I’m a Mum. I “own” an almost 16 year old man-child. He has ASD – (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) Asperger’s Syndrome – and Tourettes Syndrome. Life has certainly provided us with its fair share of challenges. We’ve cried, screamed and pulled our hair out. We’ve laughed like maniacs whilst running around crowded shopping centres, blundered blindly into roaring traffic and banged our head in frustration on walls, floors and furniture. And that’s just the kid!! lol.
Some days were really bad and we wondered what on earth we had done “wrong” as parents, how did we create this volatile little monster and how did we “fix” him. Anxiety, frustration and anger was ruler in our house, it seemed. Such turbulent times, those early years.
That was then. One day, I will fill you in on the details between then and now……but today I wanted to share with you what happened this morning to bring a tear to my eye and make me wander (briefly) along the path of years gone by.
Every school morning is pretty much the same: Alarm goes off, Mum gets out of bed, wakes Man-Child for the first time, Mum gets dressed, wakes Man-Child for the second time, Mum says good morning to doggy children, wakes Man-Child for the third time, Mum starts making Man-Child’s lunch, Man-Child staggers out from bedroom and lurches toward the breakfast cereal, big hug time, Man-Child eats breakfast and reads book at table – finishes, has shower, gets dressed, cleans teeth – blah, blah, blah, Mum finishes packing Man-Child’s cordon-bleu lunch into little containers (‘cos that’s how he like it)……etc etc. We have this routine down pat – to the last second, just about. Lol.
Anyway…………….this is the conversation that brought a little tear to my eye…..and keeping in mind that my son has NEVER had tuckshop even once in his almost eleven years at school…..
Mum – “Someone must think you’re really special to go to this much trouble with your lunch every day” (said with tongue in cheek and fishing for compliments….lol)
Man-Child – “I know that I’m really special” (giving me big hug)
Mum – “Yeah, but do you really know how loved you are?”
Man-Child – “Yes I do! And you know, I wish every child was as loved as me.” (more big hugs….*sigh*)
Such a simple conversation but what a great start to the day! It’s wonderful to have confirmation that your kids know they are loved and are secure in that knowledge. Makes you feel that you’ve actually done something right……
Hope your day is great too.
Cheers – Sandy 🙂
sandypandybeads blog 
Leave a Reply