Life in an Autistic World - II

Screeching ten-year-old power walking up dusty dirt driveway.



“I am leaving. I am never coming back. I don’t trust you anymore. You are a cruel Mummy.” Tears track down dusty damp cherubic cheeks. Silver trails in the grime. I am a failure as a Mummy. Boot me off the P & C committee, I am not worthy. Do you really want to know my transgression? I’m not cooking the baked potatoes quickly enough. What sort of a woman would do that to her starving child? He hasn’t eaten since morning tea an hour ago at least! His world is broken, yet again.


Hysteria reigns in our household. Overreaction is the norm. Having a child with hypersensitive sensory perception who is prone to extremely strong excessive emotional outbursts is challenging. To say the least.


Back to screaming child. I am tempted to let him go just to see how far he’d get. We have a five hundred metre driveway so he has a fair distance to ponder his decision. When he was younger he would get right to the bit before he was out of vision. He’d walk in place, too scared to be out of sight of Mummy. At this older stage he seems quite capable of following through. So I go to him.


“Do you think you might be overreacting a little?”


“Yeeeeeeeees,” quavering voice nearly breaks between sobs, “but you say sorry Mummy. I’ll say sorry too.”


I’m stubborn. My will wars with common sense. Pick your battles woman, if you have learnt anything on this rollercoaster it’s to pick your battles. But I DIDN’T do anything wrong. The child in me can rear its ugly head at the most inopportune moments.


“Sorry baby, let’s go back to the house.” Trust restored he allows himself to be led back to sanctuary. Life in an autistic world.

Life In An Autistic World is a series of short articles on how Boy 1's world collides with mine. A slightly humorous look at quirky everday life in the world of a family affected by ASD.
Madmother can also be found randomly ranting at Meaninless Meandering from a Madmother.