"High Needs"

One of the most common terms I read on any area of the Mothering.com message boards is "high needs". Babies who cry often, toddlers who throw tantrums, older children who are hyper and rambunctious - these are what they deem "high needs" and, funny, every mother there seems to have high needs kids.

It just makes me laugh. Aren't all children 'high needs'? They need to be held constantly, engaged constantly, chased around and cleaned up after and diapers changed and yeah, a lot of babies are fussy till you figure out what's wrong. If I used their standards, Chloe would be a high needs child. But wait... isn't she just normal? Kids have needs, it's our job as parents to meet them.

I'm gonna say this at the risk of sounding like a bitch: The whole "high needs" thing is to me, a cop out. It's a pitiful excuse as to why being the parent of that particular child is just SO hard, much harder than other children. Poor me, life is so hard, wah.

Hmphh. And that's my brief little rant for the day.