Shopping for Courage
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 | Things My Son Has Taught Me
I took Tyus (my 4 1/2 year old Autistic son) shopping yesterday. I don’t know why I decided to do it, but I did. I guess I just thought that we needed to do something normal together. Tyus is off school for Spring Break this week, so I got him all ready and put him in the van. I told him where we were going, but I used no visual supports (like a picture of the store) like I usually do. He seemed ok with the trip until we passed the entrance to the local swimming facility. Now realizing that we were not going where he thought we were going, he freaked. Maybe I should have turned around.
Well, I didn’t turn around. We got to the store and he was sobbing uncontrollably. On any other day I would have just driven home and come back later without him, but for some reason my resolve was strong. “We are going to do this buddy. I know we can. Come on.” I hauled him unwillingly from the van and put him in the cart. I gave him a piece of gum which seemed to calm him slightly. As we began to shop I gave him a container of cereal that I had packed and proceeded through the store at twice my normal speed. What was going to happen when the cereal ran out? I really didn’t want to find out, so when Cream of Brocolli soup was nowhere to be found we opted for Brocolli Cheese soup, hoping it would work in our recipe.
I was filled with fear the entire time I rushed around the store, but Tyus was very well behaved. He happily ate his cereal and when the last of it was gone he simply tossed the container out of the cart and continued to look around at the displays. At the end of our trip we passed the bakery and I paused for a second. When Taya goes to the store with me good behaviour is rewarded with a free cookie from the bakery lady. I decided that Tyus should have the same treatment, despite an effort we are making to cut down his sugar intake. I peered into the bakery area, and while the cookies were visible on the counter, no bakery attendant was to be seen. I turned our cart around and started to walk away and then I said out loud “No. You are a little boy and you deserve a cookie just like everyone else. Hold on, buddy.” I swung the cart back to the bakery, marched in there and grabbed a cookie for my boy. He happily ate it in the checkout line.
As I steered our cart back towards our van I leaned in close to him and whispered, “We did it, Tyus. Good job.” He looked at me and smiled a chocolatey smile and I knew he was just as proud of us as I was. Maybe we didn’t get everything on our list, but we both got a little something extra.
1 Comment to Shopping for Courage
That was cute. I kept expecting you to get your ass whooped, but this was even better.
April 1, 2009