Talent Show

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In the past two days I have dealt with meltdowns on a whole new level. These are meltdowns that for the most part could have been avoided had people who really don't understood Cam dealt with situations differently. You see, if you say that he can do something or yes to something because you don’t want to deal with repercussions of telling him no or you really just don’t know how to talk to him because you never take the time to get to truly know and understand him, it is best to not say anything at all. Because, it in turn causes meltdowns that I then get to deal with and are on a level that you will never understand.

We’ll start with pick up time yesterday. Cam ran out telling me about a talent show happening at his school and that he was going to be in. Ok, first off rewind, I was just in a PTA meeting that didn’t mention anything about a talent show. I attend these meetings to one, be a part of the school because that is what I like to do, be involved but is secondly because I need to have a constant calendar of events to not only prepare Cam for, but to also prepare myself on how to help him handle these events. So when he comes running out to tell me about this talent show I was a little confused. So once I get him to take a breath and actually make it in the car before continuing to tell me about it, he gives me the details and begins to tell me exactly when it is and what he plans on doing in it. What does he want to do in it you ask? He wants to dress up in a gold Power Rangers costume, bring his sword and put on a Power Ranger sword show. Now, that sounds cute and it is great for Halloween, play time at home or even a costume contest, but not a talent show. But, thanks to one of his teachers and a few others I now have to tell him that though they told him it was a good idea and they can’t wait to see it, it’s not really a talent appropriate for this talent show. Insert complete and total meltdown here please. So as this total meltdown is going on and I am trying my sumo wrestler moves to get him to calm down, stop throwing things, punching his walls and physically hurting himself, I am also trying to think of an alternative talent. Almost an hour later the meltdown was over and he was completely exhausted and just wanted to watch Wild Kratts and not talk to me. Ok, kiddo, Wild Kratts it is if that makes you forget about this for just a little bit.

See, I love my son more than you’ll ever be able to imagine. He has many talents that I love. He can name every dinosaur, what they ate, what period they came from, you name it and he knows it about dinosaurs. He is also getting that way with animals. He reads animal books every day, he watches animal shows and he plays animal games. The animals have taken over for the dinosaurs, however he still has a passion for them too. He can tell you a million things about animals and I think that is an amazing talent. However, none of them are for a talent show. His talent abilities for singing, dancing, joke telling or even sports, well it just isn’t there. So, having his heart set on being in a talent show and having no talent for this show is something that is hard for him to understand. Not just hard, impossible. Also, the mama bear in me comes out too. He already gets laughed at and picked on at school. Imagine my wonderfully amazing little man up on stage in his costume doing a sword “show”. You don’t think the laughs would be so loud that they would hurt his ears and he would start to cry. He has a low self esteem as it is and he deals with these laughs already. We don’t need to add to them.

He mentioned it again first thing this morning and I told him I would talk to his teacher to get all the details. The details are the problem, there is none. His main teacher didn’t even know about it. It was a different teacher who told him about it and it was others who told him that they couldn’t wait to see him in the show. Insert another meltdown here at school, first thing this morning. His main teacher tried to help me, help him realize that the gold Power Ranger with a sword isn’t really appropriate for the talent show. So, once we finally get him calmed down, I tried to tell him that he doesn’t have to be in the show. Insert second meltdown of morning here and yes we just finished the first. He HAS to be in the show, he WANTS to be in the show. People have said they want to come watch him in it. So, now I make a promise that I will figure something out. I make this promise with tears in my eyes because I want him to stop having his meltdown and I don’t want to crush his dreams of being in this show. So, now thanks to the mention of this show and the fact that others have said they want to see him in it, I have to come up with a talent and teach him this talent. Mind you this will start more meltdowns because when he doesn’t want to do the talent, doesn’t like the talent or has a hard time doing the talent he will meltdown....over and over again. His self-esteem will continue to go down because he is his own worst critic and he will think that whatever it is he is doing is not good enough. I have to come up with a talent that he will actually enjoy, be good at and all of this has to be done before this talent show.

This is why I wish people would take the time to read, listen and gain knowledge about Cam. I work day and night to spread knowledge and awareness, yet people in our lives continue to ignore it all. There’s really no excuse…at all. Telling him yes to things that you shouldn’t, just starts a spiral of meltdowns that they don’t have to deal with. They just get to see the smile when they say yes; I get to deal with the aftermath. So, now I am trying to figure out a talent because my son has his heart set on this and I don’t want to let him down.