Day 18

Today I took my kids to the movies. This may not seem like much if you don't know me or my family. But when you've got a kid with special needs, even things most people don't think twice about are difficult, if not impossible. Add in two brothers, and any outing becomes a challenge, especially as the lone adult. I wouldn't normally have attempted this, but kindness comes in many forms this month, and so I decided to "man up" and make it happen.

My daughter's autism means she has a very hard time sitting still and being quiet. The fact that she's non-verbal means it's hard to persuade her, reason with her, or cajole, bribe, or otherwise explain things to her. So movie theaters have always been a challenge. In fact, until yesterday, I'm pretty certain she had never been to a movie theater in her life. She loves movies, but they've always been at home, on a small screen.

So I was very excited to finally make it to Northgate Stadium 10 movie theater for one of their "sensory friendly" movies. Once a month, at 10am on a Saturday, they offer one showing of a recent kid's movie. They offer tickets for $4, and they'll throw in a small popcorn and a small drink for an extra buck. That's pretty hard to beat. Then they turn the volume down and the house lights up, and they don't bother about noisy or restless guests. They go out of their way to be helpful.

All in all, it was a great experience. My daughter enjoyed the movie. She sat through most of it. She ate her popcorn and drank her drink. Other kids were vocalizing or chattering from time to time, but nobody minded. The only adjustments I might need to make for next time are strategies to keep her from eating popcorn off the floor or stealing other people's drinks.

But if we get a chance, we'll definitely try to do this again.