I had a small Twitter conversation with a friend today that got me thinking...
The basic gist of the conversation was that she is in an online group where a woman said about her kid "I didn't sign up for this" and she was annoyed because when you have children you basically sign up for whatever life brings with them. I told my friend that, "Sometimes people just need to vent. I've said that many many times. Doesn't change how much I love my kids." To which she replied that it wouldn't bother her if the woman said something nice about her kids, but everything is always bad.
Like I said, it got me thinking...
Here we are online. We blog, we tweet, we Facebook, and we just tell the world about our lives. What we say actually does matter. How we present our lives actually does matter.
Yes, we all have bad days. I have them, you have them, it happens. But in with those bad days are a whole lot of good ones.
Autism can consume you completely if you let it. Being the parent of an Autistic child can get you down. When you're on your seventh meltdown of the day and you think you can't take it anymore it is really easy to say, "I didn't sign up for this." And you know what? I have said just that.
BUT...
I've also told you how amazing my kid is. I've made it clear that I love him. I've spread more good about him than I can count.
The bad days happen. We vent. We let it all out and online we let it all out loudly. But what we need to remember is that people are listening and somewhere in there we need to let people know that there is good. There is a bright spot. There is a happy person who loves their kid more than life.
As we spread awareness of Autism and try to educate the world so that it will be more accepting of our kids it would do us all some good to spread some of the positive points. Tell the masses how amazing your kid is, not just how frustrating. Get upset and get it out, but then move on and move forward.
Your kid is not just their diagnosis, ya know what I mean?
Sharing Time
4 hours ago
3 comments:
Well Said! Days can be very hard but when we focus on the good things of that day the day gets a lot better. And if you can't see the good focus on the good things of the past. So you can have hope for tomorrow.
I agree w u. Its true-we need to give others the perception that "its not ALWAYS meltdowns & annoying behaviors!"
If thats all outsiders hear, what'd u expect their awareness to be!?!?! Hello?!?! Life w my NT son is not always rainbows&roses!! Theres good in every kid and i believe its our JOB as parents to not only bring it out but also POINT it out to our kids so that they may see it in themselves. I think, actually, I KNOW that is part of the reason why my boy does SO well! Infact sometimes my mom is like, "U just wanna focus on only the good.U need to accept & deal w the neg things too u know." hahaha So im guilty of the opposite. But I do thou. I just dont dwell on it at all, my attitude is more like- 'Ok this is the issue, lets get to the bottom of it.Why is it happening (theres always a reason) & what can we do to come up w a solution.'
Cant waste precious time dwelling on the neg- it helps NOONE!!!
Hooray! As an Aspie, I thank you for this. I do want parents of autistic kids to be able to connect & swap their stories because it's a lonely journey. Parenting any kid is hard & community is important. But kids are blessings, too, and that needs to be celebrated.
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