Stephanie Hanrahan openly writes about her being a wife to Shawn, a mom to Campbell and Eli, and a woman who’s also trying to discover the many other parts of herself that make up who she really is.

In her blog and Facebook page titled “Tinkles Her Pants”, she shares personal stories that make people laugh, cry and leak a little. And, as you read some excerpts of hers below, you’ll find that she’s definitely someone to follow.

Now, among the things she writes about, she often and quite candidly shares the worries, fears, and hopes she has for her children growing up with autism.

Last World Autism Awareness Day, she shares how, through her kids, she’s learned a lot more about kindness and how autism doesn’t make a person different, or less:

I could tell you a million incredible qualities about Campbell and Eli, she says. Like how they don’t lie, and their default is happiness…

But arguably their most important quality is their inability to judge. Because of autism, they don’t see differences in skin color, religion, or sexual orientation. They willingly offer the kind of acceptance that most people spend their entire lives searching for.⁣

Thankfully, our society’s understanding of autism has progressed from how it was years ago. But, on a personal level, Stephanie admits to having still been in a lot of distress when she found out her kids’ diagnosis.

Finding out what she did then really pained and scared her, especially as it paired with the thought of both of them being old enough to be in school and at that age where they’re encouraged to meet and interact with many others.

In a story she submitted to “Love What Matters”, Stephanie writes:

ABC’s and 123’s are secondary to me. What I’m looking for—what I hope my children are the recipients of—is kindness. That’s it. Every day as I send them off into this beautiful but often brutal world, I pray they are the getters and givers of kindness.

Kindness is characterized by being gracious and welcoming; and generous and understanding. It’s a uniquely human quality that’s often lived out for others through deeds.

In that same story, Stephanie shares the simple yet incredibly remarkable thing one of her son’s teachers did:

His teacher had recently friended me on social media and naturally I took a skim/stalk through her page. I came upon a picture of her holding a chalkboard sign that read, ‘I said YES!’

She’s already married, so it struck me as odd until I read the caption.

Her post was about her saying ‘YES’ to teaching in an autism-specific classroom.

She called it her “dream”; an “answered prayer”, and- Stephanie found herself in tears, at the thought of this teacher’s choice:

I didn’t choose to have special needs children, but this teacher (and all her son’s and daughter’s other teachers) did.

Every day they willingly walk into a job that requires more work than we can possibly imagine. And they’re doing it happily. Faithfully! Honorably! They wanted this. They wanted my child. In a world that often says ‘change who you are,’ they’re saying ‘come to me as is.’

Stephanie praises all special education teachers and thanks them for being “the most valued part of their ‘village’”. They’ve allowed her, and parents like herself, to “breathe and begin again”.

Many teachers work to not only teach and empower their students but to support their parents as well.

Raising children well really takes a village and it’s important that we recognize and appreciate the efforts of all its members. :)

Read the full story here!

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Source: Love What Matters, Tinkles Her Pants