Counterpoint. My youngest son has DS. He's an absolute nightmare sometimes.

Whereas some children might get into a mood and be ok after an hour, he does not unless his environment is changed.

He will literally scream or moan non stop for 6-8 hours (yes you read that right, and it's no exaggeration). He would do this when in environments he doesn't recognise, so imagine an airplane, imagine a restaurant, imagine a trip out...

We can't do those things anymore because of the actual judgement we get from other people (oh and I could write a post on this alone).

Then, when we return him to the car to drive home, his behaviour instantly turns to a smile and blowing raspberries.

We also can't get respite, our parents are too old, friends don't feel right babysitting, council services won't yet see him as old enough or have no availability, so it leaves us hiring privately, which is expensive, difficult and low availability.

Of course this takes its toll on our mental health, his sibling and us.

So on one hand I'm pleased it can soon be stopped for others, but on the other it makes up my son's behaviour, who I absolutely love regardless of the impact he has on us without realising, because there are times when you will see the stereotypical love and happiness when it is unexpected.

But I would not say I have greater happiness.

I feel you.

I've got a 13 year old daughter with DS. We don't have 6 hours of screaming but she has definitely thrown her share of hissy fits. My personal favorite was driving into my son's snooty private boy's school while she was sitting in the back without a shirt on (She was 12 at the time).

Or the time she decided to sit down in the middle of a busy street while we were trying to cross it and we ended up dragging her across the road skinning her feet and almost getting hit by a truck.

Usually she is happy and has tons of personality but it really does make things harder at times.

I should probably add my that my usual comment when anyone asks is that having a kid with DS sucks but not as badly as a lot of other disabilities.