You may have read the wonderful post by my good friend, Scarlett. If you did not, please do so. It is so moving and will help anyone be kind and helpful to parents with an autistic child. Well I was contacted by a company representing Dearfoams. Dearfoams has an amazing program going on right now. For every pair of slippers ordered from dearfoam.com this month, they are donating $1 to Autism Speaks. They are willing to donate up to $3,000. Now Autism Speaks is a charity Scarlett holds dear and near her heart. As a result, it is one I hold dear and near my heart as well. So I hope you will go over to Dearfoams and check out their great slippers. They have many fun styles for the summer.
Now they sent me a pair of the Summer Fur Slides in blue for Autism Awareness month. They gave me a few choices, but I liked the blue ones for the month. After all we are lighting it up blue this month. They are so comfortable and soft. They are fun and can be worn outside since they have a rubber sole.
Can you see yourself out by the pool in these? Talk about comfort shoes!! It gets better--they are machine washable!! So if they get some dirt, water or food on them, you can throw them in the washing machine for easy care. Let's face it, as moms we need everything to be machine washable.
My only complaint, which is more about my feet than the slippers, is that I have slightly wide feet and slightly high arches, so they fit a bit tight. I think the fur straps will stretch over time though so that complaint will go away. (However my issues with all shoes will not as a result of my feet--this is why I tend to be in socks or barefoot at home.)
Now I have been affected by autism as a teacher as well as a friend. I consider Scarlett's children like family. I am on the emergency contact list for her son's school, because I am one of the people she trusts with him in an open space. He is what we call a bolter. Now Hazel LOVES to chase him and they play chase all the time, but it can be difficult in an open space. He knows with me to hold my hand, and he is such a sweet boy. My biggest struggle with all of this is trying to explain his behavior to Hazel. He has a very hard time understanding people's emotions. So when he is running away from Hazel for a game of chase and she is laughing is the same to him as when he is running away and she is crying and/or screaming at him. For awhile I used the excuse that he was younger than her, but I knew that would not work forever and thought it was time to try to explain a bit more. Hazel now knows he has a disability. She understands disabilities since she has seen people with different ones. I am not sure she completely gets the lack of understanding emotion cues, but we are working on it. She at least knows if he is doing something she does not like, to come get me or Scarlett to help her. How I deal with Chickadee is to do my best to mimic Scarlett. She is so amazing with him and I just try to copy what she says and how she says it.
This past weekend we had my nephew visiting. Steve and I took him and Hazel to the Science Museum in Boston. Hazel was being her typical slow eater self and the boys had finished lunch. I suggested Steve take our nephew to the gift shop since our plan was for him to choose a birthday gift there since his birthday is a month away. Well a mother and a boy came over and asked if they could sit at our table while it was just me and Hazel. The boy noticed my soda bottle and asked where I got it. He had a cup for soda, but had not seen the bottle. I could tell from how he was speaking and acting he had a slight disability and his boldness definitely made his mother uneasy. I answered him and told him the truth was we didn't know there were cups or we would have gotten those. His mother seemed to relax as I acted like it was completely normal conversation. It is moments like this that I understand more about how Scarlett says our behavior is supportive and how easily it can be to not be supportive. Yes, the boy at the museum reminded me of Chickadee (just in a few years). So I try to remember when I'm out not to judge people by their child's behavior. You do not know what they are going through. Just a friendly reminder.
Now onto our giveaway!! If you want to wait and see if you can win a pair of these fun Summer Fur Slides, enter below. Please follow my Giveaway Rules! Or if you cannot wait (and want $1 of your purchase to go to Autism Speaks) head over to Dearfoams and order your pair!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
