352: The truth about parenting and special needs – talking with parenting author Sally Wagter and her husband, WTOO returning champion Erik Wagter

Today I am so thrilled to share this conversation with a returning champion – Erik Wagter – and his wife, author Sally Wagter. Together Sally and Erik are raising a family, and their older son has autism. (My conversation with Erik, way back in episode 75, is located here. In fact when their son was young Erik and Sally were told "he will never live a normal life" because his autism would prevent him from using language meaningfully or even making meaningful connections with anyone. Thank goodness, Sally and Erik refused to believe that. They charted a different path for their family. Now their son has gone far beyond anyone's expectations, playing music beautifully, enjoying deep and meaningful friendships, and living a truly examined and thoughtful life. Sally has written a book about her experience raising their son, called Miracle in Slow Motion. You can find the link to this book, as well as Erik and Sally's podcast, at releasingmychildspotential.com. We talk about all this and more in today's conversation, even diving into one of my favorite topics, the toll raising children takes on parents (whether kids are typical or diagnosed with special needs). It's part of a digest episode, so you'll hear our wonderful conversation and then I will read you a recent newsletter that I wrote called "Changing bras," which looks the toll parenting takes on us from a slightly different angle (Click weturnedoutokay.com/weekly to get newsletters like this delivered into your inbox each week : ) Find this post, and the links we discuss, in your browser by going to weturnedoutokay.com/352 If you're interested in subscribing to the We Turned Out Okay Playbook, which I share about during today's episode, go to weturnedoutokay.com/playbook I hope you enjoy this episode! Cheers – Karen This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kaylockkolp.substack.com/subscribe