Perception vs. Reality

A dear old friend of mine is in town for a few days. Her kids have "issues" too--not ADHD but behavioral issues that have caused similar frustration and energy-zapping. It was so nice yesterday to talk with someone else who understands! After hanging in the background of so many conversations about how awesome other people's kids are--academically, athletically ACHIEVING--it was nice to talk to another parent about "what's wrong with my kid??"

Don't get me wrong, my kids are amazing. I love them. They are incredibly talented--mostly at things that don't show up on report cards. It's crazy when you get a call from the youth group leader: "I just love your son. He's so fun. Amazingly talented and so good with the other kids. It's such a joy to have him as part of our group! And I need you to come pick him up because he just pushed a kid over." It's such a strange contrast! 

As my friend and I were talking, we shared the perception that ours were the only "weird" families. It's so easy to look at other people and their high-achieving "normal" kids and think that all is well with everyone else and we are the only abnormal family around! And it doesn't help that so many people try hard to keep up the perception of "normal" because they don't want to seem like weirdos. Well, perceptions are mostly inaccurate, I think, and I wonder how many people have looked at our family and thought, "why can't we be normal like they are?" If they only knew!