My kids first school Father’s Day will go down as one of the best days of my life!
They were 5 years old at this stage and life was pretty hectic – not for them, they were living the dream, but for both Ben and I.
We were exhausted, as any parents are with young kids, and in desperate need of some time off…
Alone…
For 6 months…
On this particular day, as I picked the kids up from school, they all came racing toward me, super excited that Mrs Hollier had organised a Father’s Day bbq the following week.
This was to be a night time event and the kids were going to do a song and dance and present the dads with surprises they had been working on.
Now in theory, this sounds wonderful – and I really, really wanted to be a good mother and be excited too…. However, in reality, it is not as wonderful.
Shifts must be changed, therapy appointments rescheduled, extra food prepped and packed due to medical requirements and afternoon routines altered (which is a nightmare in itself when you have an autistic child).
Luckily by this stage of my mothering career however, I had reached the “expert” level of: Pretending you’re excited when really you’d rather grab a handful of boiling hot sand and rub it directly onto your eyeballs.
And so I went along with the excited squealing.
By the following week all the arrangements had been made for the Fathers Day bbq:
Shifts changed.
Therapy appointments rescheduled.
Food packed.
ASD super powered child prepped for the big event.
Then…
That night as we were all frantically racing about getting ready to leave, one of the kids said to me:
“Mum what are you doing?”
“What do you mean what am I doing? I’m getting everyone ready to go.”
“But you’re not coming … you’re not invited.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s for Dads only … unless you don’t have a dad … but we do … so … you can’t come…. sorry.”
His eyes held a look of desperation that screamed: “PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME WITH THEM!”
And I’d like to say I considered this desperation… but I didn’t.
Instead, I tried to mask my euphoria as I waved my beloved family goodbye 
and then raced upstairs, got in my pjs and was sound asleep before they would’ve even hung the first macaroni chain around his neck!
God bless you Mrs Hollier, this ingenious “Fathers Day” plan of yours was sheer brilliance 
