Crapadoodle!!

[Guest guest]

Remember when you worried about whether your young child with a disability could

learn to speak up for themselves, express their wants and needs, become

self-advocates, etc???? Well, I’m here to tell you, sometimes that comes back

to bite you in the butt!! One of our Helper Girl company’s ‘divisions’

(and my personal favorite!) is design and installation of seasonal outdoor

container plantings. That portion of our business continues to grow, thanks to

word of mouth and repeat customers. The business model relies on me doing the

design and purchasing, and helping/doing the heavy lifting, carrying,

watering, fertilization, etc. She’s the ‘braun’ in our operation.

But guess what? Helper Girl has apparently figured out she’s tired of lifting

and carrying heavy planters!! She’s been balking at doing the work this

spring, repeatedly using louder vocalizations when we’re out and about, not a

good thing when you scare the customers. And then this morning, on this

perfectly beautiful day, when I cue her that it’s time to load up and go to a

customer/business jobsite, she looks right at me and says.....’NOT’... which

is her very clear way of expressing her desire to stay home.

HUH???

Did she not get the memo that yes, it’s great to self-advocate and

self-determine, except when it’s to your dear mother?????

Fortunately there are other parts of the business that she still likes to do,

the parts that have nothing to do with flowers or plants. So sad for me. Maybe

that part needs to turn back into my hobby. It’s not fun at all when your

partner is screaming.

Sigh.

Sometimes self-determination isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Laurie