See that picture? For a lot of people, one look at it brings to mind all kinds of happy thoughts and feelings about the beauty of raising children. Raising kids is certainly a beautiful thing, but sometimes it’s far less than perfect. Twenty-four years ago, Anna May and I hadn’t yet had kids of our own, but she decided that a good way to make some extra money was opening our house to offer in-home childcare. It wasn’t long before we were approached about watching a little boy whose father said had been kicked out of every daycare in Springfield. I don’t know if this was an exaggeration, but I do know his dad was desperate. He was a single dad, working long hours, with no family to help. Among the many challenges this young man faced, he was very limited in terms of vocabulary and very angry. Today, we are blessed with a house full of children, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. I wish we had known some things back then that we have learned now, because there is little doubt that this child was also on the spectrum, and no one in his life seemed to understand what he was going through. Unfortunately, we were also pretty ignorant when it came to these things.
Adventures in Childcare
Adventures in Childcare
Adventures in Childcare
See that picture? For a lot of people, one look at it brings to mind all kinds of happy thoughts and feelings about the beauty of raising children. Raising kids is certainly a beautiful thing, but sometimes it’s far less than perfect. Twenty-four years ago, Anna May and I hadn’t yet had kids of our own, but she decided that a good way to make some extra money was opening our house to offer in-home childcare. It wasn’t long before we were approached about watching a little boy whose father said had been kicked out of every daycare in Springfield. I don’t know if this was an exaggeration, but I do know his dad was desperate. He was a single dad, working long hours, with no family to help. Among the many challenges this young man faced, he was very limited in terms of vocabulary and very angry. Today, we are blessed with a house full of children, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. I wish we had known some things back then that we have learned now, because there is little doubt that this child was also on the spectrum, and no one in his life seemed to understand what he was going through. Unfortunately, we were also pretty ignorant when it came to these things.