One thing I have learned from having a special needs child and a neuro-typical child, life is full of waiting rooms for the special needs child’s sibling. Cooper has been sitting in waiting rooms long before he was two years old. It is just a part of his life. Bailey has to do therapy and Cooper has to wait in the waiting room with mom.
All waiting rooms are not the same. Some therapy places make an attempt to make the waiting room cheerful. Other places try to trick you into thinking the room is a lot larger than it is in reality. There are some things all the waiting rooms have in common.
1. Chairs that usually look comfortable are not when you have to sit in them for an hour or more.
2. Each room has a few toys. The purpose of the toys is to entertain the child who is waiting a short
period of time for their therapy appointment. The toys that are there are not the best toys to keep the
sibling entertained for an hour or more.
3. All the siblings in the waiting room, no matter what their age, sit quietly or play quietly while they
wait for their brother/sister to finish therapy.
I know that being Bailey’s brother Cooper’s life will always be filled with having to wait in the waiting room. As a parent how I choose to use that time will affect Cooper the rest of his life. As a working mother, I try to use my waiting room time to complete work which can be done easily when I do not have Cooper with me. Today I had Cooper with me in the waiting room of the therapy place Bailey does Occupational Therapy. Instead of reading something from work, I decided to sit down and talk with Cooper. For 45 minutes Cooper had my undivided attention. There was no one to distract me and no one to interrupt our conversation. For those 45 minutes, Cooper was able to share all kinds of interesting information about his teacher, his friends, his school, and life in general. It made the waiting room not seem so boring. It allowed Cooper and I to create a wonderful unforgettable memory in a place both of us have found to be a normal part of our life.
All waiting rooms are not the same. Some therapy places make an attempt to make the waiting room cheerful. Other places try to trick you into thinking the room is a lot larger than it is in reality. There are some things all the waiting rooms have in common.
1. Chairs that usually look comfortable are not when you have to sit in them for an hour or more.
2. Each room has a few toys. The purpose of the toys is to entertain the child who is waiting a short
period of time for their therapy appointment. The toys that are there are not the best toys to keep the
sibling entertained for an hour or more.
3. All the siblings in the waiting room, no matter what their age, sit quietly or play quietly while they
wait for their brother/sister to finish therapy.
I know that being Bailey’s brother Cooper’s life will always be filled with having to wait in the waiting room. As a parent how I choose to use that time will affect Cooper the rest of his life. As a working mother, I try to use my waiting room time to complete work which can be done easily when I do not have Cooper with me. Today I had Cooper with me in the waiting room of the therapy place Bailey does Occupational Therapy. Instead of reading something from work, I decided to sit down and talk with Cooper. For 45 minutes Cooper had my undivided attention. There was no one to distract me and no one to interrupt our conversation. For those 45 minutes, Cooper was able to share all kinds of interesting information about his teacher, his friends, his school, and life in general. It made the waiting room not seem so boring. It allowed Cooper and I to create a wonderful unforgettable memory in a place both of us have found to be a normal part of our life.
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