‘Your Kid Will Be Awesome:’ These Parents Were Scared At First But Now They Have Hope

Alexis Hillyard has brought awareness to people with limb differences in so many ways. She herself has one.

And she herself developed Stump Kitchen, which started out as videos making recipes with some kids — some have limb differences and some do not.

But what do the parents of these amazing humans think? How did they react when they found out their children might be a little different? There was a combination of fear, confusion and excitement.

You’ll Also Love: How Kids With Limb Differences Do Things With One Hand

Robyn-Lynn, Mother of Coda (Age 11)

“I was afraid that it might be more, um, severe genetic disorder — which it wasn’t. It’s an anomaly. But there was definitely some fear from the hospital and the doctors that he was going to die right after he was born. It was pretty scary for sure.”

Joanne, Mother of Ethan (Age 10)

“I was a little scared as a mom about what people would think of me and what I did — to him.”

Alex, Father of Alexis (Age 37)

“Just being a dad, I was afraid — how do I fix this?”

Fern, Mother of Alexis (Age 37)

“For quite a few hours, it honestly became — ‘what else might be a challenge?’ The hand suddenly became in the background.” 

You’ll Also Love: ‘I Definitely Don’t Wish I Had Two Hands’

When you aren’t expecting something to happen, it’s easy to fall into this patterned thinking. The doubts, the extremes. Questioning what you did wrong.

But what comes after, and this is true for all of the parents above, is that you learn to adapt. It becomes so normal that you forget it was ever a concern. Of course, that takes time. But these parents want you to know it’s going to be OK.

We think Coda’s mom Robyn-Lynn says it best: “Your child will be awesome. It’s probably going to be amazing. And you probably won’t think about it all that much.”

Check out more episodes of Stump Kitchen: Cooking with Kids!