{"id":293,"date":"2010-07-08T10:30:23","date_gmt":"2010-07-08T10:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/down-syndrome-siblings-and-keeping-each-other-safe.html"},"modified":"2010-07-08T10:30:23","modified_gmt":"2010-07-08T10:30:23","slug":"down-syndrome-siblings-and-keeping-each-other-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/down-syndrome-siblings-and-keeping-each-other-safe.html","title":{"rendered":"Down Syndrome, Siblings, and Keeping Each Other Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Penny<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

When I was pregnant with William, people often remarked, “It
\nwill be so good for Penny to have a sibling.” Even though they meant well, I
\nalways felt indignant and replied, “It will be so good for this baby to have
\nPenny.” <\/p>\n

And as Penny and William grow up together, again and again I
\nfind myself marveling at the “goodness” of their relationships. Don’t get me
\nwrong–every day includes grabbing and tears and sometimes pushing or banging
\none another on the head. Most days include Penny assuming her stern parent
\nrole: “No William! You may NOT take my book, or toy, or baby, away from me!” Some days also include (like this morning) William’s antics: “William take off diaper, go tinkle on pillow!” But most days also include portraits of two little people who love each other a
\nlot. <\/p>\n

There was, for instance, the afternoon when I decided to
\nmake a smoothie. <\/p>\n

“Loud?” William asked. <\/p>\n

“Medium loud,” Penny told him. “I will hold your hand.”<\/p>\n

They backed away from the blender together, and when the
\nnoise began, William’s eyes got wide, but they didn’t spill over. Penny hugged him.
\nI turned it off and she said, “See, William, I will keep you safe.” <\/p>\n

Or there was the time we went outside and William felt nervous about a dog barking. Penny explained, “You can say, Go away dog. I don’t like your barking!”<\/p>\n

Or the time that Penny slipped on a wet floor and William ran in from the next room to give her a hug. “Feel better?”<\/p>\n

I’ve often heard people say that they are worried about the
\nimpact it will have on a child to have a sibling with a disability. In
\nparticular, they’re worried that the typical child will be burdened or
\nrestricted as a result of their sibling, or that they’ll have to participate in
\ntheir care as an adult. From what I can tell, it’s true that siblings of
\nchildren with disabilities have greater responsibilities. And from what I can
\ntell, it’s worth it. <\/p>\n

There may come a day when it is William’s job to keep Penny
\nsafe. I’m confident (at least, once we make it through middle school), that he
\nwill do so with gratitude and with love. It is so good for them to have each
\nother. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was pregnant with William, people often remarked, “It will be so good for Penny to have a sibling.” Even though they meant well, I always felt indignant and replied, “It will be so good for this baby to have Penny.” And as Penny and William grow up together, again and again I find…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disability","category-down-syndrome","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\nDown Syndrome, Siblings, and Keeping Each Other Safe - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/07\/down-syndrome-siblings-and-keeping-each-other-safe.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Down Syndrome, Siblings, and Keeping Each Other Safe - 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}