Tori Roloff just got very candid on social media.
The Little People, Big World star acknowledged Dwarfism Awareness Day on Wednesday, only to then delve into a lengthy Instagram post about a major concern she has about daughter Lilah and sons Jackson and Josiah.
“This is going to be a very vulnerable ramble, so hold on,” Tori admitted to open the message.
As someone who often opens up about various parenting challenges, Roloff then continued as follows…
Dwarfism awareness has always been a super touchy subject for myself. I think I’ve made it my life’s goal to make sure our kids don’t grow up being known as a “dwarf.”
Not because it’s offensive, or I’m scared of the term, but because I am scared of our kids being defined by it.
Too many times I’ve seen kids (not just those with dwarfism) defined- by parents and peers mostly- as a diagnosis. I’ve had kids come into my classroom that are already labeled with a certain pretense. I’ve seen other parents obsess over their child’s disability.
And I think that is what scares me most of all.
Little People, Big World basically only exists because two little people — Amy and Matt Roloff — are parents to one other little person, Tori’s husband Zach.
The premise of the series is to give viewers a glimpse into what folks with this condition go through on a daily basis.
All these years after the premiere, however, fans mostly just love the Roloffs as a family… and don’t really care or think much about the dwarfism at the center of it.
Tori is looking ahead, however, and thinking beyond the TLC audience.
Once again confessing to being “vulnerable,” Tori went on:
This is my own personal conviction that I do not want to fall privy to. I am sure many parents and peers could be scared or nervous about their child’s future and so it becomes an identity of themselves.
That is how they deal with any sort of diagnosis and there is nothing wrong with that, it’s just not how I want to live my life.
In an interesting and understandable twist, Tori — who may very well be done with reality TV — placed some blame for her concerns on those behind the scenes of Little People, Big World.
I think I became heightened to a lot of my own convictions while filming our TV show. Our producer would often only focus on our kids issues related to their dwarfism.
They would ask questions about their health and things that could go wrong in the future. I started feeling wrong talking about it.
It became this issue in my head of, “well don’t you want to talk about the good stuff?!” Or “this could be just genetics-not dwarfism!”
And it clicked with me that I never want our kids to feel like they are their diagnosis.
Tori and Zach have said on many occasions that they don’t want their children defined by their height or by any physical limitations.
Explained Tori here:
Our kids will one day realize they’re different and that’s impossible for me to change (and I wouldn’t want to) and so I want to do everything I can to make sure they know they are “Jackson” “Lilah” and “Josiah” and nothing less.
So because of my own relationship with dwarfism (it’s just so normal in our household that I sometimes forget my family is unique) I forget that people can benefit from myself and my family talking openly about it!
As she so frequently does in cases such as this, Tori concluded by trying to relate to other parents out there.
She offered up whatever expertise she possesses on this topic, writing to followers:
I want to be a light to mamas especially that are going through similar experiences as I am. I want to help ease the nervousness of this diagnosis and remind all parents that dwarfism DOES NOT define you or your child.
God chose you for your child. God chose you for the world. God chose you.
