MIDDLE SCHOOL PRAYERS REVISITED, REVISITED

I take it all* back. I am terrified.

Universe, please watch over and protect our bumbling, quirky, not-so-grown-up, growing up children as they head back into the fray.

Thanks and love,
Full Spectrum Mama

* http://fullspectrummama.blogspot.com/2015/08/middle-school-prayers-revisited.html

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRAYERS, REVISITED

As people and as parents some of us are lucky enough to have a perfectly generous level of empathy for others as well as a balanced perspective on events. Others of us learn to understand others’ feelings and have perspective on our own lives the hard way(s).

Last year saw G’s heretofore good grades plummet, but he was accepted and happy at school. It was clear that G had chosen, consciously or un- to put all his energies into that realm of his life that had for so long been an area of suffering. For a “typical” parent with an academically gifted kid this would be a disastrophe but the perspective and experience I’ve gained (kicking and screaming) about my kid show me that a decline in grades is a small price to pay for the gains he’s made in confidence and self-esteem.

By the end of last year, G’s team had begun to identify effective strategies for executive function and focus in order to improve his academics; and I am very much hoping we can bring more balance between the social and the academic this year in 8^th grade. That’s going to be a tall order, but at least I am only mildly terrified this year. (Sure last year was a social success, but there can be so much drama in middle school, for middle-schoolers of all persuasions, and peer-group rejection is so common.)

Here are two posts I wrote around this time last year, in case they are of use to any readers:

            This one is about my deep terrors for my son as he entered Middle School:

                        MIDDLESCHOOL PRAYERS 

This one is about trying to find other kids who might be extraordinarily challenged entering Middle School:

                       TEAM FRIENDLY FACE 

And here’s an inspiring thought from a VERY WISE Dad I know and love, from his facebook page (posted with permission, lightly edited for anonymity); it helps me remember that I know my child and I know what he is capable of...:

Happy birthday to my son [name]. Apologies for this post, son, but “I had to say it.” The year that he was age 3 I was on lecture tour. In Indiana he was the only black child in childcare. After my talk a teacher said, “I’m sorry to tell you, sir, but your son is slow.” The next week in New Hampshire a different childcare teacher said, “Wow! Your son is brilliant.” I’d already played a significant role helping parent my three much younger brothers and [name] is my second son. I knew he was blessed. Now he has a bachelor’s from Princeton and both a Ph.D and J.D. from the University of Virginia. At no point did I give permission to some stranger to define my child (or his 3 brothers). If you’re a parent, grandparent, teacher, friend... I suggest you follow the same route. You have to nurse greatness to find greatness.

Obviously, blessings and greatness come in all stripes and do not necessarily mean academic blessings and/or greatness, but I plan to nurse the academic aspect of my son better this year, along with his great heart -- and I plan to make sure the rest of his team does the same.

Wishing all parents and students and teachers and staff many blessings for a smooth transition into this next school year. People who are already fully-equipped for school should not be posting that on facebook and making the rest of us feel inadequate.

Remember, if we do not believe in – and nurture! -- the unique greatness of our loved ones and children, who will?

Love,

Full Spectrum Mama

TRASHY

Summer is here and the Full Spectrums are, one might say, less productive than they might be. It's been all kids (and lots of fun, truly) all the time since school got out and there hasn't been a whole lot of writing time, but I did manage to pick up a "People" magazine today. All in the interest of research, of course. 

Now I love a trashy magazine as much as the next person, maybe more, so I was stunned in my relaxing reverie to read this headline: "Heros Among Us: Crusading Against Autism." Against my better judgement - I Was trying to relax! - I read this piece on, guess who, Autism Speaks. Apparently, what Autism Speaks does is "restore the spirit and hope that autism tried to take away." 

With all due respect to a wide range of families and situations, I very much beg to personally differ with that assessment !

I managed to quell the kiddos long enough to write this letter because I wanted to, you know, Speak:


Re: "Crusading Against Autism"
To the Editor:

Are you aware that many autistic people are able to read? In fact, many are avid readers.

As a mother on the spectrum with an autistic son, I was deeply saddened to see this headline. I will NOT be keeping this issue in the house, in case my dear boy, who is perfect just as he is, happens to fall upon this article. I would never, ever want him to feel that he himself is seen by some as something to be fought against, or someone who takes hope away. 

Sincerely,

Dr. [FSM]

Love, 

Full Spectrum Mama

Shifting Gears – Part I

Once upon a time there was a little boy who took several years to learn to ride a bicycle. When the young lad finally gained this important skill, he was as proud as can be. A year later, he graduated from the small, low-to-the-ground bike on which he’d learned to ride to a tall bike that had formerly belonged to his mother. As he began to master this grownup bike, he became interested in shifting gears. However, his Mama and her Pardner thought it best that the enthusiastic fellow learn, first, to use the brakes and steer the ve-hicle.

Though the boy dreamed day and night of attaining this prestigious skill, he waited unwearyingly until the sharing of the Secret of the Gears would be allowed.

It came to pass, before the lesson of the shifting of the gears became appropriate, that the young lad went away from home for the first time on a five-day class trip to a wonderful science camp.  Upon the morning of departure to this far away land, his little sister refused to play or speak with him. So deep was her pain at his leaving, that she found herself unable to even bid her brother adieu.

However, shortly after his departure, the girl child was overcome with the knowledge that she had her family all to herself and, forthwith, began a campaign of demanding, and then basking in, undivided attention and adoration. 

Much fun was had, and many “special” outings were undertaken as consolation. Among these, the little girl – who’d learned to ride her bicycle in a trice– was taken on a long bike ride. During this adventure, the family encountered a mighty hill, and the young lady was in need of assistance. At this time, her noble stepfather inadvertently taught the lass to shift gears.

Alas, how could this have come to pass? For the young lad would be most heartbroken should he learn that his little sister, four years younger and light years more physically adept, had been taught the Secret of the Gears before him. The unfairness of this deed would have, as the parents knew full well, filled him with devastation.

And so the parents endeavored to convince the little sister of the importance of not telling her brother that she had the Secret of the Gears without actually asking her to lie to her brother. Many twistings of the tongue and brain, such as the classic “We are not asking you to keep a secret from your brother and yet we feel that it would be best if you did not bring up this matter” were shared with the young Bike Princess by both elders.

Finally, the day of the young lad’s return was upon them. With great joy and anticipation, his Mama and sister awaited him at school pickup. They lovingly loaded his stinking, filthy trunks into the car and sped home for a feast.

Brother and sister alighted from the car and swiftly approached the house empty-handed, apparently anticipating twenty minutes’ “screen time.”

The door, however, was locked, and so they sat upon the deck and conversed, while Mama, having alone shouldered the burdensome baggage and several other items including her capacious mombag, shuffled toward them in an ungainly fashion.

Suddenly, great cries of grief and rage were heard from the land of the deck, for, during the very first moment alone she had with him, the Bike Princess had foisted her knowledge of the Secret of the Gears upon her brother.

Now, some people hear this story and laugh, some shudder or even cry. That is what Part II will be about.

Love,

Full Spectrum Mama