This section of the website includes articles on coping, acceptance, obtaining support, faith, and other topics related to parenting a child with complex medical issues.
Supporting Caregivers
- Painting Her in Color
- Communities of Grieving
- On Parenting a Tightrope Walker
- Climbing the Emotional Caregiving Mountain
- 10 Tips to Surviving the Holidays When Your Child is Medically Complex or Has a Disability
- Please Let Me Sleep! Chronic Sleep Deprivation in Parents of Kids Who are Medically Complex
- Coping with Unwanted Advice about Your Child’s Medical Condition
- Coping with a Rare Trisomy: Prayer Can Change the Situation
- My Declaration as a Medical Special Needs Parent
- Mother’s Day for Parents of Children with Disabilities
- Tracking the Struggles and the Joys
- The Mind and Emotions of Caregivers: The Challenges of Mental Health
- The Caregiving Journey: From Isolation to Building Bridges
- Balancing Work and Raising Kids with Special Needs: Not for the Faint of Heart
- Mental Illness in Caregivers
- When Your Marriage Does Not Survive
- The Grief of Caregivers: A Religious Perspective
- The Strain of Caregiving
- Changing How You View Date Night
- 10 Ways to Find Balance
- Something’s Got to Give: Dealing with Caregiver Burnout When You Are On 24/7
- Pregnant with a Diagnosis: The Birth of a Mama Bear
- Balancing Act
- When Hope Begets Tears: The Task of Letting Go Just a Little
- Enriching Escapes: The Need for Respite in an Effort to Avoid Burnout
- Sisterhood: Supporting Other Young Adults with Similar Conditions
- Handling a Medical Condition in Middle School
- Here’s What I Learned from Talking with Older Kids With Disabilities
- Parenting an Older Child Who is Medically Complex
- To the Doctor Who Told Me Not to Get Attached to My Baby
- Help a Caregiver Today
- A Letter to My NICU Self
- A Mother’s Mission Statement
- Finding My Voice by Using It
- Who Understands Your Child with Special Needs Best: You or a Healthcare Professional?
- Life on a Roller Coaster
- Coping Emotionally with a Special Needs Diagnosis
- Parent or Carer?
- The Smell of Thanksgiving
- A Different Type of Perfect
- I Watch Her
- Journey into the Unknown: Questions in Early Childhood
- Enough
- “Those Parents”
- When Everything is a Fight
- 8 Unexpected Emotions at a Child’s End-of-Life
- The Antidepressant Trap
- It Can Happen to You
- The Unexpected: Where are the Rest of the Chapters in the Book?
- A Complex Journey
- “At Least It Isn’t Cancer!”
- What I Need…But Don’t Really Want You to Know
- Dying from Nothing: When You Never Get Answers
- Finding my Superpower: On Becoming a Trach Mom
- Keeping Your Child’s Memory Alive
- Preserving Memories of Unconditional Love
- The Informed Caregiver
- 5 Gifts of Parenting Children with Special Needs
- More Difficult or Less Difficult? The Path of Choosing to be a Parent
- Dealing with “It Won’t Happen To Me” Syndrome
- Book Review: The Able Life Of Cody Jane: Still Celebrating by Marly Cornell
- Book Review: Views From Our Shoes: Growing Up with a Brother or Sister with Special Needs by Donald Meyer
- Book Review: Tasting Life: A Story of Courage, Strength, Humor and Love in the Face of a Chronic Illness by Inalee Koonin
- Book Review: Different Dream Parenting by Jolene Philo
- The In-Betweens: A Parent/Nurse Perspective on Children with Severe Disabilities
- The Long Road Ahead
- More than a Mom
- Five Rules to Live By With a Disability
- Top 8 Super Powers of Special Needs Parents
- The Most Annoying Part of Special Needs Parenting
- Thwarting Murphy: 8 Humorous Ways to Avoid Hospitalizations
- The Complexities of Coping
- The Pain Scale of Life: Helping Each Other Cope
- My Real Child
- Why I am a Proud Preemie Mom: Finding the Good in Everything
- Every Day, We Choose Joy
- Losing Faith: Coping Without God
- Coping Through Faith
- What Lies Within
- Why I Don’t Do Dishes
- Not Quite Rock Star Status: Moving Beyond the Public Perception of Caregiving
- Every Little Inchstone
- Celebrating a Lifetime in a Year
- Celebrating with Meaning
- Rolling with the Special Needs Certified First Responders
- You Will Be OK
- Climbing: Love, Fear and Letting Go
- Feelings About My Brother
- Happiness: The Most Remarkable Present of All
- Mamma in the Pressure Cooker: Being a Mom, Caregiver, and Expected Miracle Worker
- Optimism
- Learning to Cope
- My Extraordinary Little Man
- Learning to Enjoy the Inchstones
- The Blessings of Fostering Children with Medical Needs
- What You Least Expected: Rewriting the Parenting Book
- Living at Natalie’s Speed: The Joys of Slowing Down
- Finding My Muchness: Silencing My Inner Imposter
- I Am a Warrior; I Am a Mother
Caring for Caregivers
- Please Let Me Sleep! Chronic Sleep Deprivation in Parents of Kids Who are Medically Complex
- The Mind and Emotions of Caregivers: The Challenges of Mental Health
- The Caregiving Journey: From Isolation to Building Bridges
- Balancing Work and Raising Kids with Special Needs: Not for the Faint of Heart
- Mental Illness in Caregivers
- When Your Marriage Does Not Survive
- The Strain of Caregiving
- Changing How You View Date Night
- 10 Ways to Find Balance
- Watch Your Back!
