All American Kid

As our son gets older and we get more tired, it's sometimes hard to get all excited for the holidays. That is something I always loved as a kid myself, looking forward to the next big celebration, decorating for the next big holiday in anticipation of the day itself. I would have to say with our son, his excitement for the holidays didn’t come along until the past few years.

He is now 15 and in the past years, he seems to be excited about Christmas trees and Santa Claus. So, in a way, it's precious that he's discovering something new. On the other hand, I am getting old and more tired and could be okay with not putting out all the decorations for some of the upcoming holidays.

Over the years, holidays have seemed almost torturous to Jac. Family get-togethers mean lots of people, lots of noise, and an unknown schedule that is hard to predict at times. All of which has led to many meltdowns and many tears, not only by Jac but by Jac's family as well.

We are slowly learning to scale down the celebrations and simplify. This week was the 4th of July, and rather than try to fight the crowds for fireworks, we watched them on TV, which seemed like a downer to me, but you know what, it was fine with Jac.

We cooked at our own house, in his own environment where he was comfortable and had a much better day. We wore red, white, and blue and took a drive and looked at the pretty American flags.

As we sat down to eat, Jac kept looking at his father who was eating corn on the cob. We had cut Jac's corn for him because never had we thought he would actually want to eat the real thing. As he watched his dad eat, the thought came to me, he wants to try the corn on the cob.

After some help with advising him not to eat the ends of the cob, Jac happily ate his corn on the cob and was so proud of himself. That's all he needed and that's all we needed to make the 4th of July a happy day. He accomplished something he wanted to do: eat corn on the cob. So now, he's the All-American Kid.

Moreover, we have learned to normalize the holidays for our family.

Find additional ideas, information and resources in Family Support.