“Our lives revolve around our kids. Parenting of a special child is more challenging than that of a normal child. As human beings we also want change to refresh our minds,” said Neeta Bhatwdekar after the session for mothers of the special children arranged for the first time by Maitra a social group in Pune. Neeta has a 15-year-old daughter with Down syndrome. Bhatwdekar has been taking tremendous efforts to train her daughter to be independent.
Parenting itself is a full-time job. It takes a lot of courage and stamina to be the parents of special children.
Usually, mothers of these kids take up more responsibility in parenting by keeping their personal lives apart. Maitra started the group for mothers of these special children in order to relieve their stress.
“Through Maitra, we try to help middle aged women from all walks of life. Women who are raising a special child have their own share of stress. Through this special group, they have come together in order to have a life other than being a parent and do something for themselves. We had a wonderful start. I hope to take it forward,” said Medha Purkar, Founder of Maitra.
Poorva Deodhar a member of this group also shared her experiences with My Medical Mantra. “Mothers of special kids do not have time to look after themselves. It takes more efforts to raise a child who has special needs. We cannot lose patience. We cannot lose control. It requires a lot of strength and patience to be a mother of a special child. Through this group we hope to have a platform where we can share our feelings and experiences,” said Deodhar.
Though it has been started for the mothers of special children, this group will be eventually opened up for mothers of other kids too. “We would like to interact with the mothers of other kids too. Through these interactions, there will be sensitisation of them towards special kids. For those mothers who do not have another child and only have a special one, it is necessary to have other perspectives for parenting,” said Bhatwdekar.
“As per Maitra’s tradition we will be arranging monthly relevant sessions for the members of this group,” informed Medha Purkar.
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