It’s been a while since I have put my boys down for bed instead of my husband but the other night we switched it up and he laid our daughter down while I put our boys in bed. I sang to them and gave them hugs and kisses and turned their light off. Immediately my 6 year old with ASD started screaming like someone had chopped his arm off “I WANT THE LIGHT ON!!!” I said, “It’s time for sleeping. You never have the light on when you sleep. We need to keep it off.” Screaming continued - and continued for better than 30 minutes even after my husband came in. Once he got him settled he came out and said to me “you didn’t sing to them.” I did! “Okay, did you pray with them? Did you answer all of Michael’s questions?” Ugh. I didn’t realize the routine had gotten longer since I had last put them in bed myself. This was such a lightbulb moment for me as an ASD mom because my son was screaming “I WANT THE LIGHT ON.” So I heard, “I want the light on.” But what he really meant was “Our routine isn’t done so we can’t shut the light off yet.” Another reminder to be that sleuth for our kids and to always assume the best (even when it’s hard and you’re just tired of being screamed at). Just wanted to share to hopefully save someone else the 30 minutes of I-want-the-light-on screaming. 🙃

Posted by Nicole Pounds at 2022-09-02 11:59:22 UTC