Tuesday, February 12, 2019

KOANS FOR PARENTING TEENS I-IV

Dear Persons,

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a KOAN as “a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment.” 

When I am faced with questions I can’t answer, I often reframe them as koans, in order to — yeah, basically — make myself feel better.  Also, laugh. (Also, cry.) 



Teenagers provide ample opportunities for koan construction, let me tell you — never mind parenting teens with differences…

Here are some recent koans I’ve developed: 

I.
If your neurodiverse teen stays out late for the first time and then sleeps past their usual 5:30 am. wakeup…is that Self-Regulation?

II.
If micro side-eye is smaller and quicker than regular side-eye, can it still be worse?

III.
If a peer invites your developmentally different child to do drugs or vape…is that Good? Or Bad?

IV.
Why is being weird weird, but being mean isn’t weird? 



Love,
Full Spectrum Mama

Welcome to Voices of Special Needs Blog Hop -- a monthly gathering of posts from special needs bloggers hosted by The Sensory Spectrum and The Mommy Evolution. Click on the links below to read stories from other bloggers about having a special needs kiddo -- from Sensory Processing Disorder to ADHD, from Autism to Dyslexia! Want to join in on next month's Voices of Special Needs Hop? Click here!
Inlinkz Link Party

2 comments:

  1. I love this! They are all the questions I’ve been asking myself! I also love your graphic. Well done... keep on keeping on. Maybe you’d like to join me in getting “this too shall pass” tattooed somewhere I can see it so I can remember this is temporary!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah teens! And then teens on the spectrum. I feel your puzzlement. Hopefully those brains will develop into adult brains and we'll get past this stage. My kiddo with autism graduates this May and I can't believe we made it this far!

    ReplyDelete

Dear Readers, Full Spectrum Mama seeks to honor and represent a Full Spectrum of opinions. All reasonably coherent comments will be published. If you are having trouble posting a comment (for reasons I cannot figure out, most people do??!!) , please email FSM @:
jineffable@gmail.com