A blog for anyone who needs to know they are not alone in raising a bipolar child.
Friday, May 21, 2010
"We're Too Normal"
I was watching "Wife Swap" tonight on the TV with my two youngest daughters. The show should really be called "Mom Swap" because that is what it is essentially. They take two radically different families, switch the moms for two weeks, and lo and behold you have a reality show. Of course one mom is always much too permissive, usually on the low end of income and education level, and the other one is often well-educated, materially blessed, Type A, and uptight about everything, and extremely protective. Mae asked if we could sign up to be on the show. I gave her a "no-way" look. Then Jane said we couldn't anyway because our family was too normal. TOO NORMAL?? Did I hear that right?! I was tickled. I really thought that she would say we were too messed up. Yes, we are a normal family, with issues like every family. Our oldest comments frequently that we have a very dysfunctional home, but then I ask her to look at the home lives of most of her friends. We are doing okay in comparison. Yes, at times we haven't felt the least bit normal, but I must say that this year has been a new "normal." I am grateful for the reprieve from the holes in the walls, the running away from home, the constant crises we were in for so many years. I realize that things could change, but for now, I am just thankful.
Ahhhh, enjoy this moment! It is so reassuring to hear that the siblings are getting through it all pretty well. My 7 year old just asked if my son's anger problems were all gone now, thankful to meds, we are seeing a new normal!
ReplyDeleteSometimes its good to be "normal"
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine on Facebook wrote that a family of more than one person is a dysfunctional one...
ReplyDelete:-)
I've thought about going on this show, but we are "too normal" too. They only take people of extremes, and while my kids are extreme. We aren't so much.
ReplyDeleteI could never do it anyway though. We're still in the middle of attachment/therapeutic parenting. I'd just be made to look like an overly restrictive witch as my kids behave perfectly for the new person (they both have "charming RAD").
Mary in TX