Autism is non-refundable.

You aren’t (or shouldn’t) be allowed to give up on your child just because they learn differently or just because it is difficult. Despite what you may have read on social media, children do not come with receipts. In fact, there is a long long line of heart broken women who have stared down at a negative pregnancy test one to many times longing for the emptiness to be filled by ANY loving child.

Autism in not for sissies

It is not for the faint of heart. It is not easy.In fact it is the single most hardest part of parenting I have ever experienced, It is like your child is living in an alternative dimension where everything impacts them in a different way. It is almost like it’s a parallel universe to the one we are living in. It’s hard, like real hard, but that does not give anyone permission to refund or return or re-home their child.

Autism is expensive

Autism is costly. From haggling insurance companies to setting aside money for therapies, and affording specialized schooling; autism can cost a lot of money. But more than monetary costs, it is also quite the time investment. Time for therapies, time for meltdowns, time for simple learning tasks that are sometimes difficult to those with autism. It is expensive and can cost a lot of your time.

Autism is messy

Just when you think you have it all figured out, the sky falls, the world ends, meltdowns occur and you are now officially 30 minutes late racing down the interstate with screaming child in your back seat. Or you spend half of the birthday party in the van trying to calm your sensory overloaded child down. Meds? Therapy? Acupuncture? Essential Oils? Sensory diets? Visual schedules? what works? What doesn’t? No one every really knows and it makes for a really messy life at time. It is not a color in the lines type of life, more like a push down to hard on the marker now ink is bleeding through the paper type of life.

Autism is wonderfully beautiful

Autism has the potential to completely wreak you world in a wonderfully beautiful way. It has the tendency to show us how to extend grace and change our perspective. Nothing is more beautiful than watching your child with Autism accomplish something you know they have worked on for so very long. Even the simplest of victories become moved mountains in this autism journey. Beautiful is the smile on a child that knows they are loved exactly for who they are.

The joy is worth the hard parts

Autism can be heartbreakingly hard, wonderfully beautiful and down right messy. But one thing it is not, is refundable. You can send your child to a group home, place them up for adoption, send them to another country, but they will still have autism. When we choose not to address and work through the hard parts of life with our family, we are saying they are not worth it. We are teaching our children to back out when it gets hard. To pack up and leave when our life is inconvenienced. When we do this, we are failing our children and failing ourselves.

Autism is hard, expensive, messy, beautiful, mystical, confusing and unique. However, it is not refundable.