Having a kid with autism
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I grew up with a younger sister with relatively severe autism, I can get into the details, but in short, she always had the maturity and mental level of about a seven-year-old with many side effects (OCD, outbursts, swallowing objects like batteries, etc). It was, and still is, a burden for my parents.
Anyway, we were at the playground today. A kid came over and picked up stuff we had put to the side and threw it on the ground, like my daughters water bottle and my son’s shirt. The mom came over and apologies big time and said (her kid) was autistic. Of course I told her it was absolutely no problem, no worries.
It reminded me of the incessant challenge parents with kids like that have. At the playground, or at restaurants, always the pressure to intervene before their child does something outlandish. It reminded me of my childhood, but also reminded me that my son’s tantrums (he is 2 but substantially harder to parent than my daughters) are really nothing compared to the stress of taking care of a child with special or different needs. True heroes in this world.
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The challenges of parenting any kid with any condition considered "abnormal" are huge. Be it autism, ADHD, whatever...
It's freaking hard, and I have no end of admiration for the parents who deal with it. I had occasion to take care of a fair number of severely affected kids with autism (or whatever they call it now) for dental restorations. I hated those cases, not only because of the challenge they posed for me as a clinician, but also because of what I saw the parents dealing with - every day.
We've all had our share of parenting problems and challenges.Your story brings home the fact that, unless you've strolled in someone else's sneakers, you have no clue.
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Indeed, and thanks for the response. Yes, my parents for example I think went on one vacation solo... in 1993? They also changed her bedsheets daily because of wetting issues. In the rare times I have to change my kids' bedsheets because of urine, I'm reminded of what my parents dealt with on a daily basis.
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My cousin Doreen, has a 30 year old son with Down Syndrome. Danny was not supposed to live anywhere near this long but here he is thanks to the love and dedication of his parents and advancements in medical science. Here they are in a recent photo. Paul, the younger brother on the right, is currently producing a full length feature film.
Doreen is a retired Nurse with a ton of accreditations, has been published, and is still actively writing and speaking at medical conferences in the field of medicine for the developmentally disabled.
She and her husband Steve, are awesome humans.
