Every day a mom or dad leaves their home with their special needs child to venture out for the day.
Maybe they are going to the supermarket, maybe the park or maybe off to another doctor appointment.
One thing is for sure, this parent ( often me) is taking a deep breath and hoping that;
1. their child does not become a focal point due to a meltdown or “off” behavior and
2. that they can find the strength to get through it all.
You may not know that these parents are struggling, we sure work hard to keep it together, but, we are scared.
Scared that we will be the one on line with the screaming child. Scared that you are behind us and your child is looking at us laughing, scared that you don’t know what to say, so you say nothing.
We are dreading being at the park while our child is spinning in circles and humming and your child is pointing and staring.
What can you do? We don’t expect that you can or will fix a situation like this, but, you can help.
Here’s how:
Don’t hide.
Don’t stare.
Don’t judge.
Din’t walk away.
Do smile.
Do have a conversation with your child about how kids can have differences .
Do say sorry if your child may have said something to embarrass you or me.
Do use this opportunity to learn for the next time
The sooner and the more often we allow these conversations to happen, the sooner we can all embrace and accept our (KNOW)differences.