Autistic Mom Life

We were at Tinkertown and I know that it's very important for my son to be first in line and I recognized that he was getting very dysregulated. So, he was almost in the red zone. He was really close tipping to the red zone, and he needed food and needed shade as well. But he displays some pedigree behavior when I give directions. So, I have to be sneaky all the time. He can get very dysregulated if not in the Green Zone. I can push him into the red zone if I give him directions at that time. So, I saw that he needed to take a break, he needed food, and we were at Tinkertown.

There were some other boys with very strong personalities. One of them kind of started racing to be first before my son, because he's quite big. He kind of wanted to be the first in line and they settled, but then that boy pushed my son and just like they settled and then they of course pushed him back and he's big. And I went over right away because I know that this is where my son needs help, when there's conflict. And so, I went over there right away, and I redirected the boys. My son was very dysregulated and what that sounds like is I hate you mama. You're the worst mommy ever. Stop talking. But what I knew was that's not true. What he needs is a break. So, he's using language but when he's feeling frustrated with these other boys and he’s tired and needs a break. He's using language and he tried to communicate that with me by saying I hate you. You're the worst mommy ever and stop talking.

So, I ignore that to get safely onto the ride and when he's on the ride, I said when you're done, let's go have a snack. And he's like, OK mama, I hate you. Right, but so, dysregulated parents can't help regulating the child. So, I do what I need to do to stay calm. And then when he got off the ride, I expected that he's going to run and he's going to say mean things, but he needs to get some food. So, I say OK we need to get some food, what do you want? He said, ‘stop talking, I hate you’ and he just ran. But I know that he's running to the snack shack because he's also hungry. I say nothing in other not to make it worse. So, I keep my mouth shut and I just chase him. We got to the snack shack and he's already telling them what he wanted and I'm just keeping my mouth shut. I gave him money to pay because he has to do it all or bad news. And then once he got what he needed, he sat down. I gave him the phone to watch a show under the shade while he's having a snack. Watching the show, he'll stay seated for longer and after about 20 minutes he's fed and he's back in the Green Zone and we were able to stay at Tinkertown for another two to three hours without any incident.