Here is the straight up truth about Parenting a kid who has a bum leg. It is HARD. It is so freaking hard that sometimes I battle to find the words to describe how i’m feeling.

I go from feeling empathy at my poor kid who is so used to running around, doing and going where he wants (within the house or play parameters!) and now watching him sit and literally do nothing. I try to limit screen time but he is in such a depression and this is so hard to explain to others. He doesn’t want to play! He sits there with his toys and just stares at them. At least with the iPad he is actually DOES something.

I feel annoyed. Hearing ‘Mom do this’, ‘Mom do that’ 1000 times every hour is slowly chipping away at my, currently, very thin layer of patience. I remind him that he needs to ask nicely but deep down, i get it man. He’s depressed and annoyed himself! He also has no way of expressing this with words! So he expresses it with actions and a hint of bitterness.

I feel guilty, for feeling annoyed. And I mean this is on top of the natural Mom Guilt. I feel guilty for feeling like i’m going to explode if i hear ‘Mommy’ one more time! He really has no other choice.

I feel overwhelming love for this kid. Every time he figures something out that he can do for himself (like he rolls on his back to put his pants on/off by himself) he looks at me and asks “Mommy! Look! I did it myself! Are you proud of me?” and I am! I am really proud of him!

And then after going through all these emotions, within seconds of each other sometimes, I feel a new found respect for parents of kids that have permanent disabilities! Seriously people, hats off to you! I respect you and I totally admire you. And even though what I feel on a daily basis is a mere drop in the emotional pool that you sometimes find yourself drowning in, I have buckets of empathy for you!

With this immense respect in my heart I perused this website: http://www.sunshine.org.za/wish-list.html 

They are a charity that help kids with disabilities. I smsed ‘Shine’ to 38844 to donate R10 and hope that my readers will do the same (if they are able). Also, please have a look at their wish list, perhaps you have some of these items just gathering dust? Please consider donating to this organization.

Much love!