A lot of people ask me why I let the Youngling grow a padawan braid. Why do I encourage him to pursue his interests in things fictional and magical? In fact, when his video went viral, I got many comments like this one… “It is damaging to let your child believe that he can become a Jedi.” Clearly, that person hails from the Dark Side. So, here is the major reason…
Length of time you get to be an adult:
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Length of time you get to be a kid:
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Sometimes, when you have a child with autism, the kid line can look like this:
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I like bonus kid time. Let’s face it, adulting can be a drag.
*kid time lines may vary… for everyone.
From an early age, professionals were telling me what I had to do to help my child grow up. He was so far behind. If he doesn’t, (fill in the blank) before age, (fill in the blank) he never will. Before I go on, let me say that this is NOT always true. I believed it, so a lot of being a child turned out to be a lot of work for my son. It was kind of a rip off. However, as luck would have it, he gets this kid line:
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Sometimes, being and autism parent makes my adulting line feel like this:
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But watching childhood through my kid’s eyes makes me feel like I also get my own kid line to look like this:
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So, if I need to teach my son that magic isn’t real, maybe childhood needs to feel a lot less magical. Maybe then I will stop believing in it myself. I’m not holding my breath.