Let me introduce our guest blogger Zoe;
Hi, I’m Zoe, 28, a mum of three, girlfriend and
someone who wishes sometimes she had the career she trained for!
The title is our life in a nutshell, although I’m sure that’s pretty much any parent’s life in a nutshell!
Unfortunately, life just doesn’t always give you the easiest route, and I know
I’m definitely not the only one. There are others out there who definitely
aren’t as lucky as some of us.
These are my three kids – Jay(6), Lucie (4) and Archie (3).
Now you know why we’re upside down here!
Jay and Lucie both have Down’s Syndrome, and while it is a major part of their lives, it’s not what defines
them. As a mother, to be told your child has any condition is heartbreaking. And at the time, you
struggle to think of any positives.
Don’t get me wrong, their condition impedes daily life, but,
sometimes we are guilty of forgetting that they have any condition at all! They are treated with the
same rules as their brother, and they complete just as many tasks at home. Jay really loves
housework, he’s the quickest to pick up a duster! Life here doesn’t revolve around Jay and Lucie
having Down’s Syndrome, our life just revolves around our kids in general.
I’m not afraid to say, there are times when I struggle. There are times where I need five minutes
hiding in the kitchen eating a Dairy Milk. But there are also all those milestones that you wonder will
your child ever reach.
We watch Archie achieve these things with ease, and then we can really see
how hard the other two have worked to get to that point. Sometimes, I just want to be a parent who
doesn’t have people looking at her in the street, pitying me. Or telling me that I’m lucky because Jay
and Lucie are so loving. Believe me, Archie doesn’t love me any less or any more!
I struggle with the fact that there is still such a stigma with having a child with disabilities and I understand that this will probably never go away, but it concerns me nonetheless.
I’m proud of my kids, and I’m not ashamed to say that sometimes they drive me mad, but at the end
of the day for me, they’re just kids. My kids.
Jay and Lucie are just Jay and Lucie, they’re Archie’s
brother and sister, they’re exactly what we as parents allow them to be! They have an extra
chromosome, but not extra special treatment! My world may have been turned upside down at a
time, both my partner and I!
But we have three happy kids, and that means more to us than any diagnosis. All we can hope for, is that over time, society will learn to #losethelabel and treat everyone equally.
Lots of love,
Zoe x