Heartbroken dad shares why he didn't tell his autistic daughter it was her 10th birthday

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/heartbroken-dad-doesnt-tell-daughter-its-her-birthday-ex1

In a reversal of the way it usually happens, the children at school have convinced Zip that the tooth fairy is real and now I don’t know what to do. Get cash out for the first time in like 4+ years?? Buy him a toy instead? 🤔

I used to just add $5 to his pocket money tally.

He is seven and he has never believed in the tooth fairy before and I am uncomfortable encouraging this tbh.

He was like 5 years old before he had the language skills to understand the Santa mythos and cried and didn’t want to go to bed because he was scared of a strange man creeping into the house and I re-assured him that Santa was pretend and the presents were from me and his dad.

So, much to my autistic literal truth valuing relief, we have just done without the “magic” of the child-lie trio… until now, apparently.

Zip struggles to understand people having different opinions about things and having access to different sets of information. I really struggle to explain that different people believe different things…

And he does NOT understand how to pretend without him giving us regular reminders that it is “just pretend”.

He also understands "secrets" as "fun things to whisper into the ear of literally everyone you know".

Okay so apparently when encountering my scepticism about the tooth fairy he is replicating the arguments of his school peers and declaring that I should wait and see and then I will know the tooth fairy is real... 🤡

#ActuallyAutistic #AutisticParent #AutisticChild

Tell me you/your child are autistic, without tell me you/they are autistic.

I'll start:

My child had a meltdown because they did not want to be in the store trying and buying shoes. I bought the shoes, we tried them at home, and I now have to return them to the store and exchange them for a smaller size.

I am a mother of 4 children, 3 of whom are triplets. Two of my children have autism.

#Austism #Neurodivergent #AutismMama #DaysofAutism #AutisticChild

A reminder for parents of #autistic kids: If you want to understand your child's experiences and provide the support they need, one of your best resources is the online #AutisticCommunity. Medical professionals and other non-autistic parents can never give you an inside view of what it's like to be us, what we need, how we think, or what we feel. Talk to #AutisticAdults to understand your #AutisticChild.

#ActuallyAutistic
#autism #autistic
#AutismParents