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Featured Contributor Kimberly Jensen
GET THAT WAFFLE OUT OF YOUR PANTS
by Kimberly Jensen
"Bennett, take the waffle out of your pants," I asked my youngest son. I am folding clothes and having a long distance telephone conversation with a good friend of mine who knows my son's daily antics. "I bet you've never said that before," I said calmly, as if I had said it a million times.
Bennett wielded the waffle like a gun, shoving it into the waistband of his underwear and walking around the living room bull-legged. I suddenly rethought my stance on not allowing toy guns or weapons of any kind in the house. But Bennett didn't need those fancy toys of destruction, he had a frozen waffle! Who said kids with autism can't role-play or pretend?
I found myself caving into the "no toy weapons" policy I had instated. The following week, I went out and and bought a plastic pistol he could carry in his waistband. Of course, he preferred the waffle. So while other boys in the neighborhood wield swords, guns, sticks and arrows, my son - yeah the one with autism - will head into battle with a frozen waffle. He may be teased, ridiculed and stared at, but who will be the last one laughing when the rations run out? Hard plastic will never taste as good as a waffle.
Asking Bennett to take the waffle out of his pants happened over a year ago, but there are no promises that at age nine he won't do it again. He doesn't understand, nor does he seem to care about the unwritten code of social rules. We try to teach him the most need-to-know rules, such as- people will think you're strange when you put food items into your underwear.
There are certain things parents of normal children will never get to say. But when you are the parent of a special needs child, living on what my husband and I call 'just this side of normal,' there are a lot of things you say that you never thought would ever pass your lips.
So while the rest of the world stares at Bennett, the waffle-wielding superhero and are embarrassed for me or feel pity on me, I just smile and wonder what the next phrase out of my mouth will be. It's sure to be priceless, thanks to the humor and joy of having a son with autism.
by Kimberly Jensen
"Bennett, take the waffle out of your pants," I asked my youngest son. I am folding clothes and having a long distance telephone conversation with a good friend of mine who knows my son's daily antics. "I bet you've never said that before," I said calmly, as if I had said it a million times.
Bennett wielded the waffle like a gun, shoving it into the waistband of his underwear and walking around the living room bull-legged. I suddenly rethought my stance on not allowing toy guns or weapons of any kind in the house. But Bennett didn't need those fancy toys of destruction, he had a frozen waffle! Who said kids with autism can't role-play or pretend?
I found myself caving into the "no toy weapons" policy I had instated. The following week, I went out and and bought a plastic pistol he could carry in his waistband. Of course, he preferred the waffle. So while other boys in the neighborhood wield swords, guns, sticks and arrows, my son - yeah the one with autism - will head into battle with a frozen waffle. He may be teased, ridiculed and stared at, but who will be the last one laughing when the rations run out? Hard plastic will never taste as good as a waffle.
Asking Bennett to take the waffle out of his pants happened over a year ago, but there are no promises that at age nine he won't do it again. He doesn't understand, nor does he seem to care about the unwritten code of social rules. We try to teach him the most need-to-know rules, such as- people will think you're strange when you put food items into your underwear.
There are certain things parents of normal children will never get to say. But when you are the parent of a special needs child, living on what my husband and I call 'just this side of normal,' there are a lot of things you say that you never thought would ever pass your lips.
So while the rest of the world stares at Bennett, the waffle-wielding superhero and are embarrassed for me or feel pity on me, I just smile and wonder what the next phrase out of my mouth will be. It's sure to be priceless, thanks to the humor and joy of having a son with autism.
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Kimberly Jensen was born and raised in Sandy, Utah and graduated from the University of Utah in 1991 with a B.S. in Communication. She worked as a radio news anchor for KBOI/KQFC and as a public relations specialist for the Idaho Transportation Department in Boise, Idaho. Kimberly and her family moved to Battle Ground, Washington in 2001 where she became a full time mom and writer.
Her first children's book, Always the Elf by Cedar Fort Publishing comes out in Fall 2007. Two of her stories have been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Children With Special Needs. She is an avid cyclist and loves spending time with her family and taking them on outdoor adventures. She now lives in Utah with her husband Mark, her three children; Tasia, Clayton and Bennett and her two dogs Simba and Ruby. |
Other Stories from Kimberly:
WITHIN AN ARM'S REACH
"Go away, stop following me," Bennett said as he pulled himself out of the swimming pool and marched over to
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