Take your time

We all only want the best for our children. We want them to be happy, content and healthy.

We want them to succeed to the very best of their ability, we want them to be all that they can be. 

But what if your child can never be compared to the likes of Joe Bloggs next to him? What if his entire developmental life you have had to fight to show the world what he can do, when all they have focused on is what he can't do? 

Leo is bright and caring, he is lovable and cheeky. He pushes his boundaries and looks for adventure. He is happy. He is so happy. He loves his family, and is loved completely and entirely in return. He learns at his own pace. He has never followed the expectations marked out for him that pit him up against other children. The line that has put him behind in every sense of the word for so long.

I knew starting school there would be concerns. I am used to it. I live by the motto 'As long as I can see that he is learning, whatever speed that may be, I am happy'. I don't care if the other children can count out 10 blocks and match each of the blocks to the appropriate number. and Leo can't, if the other children are reading short stories mere months after starting school. I don't care. I care about what Leo is doing. He might not be doing any of that, he isn't doing any of that, but he is picking out letters, he's telling me what they are. He's recognising them. He's trying and something is going in.

He recognises his name. 

He's learning to write his name.

His speech has come along in leaps and bounds! 

He tells stories,

He goes into school happy.

He's trying new meals at lunchtimes,

He's making friends.

He's learning in his own way!

Everyone around Leo just wants the best for him, his family and his teachers. I will make sure he gets all the support he needs, but I just wish that we could focus on what he can do over what he can't quite yet. Because in time he WILL do it, but only when he is ready. Leo really is so much like me, I didn't read for the first year at school, and I struggled. It makes sense that Leo might learn like I did. Slowly and at a pace he has tailored for himself. 

In a recent meeting with his teacher I explained that I had been here before. I know that Leo is behind, it's been pointed out so many times over the years. He gets distracted, he doesn't concentrate, he likes to do his own thing. It's time to conform and in his own way, he is starting to. 

It's been 3 months since he started school, 3 months. He is 4 years old. 4. He's still so young. In those 3 months he has come on so much, and just look at what he is doing that he wasn't when he started. 

I choose to focus on what Leo can do over what he can't. When I say can't. I mean can't right now, because my boy will do it. One day. 

Leo will be all that he is supposed to be. He will be all that he can. He will be happy and he will be loved and cared for. So learning might be hard, but that doesn't mean that he won't do amazing and wonderful things with his life. 

As long as he is learning, I am happy.