a notebook where they keep all the dates and times for appointments written down because there are so many of them and they’re afraid they will miss something.
• They’re probably looking at educational or sensory toys if you see them in the toy store.
• They want to go out with their husband or friends on the weekend but choose to stay home because most people find different excuses not to mind their children. If they’re lucky and they do go out, they can’t relax because they can’t stop thinking about their children. They worry if they’re ok, are asleep or are they waiting for mummy to come home.
• They normally don’t have many friends left because they don’t have time to meet them as often as before or their child is anxious and could be overwhelmed to go to other places.
• When their friends make sure that everyone on social media knows how proud they are about their child studying in university the special mothers normally stay quiet and worry about what will happen when their children will turn 18? Will they be able to live an independent life, have friends, or will they be able to find a job in the future?
• They always say they’re OK and they don’t need any help from others because they’re too concentrated on their children and therapies for them and they believe that they’re capable enough to deal with their own problems themselves.
• When I ask them how they spend their free time they stay silent for a minute and then whisper with a smile on their face: “I just stare at the wall for an hour and enjoy the peace”.
• When I ask them what was the happiest day of their life, they never say it was the day when they won the lottery or when they got married. It’s normally the day when their child said “MUMMY” for the first time. It doesn’t matter if that was the day when the child was 6 years old or 12 or maybe he/she didn’t say it yet. It is or it will be the happiest day in their life.

The special mothers are amazing; they sacrifice everything for their loved ones and don’t realise that they are worth every single compliment in the world. They are the angels who live on the earth and deserve to be loved, appreciated and respected. Especially by themselves.

Dear mummies, have a wonderful Mothers Day!

Agne