I'm going to admit it ... I'm hiding here in the dining room, spying. I'm listening to my boys interact with their guests. OK, I'm going to be COMPLETELY honest here and say that I'm really just listening to one kid interact.
Yep, I'm worried about little dude.
We're having a play-date with a family that (dun-dun-DUN) doesn't KNOW about little dude's struggles with others. They don't know that he's you know (whispering) ON the spectrum. It's not that I care what they think. I don't. I'm worried that Little Dude's feelings will get hurt when they tell him that he's "weird" (someone has said that) or "stupid" (someone has said that too) or "kind of like an octopus, and he just can't keep his hands to himself" (an ADULT actually said that).
My son is nine. He cries when he gets frustrated, hits if he feels intimidated, does NOT have an inside voice and struggles to play well with others. But my son is also one of the sweetest boys I have met, is frighteningly intuitive about what people think and has an incredibly high IQ.
I see his struggles with others and I totally want to build a bubble around him to protect him. I have this overwhelming (and yes, damn it, irrational) need to protect him from stupid people. Yes, that's right. I'm calling some people stupid.
Listen. We are all different. We look different, we learn differently and some of us can't understand about personal space and the unwritten rules of society. No biggie. A simple reminder is fine; calling someone else weird or stupid is not.
And keep in mind that the pissed off parents of special kids get a special "buy" for using the "s" word.
Just sayin'
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