Words of Kindness

I’m already on a high today from managing to half jog/half walk 2.4 mile loop with a friend this morning after dropping the kids to school.  It’s quite an accomplishment for me.  On my way home, I passed some neighbours who we see from time to time and they told me what a wonderful job I’m doing with our children.  It has made my day, as some days can be a real struggle when you have children with ASD.

They have seen me at my worst in years gone by with our daughter screaming as a toddler and having massive tantrums outside their house as she didn’t want to go to nursery.  On one occasion it took 30 minutes for me to convince her with the help of our neighbour who very kindly gave her a soft toy as a distraction.  Since then, they have seen me with our youngest son climbing out of his pushchair as a toddler then having to carry him as he refused to walk, as well as push the pushchair and get my other two children to school.  They’ve seen him when he’s suffering with hypersensitivity to clothes and he’s pulling off his clothes as fast as I’m trying to keep them on him.  They’ve never said anything other than to offer their help.

Today they remarked how grown up the children seem to be getting and although I may look like a pack horse carrying all their things to school each morning, it looks a lot less stressful than a couple of years ago, before I had all the knowledge that I now have of ASD and the support network around me.

Those few words have really lifted me and sometimes it is just a small act of kindness like that, which will transform your day and make you realise you are doing a good job after all.