Public Embarrassment Strikes Again…
For those of you who haven’t been reading my blog long…or just plain don’t know, my 11 year old son Parker is Autistic. He is very high functioning and has a lot of personality. He is adjusting to “life” with those of us who are wired differently than him although it has taken a lot of adjustment through the years. To put it lightly, Parker has come a LONG way from the 4-year old who could not speak.
I remember the days of screaming fits (no less than twice a day). We’re talking on the ground screaming, kicking and crying bloody murder style. So, as you can imagine I’ve had my fair share of public embarrassment.
It has been at least a year since I have experienced a “Parker fit” in public. I consider myself and him lucky. These fits used to happen in public when he simply could not communicate his needs in any way possible or in his mind was not going to get what he wanted no matter what he did.
Today was different. Sad. But different.
My husband and I took the kids to the theatre to see “Kung Fu Panda” (cute movie by the way). Parker was amazing, he sat through the entire thing…normally he gets up at least twice because he has to use the bathroom.
All was well until the movie ended. The credits started to roll…my hubby usually likes to sit for a couple minutes and watch the credits, however, my daughter, Izabelle really needed to use the bathroom. Poor Parker was stuck in the middle. Izabelle shoving him forward “I NEED to use the bathroom NOW” and Dad shoving him back the other way “Just a minute” neither Izabelle or my husband were aware of the other. Well, Parker EXPLODED. None of really knew what was going on so my husband got angry at Parker which exasperated the whole situation. Before we knew it EVERYONE was staring at Parker screaming “Don’t TOUCH me Dad” at the top of his lungs. Crying huge crocodile tears. Luckily he can communicate pretty darn well now and was able to tell me that he was being “shoved” from both sides. Urgh! Poor kid. I felt so bad for him. Even though we worked through it and left with Parker calm, I’m sure we had more than a few on-lookers think he was a product of some sort of child abuse with the “Don’t touch me Dad” scene he had made.
Oh well…such is life, right? I look back at the whole situation now and see how much Parker has grown. I am so grateful that he can tell us how he feels now. So grateful that right or wrong he can defend himself. So, so, so very grateful for him. He is such a blessing in my life every day of my life, just as he is. I love him more than words can express.
