To Love And To Cherish

A big part of our "Promoting First Relationships" was relearning how to cherish Miller. What does it mean to cherish your child? Unconditional love? It means to accept Miller the way he is. All of us have the ability you look past the quirks in the ones we love, but we often forget that that also applies to our children. When we form relationships we automatically accept certain personality traits that are different from ours, however we seek perfection with our children.

We spent a lot of time with our teachers about what it means to accept Miller for who he is. Push past his autism, and see him for the wonderful, sweet, loving little boy that he is. I so often forget that this is who Miller is. I spend too much time focusing on things that aren't really all that important, but I focus on them because I think that that is what I should be doing. Once I was taught that those things are really not that big of a deal, I was able to see past them.

In a way, we had to reteach ourselves. Look at Miller again with new eyes. We needed to see how he was letting us into his world, even if only for a second. Through Miller's play, and the video taping that was done as part of our sessions, I was able to see all the ways that Miller lets us into his world. How he engages us, and responds to our suggestions. After learning that, I was able to enjoy Miller if different ways. I focused on his cues, and even though he doesn't have the "typical" play style of other children his age, we still make up games, imagine fantasies and enjoy each other just a little more. I encourage other parents to really take a step back and think about what they cherish about their children. And then cherish them every single day.