good luck, babe!

WAIT HOLD ON I cannot fucking believe when I was like four years old my parents were cajoling me to walk with the family and trying to get me to keep up even though I kept insisting that I was "tired" until they took me to a doctor and found out my LUNGS DIDN'T WORK. how insane that we live in a world where reasonably loving parents think their FOUR YEAR OLD is trying to be LAZY. like they were mortified to be clear. adults are just so trained to ignore children's complaints as untrustworthy, kids just need discipline, they can't possibly speak for themselves. what the fuuuuck.

YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE BTW you should always be trying to take children seriously, especially very little ones but definitely all of them. the most disempowered class basically legally defined as property and most people are like "yeah that's good actually I hate when they Loiter lol they're stupid and loud and i actually think children should stop existing. restrict their personhood more actually"

this is what the other side of trying to do it right looks like btw. my post emphasizes giving a damn and listening to kids at all, and all the horror stories in the notes illustrate how lacking that was for them. but when we adults try to meet their needs as best we can, it still doesn't go perfectly. however, I think in the end this child will grow up knowing his parents tried their best and listened closely and chased answers while being sensitive to his pain. disability and health challenges exist regardless, and love alone won't solve those problems, but it will create children who become adults that can trust that the world is worth living in, that their suffering is real and deserves correcting, that they have a voice that matters. ultimately, that's what we needed and what they will need.