Every year we join friends on Boxing Day for their annual Christmas recovery gathering. It is a day of sharing leftovers, discussion of the past year, kids happily playing together while adults eat, drink and relax, plus sunset with a view.
As I enjoy the quiet of satisfied children sleeping after an exhausting day, I ponder the odd feeling that it just doesn’t seem like Christmas.
It’s becoming a successful focus now, to encourage the passions/obsessions of those on the Autism Spectrum. So I ask: why can’t we do something similar for all children?
Fortunately, his universal obsession of trains and public transport is easy to satisfy anywhere in the world. Unfortunately it means that public transport journeys become a non-negotiable part of any trip.
He really hasn’t been sick this year, not like he once was. It’s something quite special to notice how wonderfully healthy he is.
While I was relieved that Chip went to school, acting as a model student, and NOT treating his friends or teachers like this, it was heartbreaking to be met with his condensed anger every afternoon, often having experienced it on the way to school as well.
