Raising Eli & Zachary + a little Princess

This question is asked of me all the time and as a Dad I completely understand why a dad would reject the diagnosis of PDD-NOS of their child. It is a pride thing and this is not an uncommon event. It happens because the dad loves his child and refuses to think there is anything wrong. This is a totally honorable notion, but unfortunately it is completely misguided when it results in the parents not being on the same page and  the support not given to the child.

I suffered with this myself. But my LOVE for my child won the day. I figured it this way. Nothing bad can come of Eli getting the kind of support the specialists, educators and therapists said my child needed. Even though at first I rejected the diagnosis, the support was only going to improve my boys life. He will be better socially, better academically and more responsible.  I figured, how could that hurt?

Deep inside I knew there were issues. I just was being a dad. My kid is normal, my kid is perfect, and my kid does not need help. Once he started getting the help I didn’t expect to see the instant results which just reinforced the diagnosis. MY KID IS PERFECT, but he has Aspergers, originally diagnosed as PDD-NOS. That diagnosis does not make him less perfect, it makes him just need more love from me, his DAD.

To the father who is not accepting of the diagnosis. Continue to deny it in your head but give your son the therapy he needs. It will not hurt him, there is no social stigma about getting help, none of the other kids understand what is going on, and your child will grow and improve in the areas he is struggling with. This is a no brainer. If you love you kid, you provide the best of everything for them no matter what. You take your kids to the doctor when they don’t have a fever, You take them to the dentist even if they don’t have a cavity. You take your PDD-NOS child to therapy so when he is 16 he interacts, socializes, learns and becomes a man. If you deny him services you risk his ability to have an independent life. Whether you think he has a problem or not, is it worth that risk? Suck it up, swallow your pride and get your child help. There are only positives that result from it.

Any father can call me.  Any dad can write me, and any dad can cry openly me over their child diagnosis. There is no shame, no judgement, no laughing. OUR KIDS DESERVE THE BEST CHANCE AT A POSITIVE LIFE. That is all you need to gain out of this. Give the kid the chance to have a life by getting help at an early age.

(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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If you do not know about this story already then you have been under a rock for the last few days. I am not sure I am in full light of the story but I have to say, either way, both parties involved took step that were way out of line. The story as I know it is simple:

Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr was trying to get into his upscale house but was having problems with the door. Unable to get in, he tried the back door and forced his way in. A neighbor, called the police because they thought this guys house was being broken into. The cops went to the house and demanded the occupant come out so he could be interviewed and asked for his ID.

Now here is where it gets sketchy and nobody seems to know what really happened. But as I have read it the Professor refused to leave his house, but did provide evidence that it was in fact his house. The police then demanded he go outside the house so he could be interviewed, and at this point the Professor reportedly started in that he was being harassed because he was black, and the cop is white. Stories vary that the cops harassed the Professor and forced their position, in which the Professor got pissed and gave it back to them, and vice versa where the Professor was was at fault.

The question really becomes why is this a Presidential issue? Because Gates happens to be black, and a friend of the president? Was racial profiling involved? Could this have been handled better? I see this scenario:

Why is this scenario so outlandish? Why does it always have to be black and white. Clearly both parties handled it bad and I think the Professor and cops should be ashamed of themselves, and Obama should stay the hell out of it and mind his own business. Since he did get involved, instead of backing his friend, he should have backed the COP and reprimanded the friend for over-reacting.

(No Ratings Yet)

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When Eli was younger we enrolled him in a Daddy/Mommy and me swimming class. Our goal was simple, to have Eli comfortable in and around the water at the earliest age possible. At the time, Eli did not hesitate to swim and bounce around with his mother or myself but that changed when he was between the ages of two and three. Eli’s idea of being in the water was limited to taking a bath.

As frustrated parents, we tried last year to make swimming fun, but we were always faced with a screaming, miserable child when going into the water followed up by a shivering miserable child getting out. We needed this to be a happy outlet for Eli, not because it is summer time, but because we love the water and need Eli to be safe and able to swim.

Deciding that maybe having Jodi or I bring him into the pool, we figured going to a class would be best, and we have not been disappointed yet. Eli took his first lesson the other day and it was a great success. He did EVERYTHING he was asked to do, and even got his head wet and jumped into the pool a few times. It was an instant success and Eli is already talking about wanting to go back and do it again. We hope that the future classes will build on his excitement and skill level and maybe, if we are lucky, he will be swimming on his own by the end of the summer!

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So this morning the people who attacked the website last week were at it again, and this time I was armed with a ton more information than before. So after scanning the raw logs I discovered the attacks were coming from North Korea. Not only are they trying to build Nuke weapons, but they are fond of attacking parenting blogs. Interesting how some people spend their time. But alas, the attacks were not coming just from North Korea, they were also coming from a few of Russian republics.

With all the info I had, I decided to just block certain countries from being able to access the site. I can do this at the host level. So being the guy I am, I decided to just start blocking countries I felt didn’t deserve to have the honor or reading my blog. So, the list contains but is not limited to:

Both North and South Korea
Iraq
Iran
The entire Russian Federation and various other old Soviet Union “places”

I figure most of the traffic I want to get is from North America anyway so I went completely nuts just blocking any country I couldn’t spell. Some might thing this is a horrible thing to do. But I guess when your parenting site turns into a porn site you have to take the gloves off and fight back.

(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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