In the first video segment Kristen Neff shares about a time when she was at the playground with her son, who happens to be autistic. She was watching all of the other children and mothers as her son self-stimmed on the slide and began to feel bad about all the other “perfect relationships” she was seeing. Then in a moment of self compassion, she shifted her thinking. While her son’s autism was a challenge, she realized that she had no idea what struggles each of these mother child dyads might be experiencing. As she shares, “the whole experience of being a mother is having challenges with your child and loving them anyway.”
Whether a child lives with a label or not, each child comes into this world with strengths and gifts, and each child comes into this world with challenges and struggles. Some may feel more burdensome than others, but that doesn’t take away from the common humanity shared among mothers that we will all have challenges with our children at times. We have the choice as human beings and as mothers to embrace our imperfections, acknowledge our challenges, and be compassionate with ourselves and each other. What powerful modeling that can offer our children as they move through life.