So my daughter wanted to quit dance class, and I wrote about it for Scary Mommy. You may already be familiar with the Scary Mommy website and/or social media. The site’s content is mostly about parenting – especially the challenges that can make it “scary.” I was happy to be able to tell this about Penny, my teenager who has Down Syndrome (with her full permission).

Interested in finding out exactly what happened when Penny wanted to quit hip-hop dance this summer? Read the post on Scary Mommy here.

Here is a bit of what I learned from the experience and the questions it made me ask myself:

“How many times have I accepted defeat because I wasn’t willing to admit my needs? How many times have I missed an opportunity for joy because I was afraid to ask for help? If Penny’s teacher hadn’t believed in her, or if Peter and I had agreed with her that it was just too much, or if she hadn’t summoned the courage to ask for help, she would never have learned about her own resilience and perseverance and potential for growth.”

If you’re interested in reading more about Penny, here is a post from last year – from the first day of 7th grade. She has grown up a lot since then, as this latest story shows.

I am grateful to Scary Mommy for sharing our experience, and especially for their content specifically for parents with kids who have Special Needs.

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