So as parents we strive to teach our children right from wrong, treat others as you want to be treated, be respectful to others and things of that nature right? Well as easy as those few examples sound one would think that those are pretty easy and self-explanatory to teach one’s child. However in the last few days I have learned that it is not as easy as one might think. Having 5 children they truly give me a run for my money and keep my on my toes. My husband and I pride ourselves on having such great children, they are very kind, honest, caring, loving, respectful children, and of course just like most parents we believe that our children are special and have a very special place in this world. Everywhere we go people comment on how well behaved and beautiful our children are and of course we love to hear those kinds of compliments, it tells us that we are doing a good job in raising our children.

Well now I face a huge dilemma, last year my children and myself was following the “HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLIN” story and my son Malachiyah thought that the whole world celebrating/acknowledging Colin’s birthday was the coolest thing, we watched the birthday video’s that everyone sent to Colin and the news programs that Colin and his family were on, we were very happy for them and thought how cool. I explained to my children that it was a great thing that the world was doing for this little boy and how it made him feel special and loved by so many people. Well the time has come for my oldest son’s birthday on February 18th (Which he shares with his sister) and he came to me and said, “Mom maybe I will have friends all over the world to like Colin” I explain that Colin’s story was a special situation and that he should not expect the same thing to happen to him for his birthday. He says to me that he is special to! And then he stated, “I know mom, you can record me doing my Ninja Turtle Dance Moves and we can post it on Facebook and see how many friends will like my super awesome moves” so that is what I did. I posted a video on my Facebook page of him dancing and tried to make a joke with it to draw people’s attention to the video as well as being up for the last 4 days posting tweets, buzz feed posts, sending private messages to other Facebook pages that posts video’s, sharing it on every site I could find so that he would get a great number of likes so that he would feel just as special as Colin felt. I did however explain to him that he should not expect to see millions of likes or anything and that he should be happy with whatever number of likes that he receives. Sadly to say that after 4 days of being posted he has only gotten about 50 likes between all the shares and about 250 views. I in no way expect it to get as big as the Colin celebration nor are we wanting gifts or anything like that. But I truly thought that he would at least get 100 or so likes. And that saddens my heart as a parent, my mother raised me and my sister and would not do for one of us without doing for both of us.

So after having a heart felt talk with my son and explaining to him why his birthday will not be as big as Colin’s, it dawned on me that I might have made a mistake in allowing myself and children to follow this awesomely amazing story. Because just like Colin, my son was born with Biliary Atresia (liver disease) and has had to undergo lots of testing, blood draws, surgery from the time he was born, and due to his condition from birth he is homeschooled and has never gone to daycare or anything like that. The only interaction with other children that he has is with his younger siblings which are his friends  . He is a very affection boy that see the best in everyone and puts a smile on anyone’s face that he encounters. As his mother I am trying very hard to get him as many likes as I can on his video because he did not ask for anything else besides the likes on his video and to go see his grandmother that he absolutely adore that moved away to Vegas last September. “Which will not happen for a few years lol”

So for all you parents out that that can relate to my dilemma of doing what you thought was right, and now kind of regretting it, please help me to bring some joy to my little boys birthday by going on to Facebook and liking his video please at: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203529753555539&pnref=story .

Thank you,

Nikita