Monday, May 16, 2011

A New Challenge

For the record, we LOVE our son's special ed. folks.  Money could never buy what they do for him.  They truly love him, and we love them.  They also challenge him and us.  A new challenge arrived today.  Our youngest is HUGE!  Even the football players at his middle school are dwarfed by him.  The thing is, they like him.  They treat him well.  Whether it be from survival instinct, or good upbringing, I may never know, but they're good to him.

We discussed his social development, and with it how great the jocks and coaches have been toward him.  His lead special ed. teacher thinks he should become a manager for the football team.  The coach agrees.  My feelings are very mixed.  On the one hand, I think the potential for growth and acceptance for him are huge.  I'm also scared to death.

My memories are rife with horrible scenes from my time with the jocks of my youth.  Movies like "Radio", and even "The Water Boy", as silly as that sounds, strengthen my fear and reservation over the whole thing. I'm not sure that's going to change.  I've found that of all fears in raising a "special child", the fear of what will become of him outside of my protection is the most profound and most persistent.  Fortunately, I have completely failed thus far in passing on my general distrust for humanity to my youngest.  Some of dad's lessons shouldn't be learned.

What shall I do?  There is only one honorable course.  I'm going to get out of his way and let him live.  If all goes well, he will learn and grow and make wonderful memories.  If it doesn't, he can face the cruel facts of humanity while I am still with him.  We'll get through it together.  He'll have what I never did.  

4 comments:

  1. I hope and will pray that it is a great experience for him. We already know his support system is in place ... with great parents who love him deeply.

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  2. Thanks bro. I always look forward to your comments on my blog.

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  3. Wondering - will he process that experience differently than you would? So if he does it, will it be without the pain. - Camilla

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  4. Great question Camilla. I know that he processes emotion very differently than I do, but is not devoid of them. They stay deeply suppressed. That's what bothers me. It's hard to determine what he's feeling at any given time.

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