Stink gave his class the Tourette Syndrome talk on Tuesday. His teacher \u2013 God bless her \u2013 canceled it on Friday since the kid who really needed to hear Stink wasn\u2019t in school.\u00a0I was glad this difficult student was once again attending class, as it would be an opportunity for Stink to practice some valuable life skills in a safe setting.<\/p>\n
My mother had a different reaction to the situation: \u201cTake Stink out of that school and put him in a setting that is more open to differences!\u201d Translation: Spare him this pain.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, I would have agreed with my mom \u2013 at least on a knee-jerk emotional level. It breaks my heart to see my kid being\u00a0teased for something he can\u2019t help.\u00a0But now that\u00a0five years have passed since his original diagnosis,\u00a0I couldn\u2019t feel more certain that keeping Stink right where he is \u2013 in a public school with all the good, the bad, the ugly and the fabulous \u2013 \u00a0is the best gift I can give him.<\/p>\n
Life is fraught with trials and tribulations. If he didn\u2019t have TS, he\u2019d be teased for something else. No, running away from the problem would only set him up for failure in the future when he wouldn\u2019t have life skills to deal with adversity.<\/p>\n
Call me getting old and crotchety, but our culture — despite technology — is getting dumber and dumber.\u00a0We coddle more and more. Just take a look at bowling alleys.\u00a0Oooooh, we can\u2019t have the kids bowl and have their balls go into the guttter! How sad that is! Let\u2019s place long rubber tubing down the lanes so everyone gets to feel like a winner. Those pins will fall and make our kids feel so good and accomplished! Good job at getting that spare! Good job at being a winner at something you didn\u2019t do!<\/em><\/p>\n TS is not easy, but it\u2019s a perfect opportunity to live life on life\u2019s terms. Those terms, correct me if I\u2019m wrong, include:<\/p>\n And so, the night before the speech, I sat him down and said, \u201cStink, are you ready to do this?\u201d<\/p>\n Stink:<\/strong> \u201cYes, but I\u2019m sooooo sick of talking about my tics!\u201d<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> (Note to self: Back off, Mama. I\u2019m trying! I really am!) \u201cI don\u2019t blame you, Stink, but you have to face this head on.\u201d<\/p>\n Stink:<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s annoying! And I\u2019m tired of Pipsqueak giving me advice on it!\u201d<\/p>\n Just five minutes earlier, Pip was aghast at Stink\u2019s story about lunch. That same kid was asking about a silly band on his wrist. \u201cYou\u2019re so immature!\u201d he told Stink, huffing off to his Beevis and Butthead playmates who, likely, didn\u2019t have silly bands but were pretty darn good at talking about first person shooter games, their favorite\u00a0Chuckie<\/em>\u00a0movies and how many Coca Colas they could drink and burp out in one day. (I mean, it\u2019s shocking these kids have no inner soul life, but I digress.)<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> \u201cI get that you\u2019re over your sister telling you to find the teachers on the playground. It\u2019s just\u00a0she loves you and is worried about you.\u201d<\/p>\n I take his hand in mine and look him straight in the eye.<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> \u201cBut to your point, I don\u2019t want to talk about your tics anymore either. However, you\u00a0have them \u2013 a lot of tem these days \u2013 and kids are noticing. It isn\u2019t fun, but you need to educate people. After that, if someone still chooses to act like a turd, they can\u2019t claim ignorance.\u201d<\/p>\n Stink:<\/strong> \u201cWhat\u2019s ignorance?\u201d<\/p>\n Me:<\/strong> \u201cIt means \u2018not knowing something.\u2019 ”<\/p>\n Stink:<\/strong> \u201cPapa is definitely not ignorant because he knows everything!\u201d<\/p>\n Now how can you not laugh at that last statement? And duh\u2026 my husband knows everything. I guess we\u2019ll have a cure for TS soon then! Hooray!<\/p>\n\n