What a wild ride parenthood is, the curve ball tonight was a complicated mix of Tourette’s, Autism and impulsivity………. with one son ticking “your shirt is gay” to which another son took great offence thinking this was directed at him. This quickly escalated into the typical boy outraged rampage ….. read punching, kicking and just all out brawling…….in the bathroom …..with a wet floor…. I am honestly surprised this didn’t result in a hospital trip……

Particularly when my youngest son (yes that’s 3sons, in 3 years) gets in between them in an attempt to stop them and gets promptly hurt.

My incredulously insulted son still angered from the perceived verbal attack, then sees his brothers prized new nike shoe, grabs one and dumps it in a tub of ‘car track mud play water’. I have no idea why or how this existed in the bathroom but nonetheless it provided the perfect opportunity for revenge.

My ticking son is in absolute righteous outrage that he has just been punched, kicked and then his new prized shoes which he has waited over a year for are now ruined and dirty in his words ‘vandalised’ for absolutely no reason. He is completely unaware that he has ‘ticked’ and that that is what started this whole chain of events…in his perception of events he was just randomly attacked.

My third is nervously chatting away about the time he got a broken nose and stitches in his forehead…. and why do his brothers do this….. in his perception his brothers are misbehaving and hurting him when all he was trying to do was help.

All hurt, all emotional and all perceive they were purposely attacked or hurt, that their brothers don’t care for them.

Whilst we parent them, guide them and implement all the strategies and therapies we can this whole scenario made me think…..what a powerful thing perception is….. what perceived hurts do I have….. when have I asked another what their perception of an event was before I drew conclusions…..how can I better see things for another perspective …..

All is right in their worlds again, they have been coached through their brothers perceptions of events, and made aware of alternative responses (another iteration of this will occur). The shoes have been cleaned and are now wareable though their owner will always remember and know the invisible dirt they carry.

What invisible dirt are you carrying….am I carrying?