My little boy's birthday falls on Mother's Day this year. Long ago I decided to throw him a party with all his friends from his special school and from his mainstream inclusion school. He goes there just a few times a term but we felt it was important for him to mix with kids who don't have special needs. We wanted him to learn to play with them, and for them to learn to accept him, and so far it's been going pretty well.
So I booked this party and it falls on Mother's Day - the only day I could get the venue that was suitable - and I sent out the invitations. 10 kids from his special needs class, and 20 kids from his mainstream class, and I waited for the replies. From the special needs class 80% are coming to the party. From the mainstream class just 20%. The reason they all gave is because it's Mother's Day. I have no reason to doubt them (they all turned up to his last party and loved it), but I find it interesting that the families with 'regular' kids make plans to celebrate this day but we do not.
It is that Mother's Day is too much of a luxury for special needs families to indulge? Is it just not practical for Mum to take a day off? Or do we celebrate it, but just not in the same way? The thought of taking my autistic child for lunch in a restaurant on one of the busiest days of the year is madness, he would be overwhelmed by the noise and stressed by the waiting. Or maybe it is that the whole process of being a mother to a special needs child is so all-encompassing, so all-consuming that we can't allow ourselves to take any time off. Which is it then ladies?
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