Be Careful What They Watch

I have two sons with autism, JJ and DC. JJ is very high functioning and independent. DC is not. When they were young, my husband and I coped with childcare by working different shifts. Since I was more of a night owl, I worked evening until early morning and my husband worked early morning until mid afternoon. We all had an early dinner together in-between.

VCR's were new at the time. My husband and I had plunked down five hundred dollars for one which my husband used to tape a few of my favorite TV shows while I was at work. One of those was the original MacGyver. While I eventually found myself screaming at the screen when I detected science flubs, I loved it, and watched some episodes over and over, rewinding my favorite parts. (Yes I know, very ASD behavior.) DC watched with me, enjoying the repetition as well.

Unlike what's on a DVR, you can keep video tapes pretty much forever, and I kept mine. Years later I still watched some of them and DC still watched with me. JJ was in high school and I held two part time chemist jobs, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I was able to do so because I had found an after school program for DC, which used the facilities of a church across town. I picked him up in the late afternoon every weekday.

DC loved to throw things out of car windows, but the car I normally drove had windows that locked from the driver's seat, frustrating his efforts. Then for a week, my car was in the shop and I was driving a loaner with manual windows. DC had thrown his shoes and anything else he could get his hands on out of the windows until I locked just about everything except minimal clothing in the trunk. I had almost made it home from DC's program when I looked back and realized DC was no longer in the back seat. An angel on my shoulder kept me from sharply hitting the brakes. I slowed down gently, pulled over, and got out of the car.

Unable to toss anything out the window, my son had crawled out himself, and like an episode of MacGyver was on the roof, making his way toward the hood of the car. I got him down, put him back in the car, explained as best I could that he was not MacGyver and could have been hurt. I got him home without further incident. Thankfully, the next day I got my own car back. After that I was much more careful about what DC watched.

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