Okay, I won’t beat around the bush. Being a mum to two boys with autism is hard, to say the least.  The most simplest things can turn out to be your worst nightmare. Every little detail has to be taken into account, every little thing that can go wrong has to have an action plan, and don’t get me started on all the social stories that have to be made for every single situation. 

The mind boggles just thinking about it…..

Yet, the one thing that isn’t taken into consideration is the one thing that can destroy an entire day. Other people. Correction – arrogant people. The kind that think they are the know-all-that-ends-all, that everything that comes out of their mouth is true and correct and if you just so happen to think different, watch out!

I’m not afraid to speak my mind. In saying that, I don’t go looking for trouble or arguments or anything like that. I am a firm believer in sticking up for myself and my family.  Being a mum to two autistic boys, you kind of feel that you have to protect your ‘brood’ just that little bit more – as former Prime Minister John Howard said about terrorism here in Australia “You have to be alert, but not alarmed”.  And that is so true when I am out and about with Tyson and Taj.

When I do take the boys out shopping with me, I always put Taj in the trolley. I just have to – Taj will literally hit the ground running and will be off out of your sight quicker than you can say “jackrabbit”.  Tyson, however, is a little bit too big to be putting into the trolley anymore and likes to walk with me…… at first. 

As with any child, Tyson gets bored easily whilst out doing boring grocery shopping.  This is fair enough, even I get bored doing grocery shopping and I’m the one spending the money. So I let him walk around the aisle that we are in, checking things out. Normally, Tyson likes to find letters that are in his name.

On one particular occasion, I let Tyson zip ahead of me whilst I was trying to find the item we needed. We were in the toilet paper/tissues/paper towel aisle so I wasn’t really concerned about Tyson breaking anything. I was busy checking out the specials (as you do) when I saw Tyson starting to knock packets of toilet paper off the shelve.