Sunday, May 22, 2011

Derby Hat Racing

So here we are again the end of the weekend and still I cannot come up with a great topic for my blog series.  I know that I promised the next few posts would be a series but it isn't coming together in my head.  I will get to it, promise.

In the meantime, school officially end for my kids on Friday.  They were so ready to be done with school.  I am not sure I am ready, though.  When your a parent you come to rely on school as a daily diversion for your kids.  We build our lives around school for nine months of the year.  Then three of those months school districts throw a monkey wrench at you or in my case four monkey wrenches.  In the end, kids look forward to it parents mostly dread the summer vacation. 

Try and imagine how my oldest son feels about this change.  Remember, my oldest boy is highly functioning autistic.  He has had a great year at school.  He listened to his teachers, learned a lot of new skills, and gets a lot of support from the school staff.  For the vast majority of children, the idea of not having to listen to teachers or do homework is great.  My son doesn't share this feeling with his peers.  I don't think I could explain to anyone who has not had some kind of experience with an autistic child.  Don't misunderstand me.  I know many other people have there own problems during the summer.  The best way to describe it to anyone is to say that my son's been furloughed from his job without warning.  Imagine how you would feel if your boss told you tomorrow that your going to have to leave for three months without pay.  Your not being fired.  You get to come back to your job.  But for the next three months your on your own.  Three months is barely enough time to get used to not having a job let alone find something else to do. 

People might ask me.  Doesn't your son know schools ending.  Yes, he's known about the end of school coming up.  My oldest boy doesn't fully comprehend it till it happens.  The very last day of school he was a train wreck.  Yelling and screaming were just the start of his bad day. 

I see all this and experienced with it before.  I still struggle having to remind myself that my son has a legitimate reason for freaking out.  It takes a lot to keep my cool and give my son the slack he needs to make as smooth a transition as possible.  Lucky, the school district does give us support.  They started enrolling my son in summer school not as a punishment for poor performance but to help keep him from losing all the skills he's gained. 

I am looking forward to the next three months hoping like always that this will be a great summer.  It's all about perspective.  My son once asked me, "What's a Derby?"  I told him it was a race.  He then replied, "Isn't it also a hat?"  I instantly pictured jockeys riding their horses in the funny little black hats.  Yes, I told my son it's a hat as well.  Perspective, it's all about how you see it.  I just need to see it as a great summer.

My wife is calling me to her side so that's about all I have to say about that.  Please comment and subscribe.  If you think you have an idea for my blog series please also leave a comment about it.  Thanks.