[Ell-Bell]

I know this could be posted elsewhere, but I just wanted to "chat" with my peeps, not necissarily start a huge thread...

Todays Dr. Phil has a mom who has a daughter with Praeder Willy Syndrome, and can't control her eating (among other things) and this mom calls her stupid, fat, etc. She makes me sick!

I'm so saddened by watching this. :-( I think so far that Dr. Phil is responding fairly well to her, but I think this woman is just a superficial woman- it makes me so sad to see special needs kids with a parent that is completely incapable of raising a special needs child. The girl needs loving, not berating!

Anyhow, Just wondering if anyone else watched... made me cry!

 

[rmzbm]

 

[AppleCrisp]

What did she think Dr. Phil was going to say, other than she has to get a grip and understand that its a disease?

We get parents sometimes who are so hard-headed...one right now has a child who really needs hearing aids, but she doesn't want him to look ugly, so she refuses to do it. We try explaining that he is at risk for total academic failure, social/emotional failure, etc. but she just puts on her coat and walks out. I can understand if you choose not to, if you have a plan and another way to you want to deal with the health issue, but just doing nothing because you don't want the kid to look "different" makes me mad.

 

[Ell-Bell]

Man, that kills me! I'm a sign language interpreter.

I imagine that mom wouldn't want her kid to sign either because people might stare? We should cherish having a diverse community- besides, hearing aids aren't that bad, they have all kind of funky new colors, etc. Ugh.

I have worked a lot with special needs kids, one girl I nannied for has Rett Syndrome. She is the most beautiful girl ever! When we go out to eat she drools, and has to be fed. People stare. I don't mind that so much, I just wish they would smile, or say hi, or something. Kids like her have so much more to teach the world than people know!

But todays show was just awful with the MOM not getting that her child has a disability. It's not the girls fault, and mom kept saying that "she KNOWS better"... yikes! I thought Dr. Phils point that "Well, YOU know better than to slap her and call her names, but YOU still do it, and you don't even have a disability!" was great... unfortunately it just went in one ear and out the other.

 

[Mariposa]

how sad. glad i didn't see it. especially pregnant. brings out the emotions big time. i can't even listen to some songs on the radio now. that poor girl. shame on her mama.

 

[scatterbrainedmom]

dang it!!

I wanted to watch that. My brother has Pradder Willy Syndrome.

Beside the mom, was the show informative about the syndrome?

I am so glad this is becoming more known about. The Discovery Heatlth channel did a show on it awhile back.

 

[RedOakMomma]

Was this the show they'd been advertising a lot all season? Where the mom loves her "normal" daughter but is ashamed of her other daughter? Even the commercials made me cry....

When dh and I found out we'd have twins, an unplanned (unmarried) pregnancy, we thought about giving them up for adoption. I look back on that know, having found out they're disabled, and I'm so thankful they're with us. No one but their parents would give them the kind of love and patience they need. I mean, I know there are some saintly adoptive parents out there, but it's a parent's special job to love their kids no matter what. At the darkest moments of raising my boys, when their illness seems so all encompasing, unfair, and brutal, I'm comforted by the fact that, even if it makes life really, really tough, at least *we're* the ones raising and loving them.

I feel sorry for that woman. Something in her must be terribly hurt to deny love to her daughter. Makes me think of the grinch...that his heart was five times too small.

I really hope someone out there (authorities or otherwise) can offer that girl a better home. I hope the mom loves her at least enough to let her go.