It’s been 4 days since we started the lunch time transition and I am happy to report that yesterday and today we have had no tears. That’s not to say that Sydney has been exceptionally happy either but at least me walking into the classroom didn’t make her burst into tears…yeh…small victories.
Today we hit a fantastic milestone. One of my primary concerns with her staying for lunch is that she doesn’t eat all day. A small breakfast is followed by 6 1/2 hours of nothing. Since she’s on so many supplements I’ve contacted her naturopath just to make sure there isn’t something we should be supplementing her with to avoid; well to be honest I’m not sure what I’m avoiding specifically but I’d hate to see all of our good work go down the drain just because she’s not eating. But we’re stuck in a bit of a catch 22 because we want her to transition but anxiety over eating in front of people is a prime symptom for some of social anxiety. With the help of a wonderful educational assistant Sydney revealed to me at dinnertime that she drank some of her juicbox today with her teacher. Then she promptly reached for her mouth and said, “Oh, I wasn’t going to tell you it was supposed to be a secret of ours”. “Well, you know Sydney why don’t you try it again tomorrow and don’t tell me about it and it can still be your little secret” I tried to be smart and give her another opportunity. She looked at me timidly and said, “Ya, we could try!”. Try…the magic words for a parent of a child with social anxiety.That’s all I ever want for Sydney. I want her to just try and I’m sure that with good experiences comes something good to look back on and be proud of her efforts.
Today fruit juice tomorrow sandwich!
