What do I want for him

I have heard almost everyone I know who has children say some variation of the following: "I just hope my kid can get into college and get a good job." Not an unreasonable goal. If your child has special needs your desires are much simpler- I just want my kid to be able to take care of himself and be a good person. Now you may ask why I didn't include "be happy" in there. First, its been my experience that most kids with disabilities are pretty happy- they don't know they shouldn't be. Second, if Dakota can do the first two, I think being happy will take care of itself (not bad advice for me either). I must admit lately I worry about him being able to take care of himself. For some reason he has become fascinated with America's Funniest Videos- and there are very rarely any people on there who have the sense not to try to eat rocks! I mean the tag line for the show is basically "Here- hold my beer I wanna try somethin".

Other people worry about their kids getting their license, or getting on the little league team or in the band. I just worry about what will happen to Dakota if I die. And thats not because I don't have an ego or I'm a deeper person -and I know other people worry about it too. Its because I-and other parents of children with special needs-have to worry about it. Because its not as easy as knowing your parents or a close friend will take your child if/when you die. Who has the time, the resources, the patience, the commitment - the amount of love for your child it requires to take on the task of a child with disabilities? I worry about it every day and it scares me just as much every day.