Sledding!

Hubby and I took the kids sledding for the first time ever and it was a huge success! Our son is 10 and our daughter is 5, perfect for her and a good idea to at least try it with him. I've kept an eye on our son's ability to handle not having as much control over the speed that something moves and finally thought that he was ready.

Why wait and not just send him down a hill when he was younger? Well, as I said he used to panic if he felt out of control. If you pulled him in a wagon or anything like that he loved it but only if it wasn't too fast. (He reminded me of the scene in the movie Year One when the two heros ride in a cart pulled by oxen for the first time and they've got their arms in the air screaming that it's so fast - then Michael Cera barfs. That was my son.)

The thing about giving stuff a try is that children with autism form scripts and schedules for almost everything in their head. For a little while he had a meltdown in the same spot every time we went to two different stores! Aisle 5 = fit, women's sport wear = fit . And not even a real big one as time went by. It seemed more like it was his cue in a play so he would start up then realize he wasn't upset and trail off. Eventually he moved on. It took months to move on, but we were eventually able to grocery shop and go to Kohl's in peace.

So when deciding if you should try something or not with your child then consider whether or not it's worth it. Obviously, the older your child is the more skills they will have learned to control their upset and the more likely things will not go too badly. With younger kids who are still trying to figure out how to navigate real life be more careful and always have a plan B - one that you are willing to live with. Don't decide that your kid needs to go to the Super Bowl at age 4 because you won tickets and insist that they share this moment with Daddy if they can barely handle getting through a parking lot without screaming at the loud trucks. Learn to take a minute to see it from their point of view. They don't care if it's the Super Bowl, even if they echo your praises of it. It's loud, it's crowded, it's bright and it smells funny. Can your kid handle that? If you decide to try it then be prepared to miss the game. Maybe your child will do great but they might meltdown at the gate or at halftime. If that happens you will need a Plan B that you can live with. If you can't live with your Plan B, if missing the event would kill you then don't take them. Don't set yourself up for resentment and anger. Throwing your own temper tantrum never helps to calm theirs.

Plus, because of the script, your kid would never go near a stadium again or at least for years to come. Are you willing to risk that? Just take a moment to consider these things before you make big plans or try something new. New is scary and that's okay but your child might need to be older before they do something you think they would enjoy.

Those are the reasons that I waited and I'm glad we did. He went down on his own about 6 times before he was done. He had a great time and there were other kids on the hill that didn't know him who never thought a thing about him deciding to be done. He was just a 10 year old kid sledding with mom, dad and the sister, as normal and fun as could be. Super cool.