Love and affection with all our kids is so important, and it is my opinion that an extra dose of affection is nurturing for our learning disabled and challenged kids.

This was really brought to my attention as worth talking about after watching an Oprah television show: one of the guests was a young mother whose 18 month old daughter had Down's Syndrome.

During part of the segment the mother cuddled her daughter on her lap just as we would any child, but the way the child responded with hugs of her own made a big impression on me. The mother even made a point of saying that her daughter needed lots of loving as all special kids do.

The bond of unconditional love and affection between mother and child was very evident in that we could see the protective instinct of a parent for a child as the mother surrounded her child with arms of love.

This scene made me reflect that affection and nurturing is a two-way street between parents and kids. When we truly feel affection for kids they respond in kind to the best of their abilities. And how wonderful is that?

Kids may not all live up to the same academic standards and they don't need to. We are all spokes in the wheel of life and have our places and functions. If we would stand back and look at the overview we would more clearly see the place each of us has in the whole tapestry of humanity; a tapestry ever changing with growing awareness of the falling boundaries of our small planet on the world landscape.

To summarize, all kids need unconditional love and affection. And we need to give affectionately as much as they need the nurturing, because we expand in our ability to love and care about others beyond our families the more we learn to give of ourselves. Let's remember that our challenged kids need our love and affection when they are confused or upset or hurt; it may be the only communication that has meaning for both parent and child. And, we are all important parts of earth's family as it expands into the universe.

Article by Susan Kramer

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