Cameron does not want me to kiss him in public anymore. What you see above is his first written declaration of love for his classmate Kirsten. Throughout several weeks he was acting like a radar by following every one of her moves. Every day he would come home with a full report.
"Mom, Kirsten said hi during recess. Mom, Kirsten did not look at me today. Mom, I will marry Kirsten."
It warmed my heart to think that he was falling for a girl for the first time. However, I had mixed feelings about how he and typical girls would react to his falling in love with them. He is now 11 years old and thus far he has never felt "different". Kirsten is a typical girl.
How could I explain that not all the girls will be interested in him? Harder yet, how would I explain that the majority of typical girls will not be interested in him? They will "love" him according to what is "accepted" and the "norm" but not "love" him as in falling in love with him and as he would like to be loved by them.
How can I spare him of the pain of rejection and even more so of being rejected by typical girls because he has Down Syndrome?
Well, the best way that I could find to explain it to him is very simple. I told him that regardless if someone has Down Syndrome or not finding a lover for life is not easy. However, I assured him that God someone special waiting for him.
As a mother of a child with Down Syndrome, I know that I will have a key role in including him as much as possible in as many groups as possible where he will have the opportunity to interact with peers. I will have a key role in giving him opportunities to build friendships and perhaps even in him finding his soulmate.
The first step is to open the doors of possibilities for him because opposite of what I thought when he was a newborn- falling in love, true love, can happen amongst people with intellectual disabilities.
Is is not the same way for the general "typical" population?
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