No Social Fear

A couple of days ago I came across an article about a genetic disorder called the Williams Syndrome.
It seems that people affected with this disorder along with other symptoms like developmental delays have absolutely no social fear - as the article said, "They are literally pathologically trusting..."
The probable cause of this very strange symptom is problem with their limbic system, the part of the brain that regulates emotion.

They are always happy, will go up to anyone and start a conversation. They are never suspicious. My first thought was, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be happy all the time and not have any fear?"
But as I read through the article, I realized how scary it is and how difficult it is to raise a kid who has no fear of strangers. Though we all wish it was, our world is definitely not a hundred percent safe place and unfortunately being gullible is not a great attribute to have.

We all teach our children not to talk to strangers and being careful in new surroundings and to watch out for themselves when we are not around. At the same time we also tell them to be polite. Essentially we are trying to inculcate a healthy balance of trust and distrust. As the mother of a girl who has Williams says in the article, "They don't have that early warning system" - which is so important to have in dealing with dangers. An initial reaction of a little anxiety is probably necessary to better assess the situations we come across everyday.

This got me to wondering - How do parents of the kids with all kinds of disorders deal with everyday? They must be incredibly courageous people with amazing mental strength dealing with their child's special circumstances as well as trying to prepare them for an independent adulthood that so many of us take for granted.

Ready?

So, it has been now almost a week that thousands of travelers are stranded in the European airports because of the volcanic ash erupting from under that unpronounceable name of a glacier (Eyjafjallajokull). Here is even a link to the blog-post on how to say that Icelandic tongue-twister - http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/04/iceland_volcano_eyjafjallajoku.html
And they find it hard to say our Indian names! :-)

My first thought after sympathizing with the grounded travelers of course, was the definite concern - what would I need to get through if I along with a toddler was stuck in an airport or any other place for that matter without much supplies. Do we need some rethinking on how we pack our carryon’, or are we one of those super-cool parents who know exactly what to pack taking into account the emergency situations as well. Sorry to say, but guess I belong to the first category and am still trying to come up with that final list of absolute essentials that can be crammed into a tiny carryon.

So people - especially the ones with kids and you single people as well - Be Prepared!