Physical Differences and Acceptance

Any parent who knows that their child is going to be born with a physical difference will likely have concerns early on about their child being accepted with those differences. This can also go for changes the child may encounter as they grow. My oldest daughter wears a hearing aid in one ear and she didn't receive the hearing aid until the summer before 4th grade. That hearing aid definitely sparked discussions at home about bullying and acceptance of differences in others.

When Noah was born, my daughters were just 6 and 3. When they met their brother the first thing they said was "he is SO cute!" They knew he would have a cleft, we had discussed that before Noah's birth. But they didn't really even say much about his cleft lip at first. After Noah came home, they did have questions so we would answer them and discuss anything until they were satisfied. What I eventually saw was that my girls would teach other kids about Noah. They would answer curious friends who saw Noah before his lip repair with such confidence. Even though Noah's lip repair was in 2009, they still share photos of Noah pre-lip repair. When my oldest daughter's class was reading a book about a child with a facial difference, she immediately took in photos of Noah so she could show her classmates. I've loved seeing my girls spread awareness and acceptance to everyone around them.

However, there is still some work to do in our communities about acceptance. I had a great opportunity to take part in a discussion titled "How To Talk To Kids About Physical Differences". Included in that segment was Martha Griffin, a mom to a little boy who was born with a facial birthmark and Dr. Jill Emanuele who is Clinical Psychologist.

Take a look at the segment by clicking the link below: