My Autism Journey Day 17-We are shaped by the experiences we have in our lives. I used to care a lot more about what people thought of me. There were so many people who saw Paige having a meltdown and thought she was a spoiled child and that I was a weak mom. It happened in stores, hair salons, and our neighborhood pool. As I said yesterday, Paige has always loved the water. Our pool was instituting adult swim for the last 15 minutes of every hour. I didn’t realize how horrible it would be the first time we went. I had to drag her from the water, while she bit, hit, and kicked to try to escape. From her point of view, why would I make her sit and look at the pool instead of allowing her to get in?! There was an older woman who was doing the side-stroke in the lap lane who kept making comments about her. It hurt me for Paige to be put on display like that. I didn’t say anything to the woman. We continued to go to the pool, showing up at the top of the hour as the adult swim was ending. We played HARD in the water until the whistle blew. I brought a cooler of the best snacks and tiny bottled water. Paige was agreeable to getting out of the pool for special snacks. This became our new routine.