Most every parent of a child with Down syndrome has heard the myth at some point or another:
They’re always happy!
Advocacy groups emphasize that people with Down syndrome have feelings just like everyone else and experience a full range of emotions and that “always happy” is a myth. So where does a mistaken belief like that originate? I’m no expert, as I only have experience with Nathan and he is only fifteen months old, but I’ve got a theory.
It’s the smile that never quits.
Nathan’s smile lights up a room. He spreads joy with his sparkling blue eyes. His gregarious personality is impossible to resist.
And therein lies the problem. This kid isn’t happy all the time.
He is working it.
Multiple times each day he crawls over to the dog food bowl and dumps out the contents or grabs handfuls and flings (apparently this is great fun when you are a fifteen month old boy). When we sternly bark “No!” at him, he busts out the gigantic grin, and on more than one occasion Mr. Andi and I have cracked under the pressure.
Often, when one of us is holding Nathan but talking to someone else, he’ll lean around, smile at the ready, until he catches our eye. Who is strong enough to resist the temptation to grin back? Apparently neither of us, and then it’s “Mission Accomplished” – he gets our attention, which is what he wanted all along.
Is he always happy? I don’t know about that, but I do know this: he’s always smiling, and it doesn’t bode well for my future sanity.
I’ll do some more research and get back with you in a few years – if I can survive the Smile That Never Quits.
Lauren is the exact opposite. She rarely is happy. Yelling, growling, whining. Pretty much all she does.
And your post made me smile too!
And anyway, I love his smile. Looking at his photos he does seem to a contented baby
He really is a happy boy – definitely fits the stereotype (not sure if that is good or bad – both, I think). Of course my post was tongue-in-cheek, but he’s also quite the stinker. 🙂
Our Seth fits the stereotype about 70% of the time. However, if you caught him on a day when he never really woke up from his nap, you wouldn’t think there was anything sweet in him. I always wonder if others with DS kids also experience the after-nap blues.