Sunday, February 8, 2015

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Pervasive Parenting

By Kodey Toney

Easy Like Sunday Morning

So often with kids on the spectrum we tend to focus on the negative issues and forget about the positives. I know that sometimes it may seem like there aren't any positives, but you have to look past the issues to get to the good stuff. I hope to explain this a little bit more in this week’s article.
I was thinking about this as I was trying to get the boys ready for school this morning. In the past couple weeks we've had a lot of trouble with Kruz getting up and get his clothes on even though I have everything laid out and ready to go. I want to explain how much easier it is sometimes with Konner. This may not be true for all children on the spectrum.
As I've said before we're all creatures of habit. It's just human nature. That's why it's so hard to break habits. Once we get in the routine we don't want to get out. That being said, children on the spectrum are all about routine. We know this and that's why if you change up anything the entire balance of the world seems to be completely out of whack. 
This may seem like a bad thing, but sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise. For instance, Konner gets up every morning about the same time. Now this could be bad if you're trying to sleep in, but on schooldays it works out well. You see he’s usually before the rest of us, has eaten, and is either playing on his iPad or the computer. All I have to do is lay his clothes out and tell him to get dressed. I may have to redirect him a couple times, but then he's ready to go get his medicine and fix his hair. Then he's ready before I am.

It's Kruz that I have to fight with every morning just to get him out of bed, and then get him in the living room, and then get his pants on, and then get a shirt on, and then get his socks on…well, you get the point.
It’s the same every night. Konner gets in the shower at the same time. When he gets out he knows it's time to get ready for bed, and he'll usually go crawl in bed by himself. 
With Kruz it's completely different. We have to fight just to get him in the bath tub. Then we have to fight to have him get dressed, to dry off, to go to bed. It seems like everything is a constant fight with him.
I don't want to seem like I'm picking on Kruz because I love the little guy, and he makes our life pretty interesting. I just want to use that as a contrast to what we deal with in Konner. He’s pretty easy-going most of the time. You just have to stick with the routine. Don't change things up. Don't frustrate him and you won’t have very many problems. 
As I said I know this is not true for all children on the spectrum but I think it is for most.

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