Apr 30 2008
I learned something this past weekend.
During our camping trip, I had my mind set to one thing. That one kid was a total brat and out to get me. BUT...this is where I learned something that all parents need to know.
Not every kid is perfect, Not every kid is lucky. What I did not know was one kid in particular has Autism. And this one kid is the one I thought was out to get me. I didn't understand him. I didn't know what he was trying to do. So during a conversation with his Dad, we were discussing the one kid. He told me, NO MATTER WHAT do not treat him differently. He told me that having Autism isn't a life sentence of limited activities. So me being curious I wanted to understand him and I asked more and more questions. I thought having Autism meant, these kids are in there own little world doing all sorts of out of the ordinary things.
BOY was I wrong. He is a normal kid that just so happened to run into a road block. Nothing he did. I also found out too that he has Aspergers. Which explained it all. A good friend of mine has a child who has that and I have learned a few things from her. Besides having patience. You have to understand the child involved. Apparently, I didn't at first.
And I feel so guilty now for not understanding him. One of the things I noticed is, he likes to say unappropriate things. Which he thinks is ok. You know how Gene Simmons like to stick his tongue out? Yah well he did that to me numerous times, then to a total stranger out of the blue. I asked him politely not to do that again as people can be offended by it. He then argued that if Gene Simmons can do it, so can he. I left it at that, and changed the subject almost immediately. This was before I found out he had Aspergers. Well later on that night, the other boys and leaders were arguing with this kid. I was getting upset. So here I would talk about something else to the boys and this kid. I purposely changed the subject to get them off of arguing with him. And would you believe this kid called me on it. He caught on to what I was doing. He called me the PeaceMaker. You know how good that made me feel? I asked him if that was a good or bad thing. He told me, it was a great thing. That it was the first time someone stood up for him. Then it was later when I found out exactly what his life had been like.
He changed me. He changed my outlook on life. He changed ME.
