My Family Vacation & What I Learned about my Son

3

For a long time now I have wanted to go on a nice family vacation, an actual destination. I have wanted to share with my son the kind of vacation I had with my family when I was his age. We spent 13 years in Texas and every vacation we had was driving to see family in another state. Sure we had our day trips to some of our surrounding sites but that was different than a week long destination trip.

what I learned about my sonI started surfing the web and found an island cottage in Door County, only an hour and a half from home. “Yes” not far from home. My son Liam has Down Syndrome and has developmental and intellectual delays. I do like to try new things with him but am always cautious on what I let him do. Liam is 10 and maybe only ever had 6 band aids on him in his entire life (not including medical testing). I have always had this fear of him seriously injuring himself, just another over protective mother.

Liam has always been quite a lady’s man. He could be in a room with 100 boys and one girl and he would gravitate to that one girl. We shared this vacation with 2 of my nieces, Jenna being the same age as Liam and Dani who is 11. My son has always loved to spend time with his cousins. In the past I would just naturally say “no” when Liam would want to do many of the activities that the girls were doing. Again that fear in me would pop its ugly head out.

My husband and I had many opportunities to go out fishing in the pontoon and let grandma watch the kids for us. The first evening out we went to the other side of the island. Again I was concerned because Liam doesn’t swim well but we needed some mommy/daddy time. My husband and I don’t get much alone time together. Many parents of disabled children have a hard time finding a qualified sitter let alone an affordable one. This is a big complaint that I hear over and over again from many couples.

We were fishing on the other side of the island and heard screams. I didn’t look at my husband; I just stood there and listened. We had walkie-talkies and no one contacted us. I stood there not looking at my bobber, just intently listening. The next thing I heard was laughter, from all of the kids, including Liam. We continued to hear screams but they were screams of laughter, hard play and kids just being kids. We stayed out till dusk and upon our return to the cabin found our son healthy and happily still playing with his cousins.

I have always said that I want my son to be a happy, healthy and productive member of society. My dream is to help him open doors and to help show him that he can do it on his own. I realized that instead of helping him that I have been selling him short on many things. I have realized that Liam can do many things in life if given a chance. He went into the water all on his own, had no fear of the unknown and had an awesome time. If he falls and gets hurt, that is life.

Liam is brave; I just need to let him explore life and all it has to offer. I learned that I need to back up a little bit and let him take his own reigns from time to time. We all want what is best for our children. Letting him lead still sounds a little scary to me but I am also excited to see where he will go and what he will accomplish on his own.

In-Article Ad

3 COMMENTS

  1. I was so happy when I saw Liam’s picture pop up! I enjoyed reading your post! Thank you for sharing. I too, need to let go more!

Comments are closed.