Children’s Cranio-Facial Asssociation: CCAkids.com
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Wonder by RJ Palacio: The Books · The Store · The Movie
2017 marks the 13th year CCA will observe Craniofacial Acceptance Month across the nation. Each year CCA families, friends, volunteers and related support groups band together to widen the circle of acceptance for individuals with facial differences. The goal is to create awareness of craniofacial differences and to get people to see that “beyond the face is a heart.”
Read the Book Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Take the Pledge
• Go to ChooseKind.Tumblr.com to sign the pledge, and
• Type “CCA” in the organization field
Support the Cause
• Help CCA achieve its vision that all people are accepted for who they are, not how they look, and/or
• Donate online and/or hold a fundraiser to benefit CCA
After you’ve completed the Challenge, email a photo to ChooseKind @ ccakids.com to be recognized on our website’s Choose Kind “Challenge Accepted” page.
R.J. Palacio: I took my sons for ice cream. While my older son went to buy us our milk shakes, my younger son, about 3 years old at the time, and I waited. He was in his stroller facing me, and at a certain point I realized that sitting right next to me was a little girl with a severe craniofacial difference.
When my younger son saw her, he started to cry — pretty loudly, too. I hurriedly tried to push him away in the stroller, not for his sake but to avoid hurting the girl’s feelings, and in my haste I caused my older son to spill the shakes. Well, it was quite a scene — the opposite of what I had hoped for.
For the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about how they probably went through something like that hundreds of times. My son had cried? So be it: he reacted exactly the way a three-year old reacts when seeing something that scared him. I should have set a better example, and shown my kids there was nothing to fear: instead, I panicked.
I realized that I was disappointed in myself because I had missed a good teaching moment. Coincidentally, the song Wonder by Natalie Merchant came on the radio that night, and something about the words to the song just got to me. I started writing Wonder that very night.