Even before our children are born, we carry a suitcase brimming with expectations. How we'll be as parents: patient, perpetually present, perfectly organized. We envision reading peacefully in the evening while our child drifts off to sleep. How we'll stroll calmly through the supermarket, child happily seated in the cart. How we'll effortlessly juggle career and family.
Then reality hits.
There's a mother from our community, a successful manager who focused on her career for years. "I thought I could just continue as before," she shares. "But my highly sensitive child needs me differently. After every outing, every social interaction, they need days to recover. My vision of a dynamic family life with spontaneous weekend trips crumbles a little more each day."
Or take the father who wished for his child to have a fulfilling school life with many friendships. Instead, he regularly attends teacher meetings because his child struggles to form social connections. The birthday parties where no one shows up. The break times his child spends alone. Each of these moments reopens old wounds—perhaps he was once the outsider himself?