Younger Typical Kids verses Autistic Kids

A great conversation with a typical eight-year-old girl

I was blown away the other day by my conversation with a typical eight-year-old girl.

What happened?

I’m a member of a local gym, and I also work part time in their babysitting room.

I was working the other day. I had my son with me because his father was golfing. (It’s okay for me to have my son with me at this job.)

I was looking after three kids.

One of the kids was an eight-year-old girl. I know her mom not only from the babysitting room and we also both work out together in the weight room.

What my son wanted

At one point, my son wanted to go outside the babysitting room in order to regulate his body. He wanted to walk around, shake his arms, and generally get his “wiggles” out. He does this kind of thing all the time. I told him it was okay.

The girl got curious and asked me where he going. I explained to her that that boy is my son, he’s here at work with me today, and sometimes he likes to go outside to get his wiggles out. His body just needs to get up and move around from time to time.

Then, this girl began to tell me about her friend who does a similar thing.

The girl knew about autism

She said, “Well, he has auterism.”

I immediately corrected her and said, “Autism.”

She shook her head and said, “Yes, he has that. He gets frustrated sometimes. He’ll say to me that he just needs to go walk around. And, he does. Sometimes, he gets mad real quick when something doesn’t work out. That’s when, I think, he’s different than the rest of us.”

Our conversation continued

“How do you think he’s different?” I asked.

“Well, it’s his autism. He’s sometimes cries, like, really quick when something doesn’t go right. I try to help him, but sometimes he just can’t help it because he’s different. When the other kids try to make fun of him, I tell them that my friend is different and that he’ll be okay. Don’t make fun of him just because he’s different.”

I smiled. I was so happy to have this conversation.

A great way to see the world

I talked with this eight-year-old for a few more minutes about autism and told her that my son, who was still walking around outside the room, had autism. We had similar thinking. 

Furthermore, I complimented her. She had a great way to discuss her friend with autism. It was refreshing to hear that she tried to help her friend. Especially, that she tried to tell her other friends that he was just different and that he’s okay.

I was stunned and so happy on the inside.

What a great kid and what a great attitude.

This girl had had experiences with an autism individual, and was handling it so well.

This conversation was a dream to me. This is how all of us Autism Parents desperately want each and every interaction with typicals to look like.

The mom

Later on, when I met up with the girl’s mom, I had to tell her that she has a really great kid. I told her that her daughter has the kind of attitude all parents want out of their kids, but more so because she’s a typical kid dealing so well with an autistic kid.

She’s outgoing, sensitive, and forward-thinking.

Complimenting the mom

I told the mom that her daughter’s attitude had to come from somewhere. Good parenting.

A future

It’s a dream to think that one day all typicals would have a similar attitude.

A younger generation has a head start, I think. Hopefully, this girl will spread her attitude and awareness to more friends, and that it’ll expand and keep on expanding.

Maybe one day, my son will be understood and accepted by everyone.

A mom can dream. Younger typical kids verses autistic kids. It can work.

Here’s an interesting article about typical kids and their siblings with autism.

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1698128,00.html

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