Yes, I have that kid

I was told today, by a friend, that her two children are not thrilled to play with my son. Great…he’s “That” kid. You know, the one that all of the other kids don’t want to play with but all of the mothers say they have to in order to be nice?

Random Mom: He’s different, honey, and you have to respect that.

Random Kid: Ahhh, but Mom.

Random Mom: No, ahh, buts. You do it. (grumble, grumble)

So, this is why I have no friends, eh? Either that or they are intimidated by my beauty and since I have gained 15 pounds and developed a mustache of freckles I don’t think that is the case.
With a special needs son this is going to be a problem for a long time. But how do I solve it? We don’t have very many children in our neighborhood that AJ can play with and since he is in an Early Childhood program at a school that is not in our neighborhood it is difficult to find playdates.

I have brainstormed some things (with the help of my honest friend).

1. Join a Mommy and Me group so we can both socialize. I joined two groups through meetups tonight and I have a date tomorrow morning with a Special Needs Group at the local Children’s Museum. I don’t know any of the moms but I am sure I will be able to find them.

2. Enroll him in a Regular Education Preschool one day a week with an aide from the Special Needs Preschool. Luckily our Park District does offer this.

3. Continue to socialize him at places like the Slash Park and local swimming pools and parks.

4. Join Kid’s Playdates, a site I recently found and also has information on special needs children. Right now they are offering free registration. The site is interesting in that it helps connect parents in the same area. Pretty cool!

Now, I need your suggestions…

This was originally posted in the summer of 2007. Since then AJ has enjoyed two summers of a Special Needs camp, two school years in a special needs classroom, and has made many great friends.

I have also made some wonderful friends both in my own community and on the Internet through my writing. Two of the best things I did were join a Meet-up group and get onto Facebook, where I got reacquainted with long-lost friends.

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Originally posted 2009-03-31 23:26:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter