[johnvb]

Paula hates taking the kids to the park because it always makes the differences between our children and their peers so apparent. Not only physically, but our son struggles socially when he comes across other children of his own age. I guess the others can't understand his difficult speech and mannerisms so they tend to shy away from him.

Having said that, I decided to take him to the park this evening. I did have to stay with him and watch his every move to make sure he didn't fall or clash with another child, and at first I was just a bit jealous of the other parents who were just sitting around waiting for their children. Then it struck me that I was the lucky one, playing with and enjoying my son's company rather than being bored as the other parents appeared to be. Not only that but I was treasuring his every step forward, for example today he was trying to get the swing to move all by himself for the first time ever.

A proud Dad...

[welshie]

It is hard to see how different your child is from others have seen that so many times over the years in the beginning this was hard for me.But in time i learned to accept this and treasure ther special bond it has given me and my children.The tinest of steps forward they make in there development makes me the happiest mum on earth and as for my children there special not because there disabled just because they are Dan and Sarah my children

[johnvb]

Sometimes I still find it hard when seeing my children alongside their peers, I guess there's a part of me that's always going to be aware of the differences between our family lives and theirs. We're off to a wedding today so it will be interesting to see how we feel later - our son is a bit worried about the prospect of being around lots of people so Paula has been going through a social story about weddings with him this morning. Lets hope it helps!

John

[welshie]

I have times when i fid it hard even now dont think that will ever go John.
Hope the wedding goes off ok, not sure if this would be any good for you with your son but it helped Daniel when he was younger we had what we called a 'game' if Dan didnt like the noise or amoutn of people around he'd squeeze my hand and i'd squeeze back if it got worse he'd hum which i knew then that he was reaching boiling point so it was time to try and get 5 mins together even if it was just in the toliets where it was quieter it worked up to a point with us

[johnvb]

Hand squeezing or something like that sounds like a good idea to try. The social stories seemed to do the trick yesterday and "Michael" was great - lucky there was a jazz band and not a disco or he would have freaked though! He took on the role of "chief photographer" and went round all the tables at dinner borrowing the single use cameras left on each table and photgraphing everyone. It was lovely seeing him interacting with everyone voluntarily and enjoying himself.

The only down side was keeping "Elise" still & quiet through the service, not that I minded but there was a stroppy old moo in the row in front who kept tutting at us. She probably thought we were bad parents - I'd like to see her try looking after our kids!

[welshie]

there's always one that tuts at our children.Glad it went well for you both
Rachel x