Holiday Gifts for Children with Disabilities
By John M. Williams
It’s that time of the year again. Christmas, the universal , annual holiday season, is here. Santa Clauses are magically appearing in many cities worldwide. Christmas and other holiday songs will dominate music stations. Hundreds of millions of Christmas cards will be sent to family and friends. On every continent people will buy gifts for family and friends. There will be movies and TV shows with religious and loving themes. Christmas trees will be decorated. Mangers depicting the birth of Jesus will appear in homes, in parks, in churches and fields. “Peace on Earth” will be heralded around the world with real meaning. Children will be bursting at the seams hungering for gifts from Santa.
As the world celebrates these holidays, we must remember to include children with disabilities in these festivities. There are toys and other gifts designed for children with special needs. The addresses below list a variety of toys and travel tips for children with special needs of different ages and abilities. :
http://www.guidedtour.com/?gclid=CIXe_Nq6vqwCFUaCtgodg0uMRw
http://www.youngexplorers.com/ShopCategory3.aspx?id=9,244&dispRow=244&srccode=NXBYGO&kwsrch=nonbrand&pagelen=96&gclid=CMDh-ry7vqwCFYFT7AodGGvdqQ
http://www.disabled-world.com/entertainment/games/toys-disabilities.php
http://www.fatbraintoys.com/special_needs/index.cfm
http://www.parenting.com/gallery/10-toys-great-for-kids-with-special-needs
http://www.special-needs-kids.co.uk/
http://parentingsquad.com/top-toys-from-ableplay-for-children-with-special-needs
https://glammatoys.com/display/5993
http://www.fisher-price.com/us/special_needs/
http://www.oneplaceforspecialneeds.com/main/library_gift_giving.html
http://www.squidoo.com/toys-r-us-differently-abled-guide-kids
http://www.lekotek.org/resources/informationontoys/tentips.html
http://www.specialneedstoys.com/usa/?gclid=CJm1y4XBvqwCFZJS7AodoWFNpw
I advise people to be creative when buying toys for children with disabilities. For example, if the child has artistic abilities then buy art materials. If the child likes moving toys buy a train set. If the child likes base then buy baseball equipment, etc. You want to buy gifts that challenges your child physically and intellectually. You want to buy a gift that your child can invite siblings and other children to play.
People asked me this question annually, “I want to buy Christmas candy for my child who has a disability. What do you recommend?” Since I am allergic to chocolate and milk products, my first advice is, “Be certain, your child is not allergic to chocolate and milk products.” If your child isn’t, when I was younger, I loved chocolate reindeers and Santa Clauses. I did not like candy canes. I loved stringed popcorn.
In the 15 years, I have been writing about holiday toys for children with disabilities, parents have sent me a list of their favorite toys and they are trains, balls, board games, moving vehicles, talking dolls and children’s bools with pop up features. No one has evr mentioned they purchased a toy gun.
You might also buy fruit cakes and encourage your child to share it with others. Many parents think this is a good idea.
Many, many people have asked me, “What were your Christmases like?”
I remember Christmases very well.
I can’t recall receiving toys after my fifth grade year in grade school. Beginning in sixth grade, the gifts that I received were clothes, shoes, books and money. I loved receiving books.
With five siblings and two parents and friends, buying Christmas gifts could be expensive. And so, my brothers and sisters pooled our money and so a gift to a sibling or parent could come from two or three of us. My parents were the toughest to buy presents for. My father loved cigars, shirts and bedroom slippers. My mother loved clothes, kitchen utensils and perfume. Gifts were not put under the tree until Christmas Eve.
With six children and two parents living in the same dwelling, nobody received an abundance of gifts. The gifts we received we appreciated. We always had from two-to-four guests for Christmas lunch at 3:00 p.m. My mother always cooked a 22-to-24 pound turkey.
Between the ages of 5 and 30-years-old, my family had trains running under our tree. We had five engines, 20 cars, about 100 tracks, a water tower, tunnel, a tower with two spotlights, a church with a steeple, many houses, a school, fire department, hospital, animals. We had four transformers. The largest and oldest transformer could power the five engines and 20 cars simultaneously. My three brothers and I spent hours setting up the train set under the tree and hours playing with it daily. A manger was always placed under the tree, and on Christmas Day, the spotlights shined on the manger much of the day. The Christ child was not put into the manger until early Christmas morning.
On Christmas morning, we could open one gift before Mass, and the rest after Mass. We would go to either 8:00 or 9:00 Mass. Friends could visit from 10;30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Between 12-to-31 years old, I made bowls of punch and eggnog .
Christmas has always been a special day for me.
To comment write to jwilliams@atechnews.com.
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