We are All Cookies

My oldest son has a rare genetic disorder called “Williams Syndrome” which is caused by the deletion of a small gene on the Number 7 chromosome.

Today, my daughter who is six, asked me what is wrong with her brother and how come his friends have Autism, Down Syndrome, and Asberger Syndrome. She wanted to know specifically why my son and his friends were different.

I thought briefly but hard as to how to explain to a six year old what makes these wonderful children different and unique.

I explained that everyone is like a cookie.

We are all made up of ingredients similar to chocolate chip cookies. I asked her what ingredients are needed for chocolate chip cookies, and she replied that you needed dough, sugar, flour, eggs and chocolate chips (technically the flour makes the dough, but I wasn’t going to correct a six year old).

I then explained to my daughter that children who are different have different ingredients. For instance I told her to imagine if her brother was a chocolate chip cookie, but we forgot to add the chips. Would he still be a cookie? She told me yes, but not a chocolate chip cookie. She now understood what it was like to have a missing gene.

My daughter then asked me about children with Down Syndrome. I asked her what would happen to the chocolate chip cookie recipe if we added too many ingredients, such as putting Oreo’s into it. My little girl said it wouldn’t be a chocolate chip cookie, but an Oreo chip cookie.

Lastly, she asked me about children with Autism, and I explained that they have the same number of ingredients but the chips were replaced with almonds. She proceeded to tell me its an Almond Cookie.

At the end of this conversation, I asked my daughter what was important about all of these examples, and she told me that everyone is a cookie. I told her that we all have different flavors and ingredients, but we are all the same. God made us all with different flavors so the world would be a tastier place because chocolate chip is not for everyone.