Say What?

Last night we spent the evening at a friend's house to watch the big Beaver game. Of course, that's not why I go. I go so I can have adult conversation. I could care less about watching a football game. So we packed up the kids, the DVD player, the food, Legos and a couple toys for good measure. The whole point is to leave stuff so you can go back, right?

There were about 8 teenagers and then my three (8, 6 and 3), plus all the adults. The host and I were the only hearing adults. The rest were deaf or hard-of-hearing. I've been in the deaf community for 18+ years. But I still can't get used to how the deaf "talk straight". That means that they just say what's on their mind. It's not meant to be offensive, but when you don't grow up this way, it always feels weird to have someone say something to you that any normal hearing person would only think! Holland was getting pretty rambunctious - wrestling with his brother, rolling on the floor with his sister and basically running around in circles while doing sommersaults. One of the men looked at me and signed "maybe you should think about cutting out his sugar." Just matter-of-fact. Not meant to be insulting, but with everything that's going on with Holland, I hate to have the obvious pointed out to me. I notice it everyday. I rarely need help noticing everything he does. I told him it wasn't sugar and he looked shocked.

So the next time you're ready to accuse some mother of letting her kid run wild, just remember this story. It's not always under a parent's control how her child behaves. But it is under your control how you respond to it. We don't need any more reminding of how crazy it is.