Father’s Day

Generally, your son or daughter’s teacher is making sure a card, handprint, footprint or planting a bulb which can be offered on Father’s Day, helping a student remember how important their fathers are in their student’s lives.  

Yes, there are so many extra things that parents do when a child with autism or other developmental learning challenge is part of the family. 

Special lunches must be packed, constant supervision, doctor appointments, special clothing laundered, notes to the teacher must be sent, backpack of extra clothing prepared, perhaps driven to school due to transportation challenges, transportation to after school therapies and then the nighttime routine, hoping sleep will follow.

So now, school is out.  There may be no special item sent home for a surprise. But Father’s Day will still arrive. So, here are some suggestions. 

Here are some ideas:

1. Your son/daughter could make a card for the parent when the parent is out running errands.
2. One of dad’s favorite food items could be made and delivered by your child that morning.
3. Mom, if you are creative or handy, you could make something with your son or daughter in the garage with odds and ends, nails and hammer, wood, jars, ropes, newspapers, nuts, and bolts etc.
4. You could have your son/daughter make chore tickets and give them to dad. Each ticket has a chore that child will complete (empty wastebasket, sort utensils from dishwasher into drawer, carry dirty laundry to the laundry room, put toys away after use, take dirty meal dishes to the sink, set the table, pump up deflated balls, clean bike off, water plants) Mom or dad would hold on to the tickets and give them to their son or daughter on the day they are to be completed.
5. Mom you could make a quick trip to a nursery, get a few tulip bulbs, grab a jar in the garage, grabs some dirt and make a soon to be beautiful plant for mom.
6. The person doing the activity should be talking to their child about how lucky they are to have a great dad? A social story about Father’s Day could be written.  https://carolgraysocialstories.com/social-stories/what-is-it/ could be written and read prior to the activity.
7. A drive to a special place Dad enjoys could be planned.
8. Perhaps tickets to a favorite sports event could be purchased and the family could enjoy the event.
9. Perhaps time could be spent washing Dad’s car.
10. Perhaps the family could join Dad for lawn mowing, weeding and just backyard clean up.
11. Perhaps mom can take kiddos out for an hour, while Dads get an hour to nap, read a book or just watch a TV program of choice.