Every year it has become tradition to visit my family who lives near the beach. My husband is not the biggest fan of the beach, so he usually takes this time to stay back and work on house projects, so I am in charge of all three boys. The good news is Logan and Cole being 15 and 12 are pretty self-sufficient, however, older kids still require attention, it just looks a little different. This year, we arrived, quickly settled in and began our adventures.
Cash is a decent traveler. He doesn't seem to be bothered by new environments or people, or even being away from home. But he does get over stimulated. It seems as though he starts moving and can't stop. As a mom, it's so hard to watch. In truth it makes me sad sometimes. I know, as do his brothers, he can't control his busyness and scripting, but the people around us don't understand. We decided to get ice cream as one of our first outings. The place was packed. We had to wait in line, which is typically a hard task for Cash. We got settled to eat our ice-cream, but he kept buzzing around. He ended up going over to a table where a mom sat with her son and daughter and throwing rocks at it. Thankfully, the rocks did not hit anyone, but it was clear the mom was not happy. Who can blame her? When you see Cash, he looks like a typical six-year-old boy. What she saw was a bratty six-year-old, not listening to his mom tell him to come sit down. But what I saw was a boy, who in new places, wants to have fun and engage, but is over stimulated by his environment. It doesn't make his actions okay, but I know they are not malicious or disobedient. Cash and I walked over, and he apologized. The mom said she appreciated that. She was still visibly upset. We did our part to make things right, and what she thinks of Cash, and I is none of my business. I will continue to take Cash to new places because I believe each time is practice and it will get better.
One of the nights we ventured over to the Wildwood boardwalk. Logan and Cole went off with our cousin, Timothy to ride all the big rides. I gave Cash the choice of riding rides or playing games. Lord knows unless you are rich, you can't do both. Cash chose games for his entertainment that night. We started off strong by shooting balls at tanks. We got halfway through our bucket of balls, and he decided he was done with that game, which is pretty on brand for Cash. The good news is we blessed another family with the bucket, and they were able to have fun. From there it was arcade time. I don't know about anyone else, but all the lights and sounds in an arcade make me over stimulated. I can't imagine how Cash felt. The behavior he was displaying was excitement and confusion all in one. There were too many choices. In those times we just take a minute to get our thoughts together, take a breath and choose.
Sometimes we don't finish what we started, but we are always working on that. As I explained above, we will never not have Cash experience things just because it might be too much for him. As parents, we have the wherewithal to remove him if he gets overwhelmed. However, if he seems to be enjoying himself and we can take moments to breathe and get it together if the situation calls for it, then that's what we do. At the end of the day, even though there were a couple of mini melt downs, it was all worth it to see Cash enjoy these experiences with his older brothers and cousin.
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