Multimedia Report - Article Example

I wondered how parents find joy in parenting a child who does not grow intellectually and socially; is unable to interact with parents and siblings; does not exhibit sensory and conscious awareness, communication and personality factors associated with personhood. I wondered how parents of anencephalic children find joy in parenting. I found an answer in a North Carolina News 14 video about a Charlotte family invited by an organ donor organization to ride a float in the Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade.

The video was well-done, with still shots of the baby, family, and footage of parent comments, and information. During Shannon’s pregnancy, baby Skylar, a girl, was found to be anencephalic. She had a brain stem and open neural tube, said by our book to sometimes be caused by a lack of folic acid in the mother’s body (Page 36). They decided to carry her to term. They did this in order to donate her organs (her liver cells), to give meaning to Skylar’s life, to help another family (the mother explained), to keep from “focusing on the dark side” (as the father said).

Skylar lived for 99 minutes, after birth, surrounded by family and friends, and died in her mother’s arms. The photos clearly show love and compassion and parenting joy in this child. The mother commented, “She really changed our lives”. . 5 video clip and article, together, about a Colorado boy with anencephaly (brain stem only, open neural tube) who has miraculously lived for his first birthday celebration. Most babies with anencephaly do not live even until birth, and even then not more than minutes, usually.

His mother and grandparents clearly love him. He is cuddled and held. Mom explains that he cannot see, hear, suck, crawl, sit, and has no teeth. She expresses pain that she will soon have to bury him, yet she brags about how he smiles sometimes and how they once “got him to laugh” (Vanderputte, 2009). They celebrate every milestone, not knowing if there will be another. Mom says, “He’s a miracle. He’s changed so many people’s lives”. Because I am captivated by this theme of the joys of parenting, and how it overcomes difficulties as great as a lack of apparent personhood and consciousness, I am impressed by her courage in finding parenting joy.

In this particular article, however, I am most intrigued by the mother’s statement that they “got him to laugh”, and the excitement in her report of his smiles, and their ability to “celebrate every milestone”. It is possible, though unlikely, that modern medicine is mistaken and that children without a brain can express emotion, consciousness and learning. If not, the mother is projecting hopes onto a child incapable of fulfilling them. Yet she does so and feels joy. If we are “programmed to respond positively to babies” (Brooks, 2010, p 3), is parenting joy simply parental projection, in this case?

Two among six reasons that people reportedly take on the parenting role are to feel excitement at children’s growth and development and to feel accomplishment in helping children grow (p 4). If growth and development are lacking,