Parents be warned: professionals only see part of the puzzle

As a parent, you will interact with many professionals in trying to ensure the best for your child – doctors, nurses, teachers, dentists, and perhaps also psychologists, social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians….   And there’s something you ought to understand.  Each of these professions has something useful to contribute but each holds only a piece or two of the puzzle.  Professionals see clearly only a piece of your child…the piece they were trained to see.  Of course, their insights and knowledge about that piece can be incredibly useful.  A good professional will recognise confusing details about that piece in an instant; will distil for you in easy to understand language the latest science on that piece and the implications for you and your child; will have a list of possible solutions for ensuring the best performance of that piece.   Sometimes professionals are good at acknowledging that they can only see a piece or two and sometimes they are not.  Sometimes they will push for what is best for their piece, with complete ignorance and disregard for how this would affect other parts of the puzzle.   So you need to be clear on what your job is: you need to put the puzzle back together again.  You are the only one who can.  Because you are not raising a set of teeth, or a report card, or a medical condition, or a toilet training chart.  You are raising a child.  Your job is to remember that.

Apply it to your life: Do you find you need to ‘put the puzzle’ together again after seeing professionals?  Do you stay mindful of the fact that you are raising a whole child?