The French Cooking Class

Last night was fabo for our son. My husband and I were beyond bored.

Last night was the first outside of school cooking class our son has ever taken. He was able to go to a "Julia Child 101" class and loved it. The food smelled GREAT, although my husband and I didn't have any of it. We roamed the halls and actually ran into my old band director (he isn't old, he retired) visited and then hung around waiting for the class to end. For the first class we were asked to be in the general vicinity in case it got to be too much for our son, we agreed, brought some stuff to do and sat around for the first 45 minutes or so. After that we got tired of just sitting there and started walking around the halls; found out about some things at school and noticed that our old neighbor's name was up on a wall at the school (EXCELLENT)

Our son, on the other hand, was enraptured with the cooking class. He pointed out that the instructor's chocolate was possibly burning (it wasn't, our son over reacted), and had some other comments to make that appeared to help during the class time. At least that was what we were told.

What I am getting at here is that our kids are WAY different at home than they are at school. In fact, my band director pointed that out to me. He was right. They are different, and that goes for the gen's as well as the Aspies and all the others. The man should know, he has worked with Aspies all of his career, whether he has realized it or not. As the parents of an Aspie, we can tell when a kid has been undiagnosed or just barely on the spectrum itself (we saw some and saw pictures of others). I am happy to say that after all my struggles in band, it was nice to see my director, and be able to give him a hug and ask how he is doing. But that is just a side point.

My son is different at home, he is bossy, uninhibited and sometimes a pain in the neck. Outside of the home, we have heard that he is sweet, helpful and thoughtful. (!!!) I don't believe they are talking about the same kid. Anyway, back to last night, our son loved the class, showed us the receipes and was excited about making some of them at home. Honestly, I might trust him with the chocolate cake, it sounded amazing but at that point he could have made anything and I would have eaten it. I was hungry and had a headache.

When my kid is in his element, the kitchen, or the gym, he is like all the other kids (otherwise known as the gen's). He knows where and how he is supposed to be; what to do, what is OK and what isn't. Finding these interests, or telling him what his interests are, is part of it. These kids can't find themselves without some GENERAL direction. We started early, when he was in 5th grade and got him interested in cookbooks. Then in sixth grade we were told he was big enough to become a wrestler, that was fine, works for us. Now he is into cooking and wrestling, track (new one this year) and would like to be in theater as a hobby. Loves to play games and go fishing. He started fishing when he was 5 and we went to the cabin, he used a stick, a saftey pin and some worms. Now he has 2 rods a box of tackle that would make a fisherman cry and stays down on the pier all day long (if we would let him).

But see, that is the point, WE directed him, slightly encouraged him and he is fishing, interested in cooking and has a career choice made out for him. He is a bright and engaging kid....just like yours.

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