Trust me, There is More Going on Than You Think

View image | gettyimages.com

So a couple of weeks ago, my husband and kids went to dinner after church. I stayed behind for a women's meeting. I got a text from my hubby saying my baby girl didn't want to cooperate and was refusing to eat. This isn't a new condition, sometimes she is just moody and doesn't want to cooperate, sometimes the medicine means her appetite isn't as strong during the day. I didn't give the text much thought and continued with my meeting.

When they returned from lunch, my son said a woman in the restaurant kept staring during their meal and it really aggravated him. He said they seemed bothered by the fact the Jalyn was simply sitting there and wasn't eating.

You see where this is going. When I asked my husband about it, he said they walked over to him and said: "We were just concerned, your daughter isn't eating." Way to state the obvious. We were just wondering if there was anything we could do to help.

Really? Um, I'm gonna go with no. He said they let it go at that, although they didn't seemed convinced.  And they totally freaked my son out. While he understood why they seemed so interested in what was going on at their table, he didn't like the staring.  He wanted to eat in peace.

While intellectually I understand the human need to interject oneself into a situation like this one,  it is still really aggravating. Do you really think we would bring her out in public and then refuse to feed her while everyone else is eating? Maybe she was just not feeling well, or she just wasn't hungry. And I don't feel I should have to explain it to you, because trust me, there is more going on than you think.

Having a special needs child has taught me not do jump to conclusions when I see certain things. A child yelling out in a movie or restaurant may not be the result of just bad manners. Or when you speak to a child and they refuse to make eye contact, maybe it isn't that they are being rude.

I know that people mean well, but from the perspective of a mom raising a special needs child, I wish people would think about it before diving in... cuz trust me, there is WAY more going on than you think.