#Autism Parenting Confessions: Does anyone else ever feel like giving up but won’t?

This is by far, one of the worst mornings we’ve had in a very, very long time. Emmett was in full meltdown mode over his clothes.

Emmett’s only been able to wear this one pair of pants for the last two school years. Unfortunately, the knees are blown out and are beyond repair. I’ve stitched them up so many times there’s nothing left to hold a stitch. Iron on knee patches aren’t an option for Sensory reasons.

I wish I could say that I handled this morning with grace but I ran out of patience. I should say that me running out of patience means that I might raise my voice and that’s it. This morning, 8 definitely raised my voice and that only made things worse.

The big issue is that Emmett will only wear his pants a certain way. They must at least cover his belly button and touch the top of his shoes.

Unfortunately, that’s almost impossible to find. I say almost because we managed to find the pair he has now but have never been able to find another one and we’ve been looking forever. Lizze’s parents took Emmett out pants shopping later weekend and spent hours trying to find him pants but were unsuccessful.

I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s all sensory stuff and if his clothes don’t fit or feel a certain way, they might as well be make out of sandpaper.

The big problem is that he didn’t make it to school today because of this. There are those who will judge or feel that we should just force him into his clothes and drag him to school. Those people likely have zero experience with sensory issues. There are also those of you out there who totally understand and have found yourself in a similar situation.

I’m so overwhelmed right now.

Elliott ended up getting to school late. I had to stop and get him something for breakfast because he missed it at school. I also had to get gas as well. I called Lizze as soon as I was done filling the tank to see if Emmett had changed course at all.

I was able to convince him to but his clothes on and go for the ride. We would drop Elliott off at school, take Gavin for his bloodwork and if his clothes were feeling better by then, I would take him to school.

Everything ended up getting done but Emmett just couldn’t tolerate anything on his skin.

This has been going on for his entire life, at least the part where he needed to start wearing clothes. We’ve tried everything and have been met with only occasional success. Things like brushing, deep pressure and other desensitizing techniques don’t work for him. Years of occupational therapy didn’t really help either.

I’m at the point where I’m honestly, seriously considering home schooling. It’s so bad that Lizze even agrees. Neither one of us want to home school him for a number of reasons but a huge concern is social interaction. He needs to maintain social interactions with peers in order to continue improving in that area.

The school is super flexible with what he wears and has basically said as long as he’s wearing clothes, he’s good to go. If only that made a difference. It’s the wearing clothes part that’s the problem.

Rob Gorski

Full time, work from home single Dad to my 3 amazing boys. Oh...and creator fo this blog. :-)
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