{"id":26425,"date":"2021-07-22T11:17:07","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T15:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/?p=26425"},"modified":"2021-07-22T12:06:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:06:00","slug":"why-community-support-matters-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/why-community-support-matters-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Community Support Matters <3"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was 23 years old and fresh out of\u00a0college,\u00a0I became a Developmental Therapist. My job entailed going to different\u00a0daycares\u00a0and people\u2019s homes in the Raleigh area and helping children, ages\u00a0birth-3 years old, to meet their developmental milestones. There was so much joy in getting to support\u00a0parents\u00a0on their\u00a0journey\u00a0of helping their children\u00a0take first steps, speak for the first time, and learn all kinds of new\u00a0important play\u00a0skills. There was nothing better than the days where I would walk into someone\u2019s home and hear a parent say, \u201cGuess who said their first word!!!!\u201d Knowing I had a\u00a0small part in the HUGE task of helping a child with special needs to grow\u00a0and develop\u00a0was so satisfying.<\/p>\n

Fast forward 10 or so years and I find myself witnessing the same beautiful moments at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Raleigh during the KinderMusik Program on 7\/20\/21. As the music therapist volunteer sings and encourages the children, ages 0-4 years old, to sing and move their bodies, suddenly, I\u2019m having dejavu. One of the mom\u2019s says, \u201cOh my goodness, he is sitting up by himself for the very first time!\u201d My eyes dart to the sweet little boy sitting in front of her who is eagerly wiggling his little body to the music and has a big old grin on his face. It was as if he KNEW what he was doing was a big deal, and we all ate it up. You could see hope and encouragement in all our eyes, especially other parents.<\/p>\n

This is why\u00a0community\u00a0support\u00a0matters so deeply, especially when your child has Down syndrome. Realizing that you are not alone\u00a0in your\u00a0journey\u00a0to raise your child,\u00a0that there are others near you who are facing the same struggles and blessings, and that there are people waiting eagerly to come alongside you and your child to help them succeed, like GiGi\u2019s volunteers.<\/p>\n

To\u00a0share in\u00a0BIG moments\u00a0like this one,\u00a0and mundane\u00a0moments\u00a0(that\u00a0are\u00a0still\u00a0extraordinary), is not\u00a0a small thing.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m so\u00a0grateful that\u00a0my community\u00a0offers\u00a0a place like GiGi\u2019s playhouse that opens their doors to families\u00a0and\u00a0accepts and loves their children genuinely.\u00a0\u00a0We are sharing our lives\u00a0here at GiGi\u2019s and making incredible and unforgettable memories along the way.<\/p>\n

–Nicolette Moinet<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was 23 years old and fresh out of\u00a0college,\u00a0I became a Developmental Therapist. My job entailed going to different\u00a0daycares\u00a0and people\u2019s homes in the Raleigh area and helping children, ages\u00a0birth-3 years old, to meet their developmental milestones. There was so much joy in getting to support\u00a0parents\u00a0on their\u00a0journey\u00a0of helping their children\u00a0take first steps, speak for the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1487,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[435,436,434],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-all","category-advocacy","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/raleigh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}