It’s common for people to think that raising a child with Down syndrome is difficult. Quite often people believe they are going to struggle, they believe that Down Syndrome makes parenting harder. But if I was completely honest, for me, parenting Hope is no different than parenting my other kids. At times, it’s actually easier.

Hope and Alexander are now 3 ½ so the last couple of years have been busy. It’s a time where they are doing a lot of learning of what’s right and wrong. It’s a time where they are learning boundaries, and testing boundaries…. Sometimes REALLY testing boundaries. They are starting to find themselves and their personalities. It’s a great age, but it can be a difficult age. So… has it been more difficult with Hope? No. The thing is, I actually think, Hope has been easier than Alexander. Perhaps Hope’s time is still coming. I don’t know that she’s always going to be easy but when her time does come, I don’t imagine it’s going to be more difficult than it was with Alexander.

The thing is, parenting any child is difficult. It involves work. Every child is different, so what works with one child may not work with another and you’ve got to figure it out. When it comes to parenting a child like Hope, Down syndrome isn’t a problem. It comes down to attitude. If I was to look at Hope, see Down syndrome, and allow myself to think it’s more difficult, well then yes, it’s going to be more difficult. If I just remind myself that every child requires work, and every child has their own personality, then it’s easy to see that raising Hope is no different to raising my other kids. It’s not more difficult. It’s simply being a parent.