Parenting:

We have gone a long way with love, acknowledgement and encouragement. We use a lot of our time with Mollie, and we invite her to participate in our daily doings. It has been a great challenge to have a child with Microdeletion syndrome 16p11.2-p12.2, but it has also been very educational and fantastic. We might have a different everyday life compared to other parents, but it is an everyday life that works and includes a lot of joyful times.
We don’t ignore the fact, that raising a child with a handicap takes extra resources, but we would like to make it clear, that we wouldn’t want to be without Mollie, and she has made us the people we are today. We take nothing for granted, and we have a positive and modest approach to life.

5 years of age:
In order to relieve us, we have hired two girls to take care of Mollie 5 hours a week. They often take Mollie out, so we can have some time alone with each other and also attend to other doings.

6 years of age: It is a great challenge to have a child with such diversion , but having an organized day and repeating activities makes it easier. However the weekends can be difficult. Realizing this, we have hired some support to give us some time to relax and unwind. We intend to apply for a support family.

7 years of age: We have finally fund a support family, that can take care of Mollie one weekend per mounth and one day per week.

When you get a handicapped child it is very important that you focus on the possibilities and not the restrictions. These children need to have parents, who set goals in regard to development and social skills.
Right now our focus is on Mollies behavior towards other people. We try to teach her to listen and not hit others. If we don’t help her to change these inappropriate behavior patterns, the result will be that Mollie gets one more handicap when it comes to her relation to other people.  Furthermore Mollie is getting bigger and it is not possible to have a big girl living with us who hits us and others. Parents who have handicapped children (including us) are exceptionally good at using their child’s handicap as an excuse for bad behavior. But isn’t it just us parents who let the children get off with bad habits because we get tired of repeating everything a lot of times.
We co-operate with the school in an attempt to prevent her from hitting anyone; If Mollie hits someone, the school immediately notifies us. Then we talk to Mollie about what has happened. We remind her not to hit anyone and instead seek help from an adult.