Bringing Amor to the playground is getting so much easier for me!

Initially Amor would grab all the kid’s toys, scooters and bikes and shout, “MINE!” Guess how many kids must have hated her?

It took so much son-rise powers out of me to get some kids on our side and help her. I told them that they could help Amor be more polite by demonstrating politeness. Sure enough, as more kids became more patient with Amor, she would put down her defenses/settle her sensory issues and the sweet little girl in her would emerge. As for the other kids who were not onboard…well, we didn’t need to make friends with everyone or please everyone 🙂

Just this week, we were at the playground again and for that day, I didn’t feel like trying to control the world around Amor. I decided I would watch from a distance and see how she “fends” for herself. I was also ready to accept consequences, even a possible heartache,from someone bullying her, running away from her, ganging up on her, or telling other kids, “Don’t play with her!” or “Dont talk to her!”…Yup, we have experienced all those at some point in the past.

So I sat back and watched Amor run to grab a scooter. With my eyes ready to roll, I told myself, “Oh boy, here we go again.” As predicted a girl came to rescue her scooter, hands on her hips, with a strict look on her face. I was too far to hear their exchange of words. But instead of stubbornly running off with the scooter, Amor dropped her hands and walked away. I think my jaw dropped when I saw that. Amor has always been stubborn enough not to care who owned the scooter and just run off with it. But wait…Amor walked back towards the scooter, held it and observed the owner come back with the same hand-on-hips and grin on her face. Woohoo!!! my daughter is not only learning, but also experimenting on reading social cues. She’s accurately reading social cues and making her own fantastic decisions on how to respond! From the reaction she got a second time, Amor decided to let go of the scooter and walk away permanently! Woohoo that’s my princess!!!!

So much progress in such a short amount of time! I know it’s because of Amor’s “weekend” Son-Rise Program(r)….or I should call it “daughter”-rise program 😉
Because we have friends who come over to love and play with her and build relationship, Amor better understands the concept of friendship and what friendship is not.

In the photo is Amor trying to climb the monkey bars, inspired by watching the other girls climb.