Before Lauren left for school today, she handed me a permission slip I needed to fill out for a school-related trip she is going on shortly before Thanksgiving. One of the "rules" is that no electronic devices (such as an i-Pod, i-Pad, cell phone, etc.) are allowed. Lauren was telling me that she is "plugged" in from the time she wakes up until the time she goes to bed. The hubby and I both like our television shows. He loves watching sports, I could watch the Food Network all day. Dominic plays educational games on the i-Pad. It got me to wondering, is our family just a little too plugged in? Could we actually go an entire day without using the computer? a cell phone? the television? other electronic devices?? I think social media is especially hard on today's tweens and teens. If you're not tweeting, texting or posting your status updates, you feel like you're out of the "loop." I like Twitter, but I mostly read other people's "tweets." Most of my buddies are on Facebook and since many members of my family and extended family and other close friends live several hundred miles from us, I have found it's the best way for me to keep in touch with them. I joined Pinterest and Tumblr, but I truly have no clue what I'm doing!! This past Tuesday afternoon, instead of me flipping on a cooking show on the television or Dominic playing on the i-Pad, he sat curled up next to me and read me books for a whole 30 minutes :) Guess that's at least a start to becoming less attached to our electronics, right?? How about you and your family? could you go "unplugged" for any length of time? or would it be hard???
When Dominic was diagnosed with Autism at 2 1/2, I went to our local library and took out every book I could find about Autism. Sometimes I would bring back 20 books. This was 2006, so a lot of the information was very "dated." I guess I was looking for a book that would tell me what I should do next, like a "manual." Autism doesn't quite work that way! The saying is, " if you know one person with Autism, you know one person with Autism." Every mom to an individual with Autism follows their own "path." I think as moms, we judge ourselves much harder than anyone else does. I was 41 when I had Dominic. Did he get the diagnosis of Autism because I was an older mom? because I drank a lot of pop? I could sit and think about that every minute of every day. I am pretty integrated into the Autism community around Lansing and have told more than one person that it took me about two weeks to come to terms with Dominic's diagnosis. It is so incredib...
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