- Something’s Got to Give: Dealing with Caregiver Burnout When You Are On 24/7
- Parenting a Child with a Life Threatening Illness: The Best Mindfulness Practice of them All?
- Self-Actualization and Mothering a Boy with a Disability
- We’re Not There (Yet) Spiritually
- Help a Caregiver Today
- A Different Type of Perfect
- Enough
- Special Needs Parents Get Cancer Too
- The Stress of it All
- The Three Types of Caregiver Stress
- 10 Tips for Relieving and Preventing Caregiver Stress
- Caring for the Caregiver
- 8 New Year’s Resolutions for Parents of Kids with Complex Medical Issues
- 5 Things Every Special Needs Parent Should STOP Doing
- 8 Ways to Help Families in the Hospital
- Top 8 Super Powers of Special Needs Parents
- Ticket Please: The Caregiving Rollercoaster
- Caregiving Stress: The Beautiful Mess
- Asking for Help: The Unexpected Results
- Tips to Thrive for Parents of Children with Special Needs
- Zumba Mom: Using Exercise to Manage Stress
- Making Time for Yourself
- The Many Parts of Me: Parenting with Mental Illness
- Rolling with the Special Needs Certified First Responders
- Mamma in the Pressure Cooker: Being a Mom, Caregiver, and Expected Miracle Worker
- Finding My Muchness: Silencing My Inner Imposter
- I Am a Warrior; I Am a Mother
Religion and Spirituality
- Coping with a Rare Trisomy: Prayer Can Change the Situation
- The Grief of Caregivers: A Religious Perspective
- Parenting a Child with a Life Threatening Illness: The Best Mindfulness Practice of them All?
- Don’t Blame Children for Their Medical Conditions: A Christian Perspective
- Self-Actualization and Mothering a Boy with a Disability
- Faith and Miracles in the Midst of Disability
- We’re Not There (Yet) Spiritually
- “I’ll Pray for You”: Faith, Religion, Spirituality
- The “Man” in the Sky?
- Everything DOESN’T Happen For a Reason
- From Sadness to Gratitude: The Spirituality of Special Needs
- God’s Got This: Embracing Respite
- Losing Faith: Coping Without God
- Coping Through Faith
- Tips to Thrive for Parents of Children with Special Needs
- Making Time for Yourself
Articles from the Archives
These articles have not yet been transferred over from our old website. They will open in a new window.
- Just Five Minutes
- Saving Your Sanity through Respite Care
- Coping with Neurological Impairment
- Cultivating Relationships: Relating to Your “Typical” Friends
- Acceptance is a Rollercoaster
- Coping Lessons from a Reed
- Finding Peer Support as a Parent
- Dealing with Negative Reports and Evaluations
- Taking Care of You, Part I: Treat Yourself to a Massage
- Taking Care of You, Part II: Keeping Yourself Healthy, Physically and Emotionally
- Claiming Your Holiday Cheer
- Christmas on the Wards
- The Importance of Respite
- Using Children’s Books to Support Siblings
- How Do You Do It?
- Raising Children Who Don’t Eat in a Food-Centered World
- Beating the Odds: Making Your Marriage Work
- Family Matters: Seeing with the Heart
- Raising Healthy, Happy Siblings
- Remembering Sebastian with Joy: Rituals of Remembrance
- Living Your Best While Preparing for the Worst
- Teens and Mitochondrial Disease
- Seasons of Love
- Swinging the Illness Pendulum
- It Will Be OK: A Primer For the Newly Diagnosed
- Why? My Personal Journey with Faith and Raising a Child with Special Needs
- Fully Rely on God: Christopher’s Story of Hope, Faith and Healing
- “Just Five More Minutes!” A Look at Chronic Sleep Deprivation in Parenting Children With Special and Medical Needs
- Feeding Tube Awareness Week
- Alleviating Stress
- When did Marital Bliss become an Endless Seesaw Ride?
- Stigmatize Me: Why I’m Now Taking Antidepressants
- PTSD in Children with Special Needs and Their Caregivers
- Finding Joy in the Midst of the Battle
- One BIG Miracle in Such a Small Girl
- Learning to Live with Labels
- Tommy’s Life: It’s the Legacy that Matters