After A DS Child. It’s You That Has To Step Up To Unique Abilities – So She Will Too
No one teaches you how to embrace your child’s or your own unique abilities. No one shows you how to transition from negative to positive.
You learn it alone. From each other – my DS kiddo, she gets knocked down. But doesn’t want to get back up! She isn’t an over achiever. Not like me. Not like the rest of the family. She truly doesn’t want to get back up. And isn’t motivated. She wants to live in a safe place, cuddled and nurtured without challenge. How will she survive alone?
CUE – her mother, me. I’ve run many miles on this earth and scuba dived thousands of miles on and beneath the waters. Free diving instructor, also Emperor Divers, Hurghada, Egypt Scuba Cartographer. Mapping all the beautiful reefs from the scuba hotel down to Sudan.
Step Up To Unique Abilities & Just Pick Yourself Up Too!
Unique Abilities – I have taught many people to scuba dive and free dive. They have overcome their fears and learned safety practices. I’ve been a journalist and an illustrator a motorbike dispatch rider and a Student Union Representative at University. I have gotten inside people’s heads and understood them totally. Been a Board member of The Chamber Of Commerce. I have run my own home school and worked First Class Cabins on Transatlantic Commercial Airlines. I have raised 4 over achieving children. And stayed married!
How do you stay motivated then? You have to tap in to your strengths. Step up unique abilities & just pick yourself up! Let the facts speak for themselves. Because nobody ever returned their money to me or rejected my skill set. So I am good enough and don’t need emotional validation.
They never canceled their classes. No one asked for a refund for my wedding photography, videography, or drone business. No one ever fired me. I am still modeling trendy clothes for local boutiques and writing on my blog and social media. Admittedly I had journalistic ideas and sometimes stories rejected. BUT
But where is my DS kiddo’s drive? Or her intense good habits? What about her emotional validation. Well. She is about to launch into a world far from us and alone. Let’s see. She loves to sing and dance. She also plays Minecraft, Fashion games, and Roblox. Additionally, she enjoys Tomb Raider, Call Of Duty, and Jurassic Park at the arcade. She performs on stage. She LOVES this. These are her unique abilities.
Step Up Unique Abilities
When I get knocked down…I get back up again..I’m an immigrant..and..I had a daughter with Down syndrome who kicked my ass on motivation and positive attitude. She will outlast me when she doesn’t wanna do anything…lack of motivation is really challenging.
I recognize that the unique biological and metabolic differences in people with Down Syndrome may contribute to varying motivation levels. I also believe that with understanding and support, we can find effective ways to keep Laila focused. We can keep her energized. We will help her to step up unique abilities.
I have endured through the knock downs. I have succeeded in every area in my life that I’ve chosen to excel in. However, Laila is not interested in improving her reading skills. She shows little interest in getting better at math or writing either. These are hard things to continue to be positive about.
Journalism, Motherhood, Wife-ing, Athletics, Fashion Model, Photography, Drone Pilot.
No not a PhD Marine Biologist, nor a US Naval Aviator or a Civil Air Patrol pilot. My other kids are. But not Laila.
Just Pick Yourself Up – Awareness & Down Syndrome
My most photographed and shared subject is Laila Yasmine Jones.
For some reason she seems to be the star of everybody’s life. And it’s almost as if her brilliance brings everybody else along with it. She loves to perform, sing, dance, fashionably flaunt. Give her a runway and she will dominate. She definitely has tools with which to step up her unique abilities.
She’s not jealous or shy or restrained about herself. She has set boundaries and I have learned from her how to set my own.
Sincere honesty is not something anybody can be offended by. It’s never done in spite. You can tell she’s not ready to blow up at you.
She’s just telling you ‘no I don’t want to do that.’
If you know she needs to do this thing, encourage her. She might not get into the college she wants if she doesn’t. She won’t be able to live by herself on campus otherwise. And if she doesn’t do this thing then you have a battle on your hands. Because one thing she doesn’t really get is long term consequences for her actions.
That battle right there can be legendary. It can be epically long and painful if you lose your patience. You have to know how to handle somebody like Laila. There have to be jokes. You need decent amounts of bribery and underhanded skulduggery. Always, a lot of love is necessary!
‘DOWN SYNDROME – Like Me!?’
But once she gets it, she gets it – hundred percent – she knows she has a chromosomal enhancement. I tell her “your mother has her own chromosomal enhancement. It’s called being a drama queen” and I established that her difference is normal and her existence is essential. But the need to label never goes away. Does it?
‘Mom, I’m 19 now, can I stop being Down Syndrome?’ Laila knows she is DS. She is on a path of awareness, a struggle to comprehend, occasional depression, and periods of joy, with enlightened acceptance.
And so – we encourage – just dance, musical performance, weight lifting, walking..swimming, cooking and cleaning, basics. She needs to keep learning and do more and more independent actions – life skills for her life of awesomeness! Because I want her to live by her own means and thrive.
Step Up Unique Abilities – her answer is – sing – dance – play.
Being aware of herself – she now sees herself in comparison to those around her. Who are driving cars, leaving for college, dating and doing other fun things that she is not.
Why Aren’t I Driving?
She works at Publix Supermarket, in customer service. Since 2020, she has walked to and from the school bus stop. She travels unassisted by plane to and from her friend’s house. She remains a little too cloistered at school. Fear drives most of that. But we are working on it.
Arriving at the driving challenge. We just have not. Done it. A golf cart will be her first vehicle!
Independence – The Streets Of Key West
We thrive when we are in the right environment. Laila is best when she is in a city with pavements and walking areas. There should be a center where she can walk to and from, and a public transport infrastructure should exist.
We don’t have that here in Key Largo. Key West is the only location where there’s a central area to walk as a pedestrian safely. And there is a risk of crime there that she needs to become familiar with – such a trusting soul!
Laila‘s strengths are walking slowly and interacting with people and seeing and looking and doing what she wants to learn. So – I’ve been teaching her this as much as possible with trips to cities and countries.
I’m hoping she’s ready to cross the roads of Key West safely. She needs to get from her apartment downtown for dental appointments, medical appointments, and a couple of coffee. She also needs to go for meals, entertainment, and a job.
More about Laila. Next month.
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