{"id":1404,"date":"2011-08-16T10:07:39","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T14:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1404"},"modified":"2011-08-17T17:40:11","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T21:40:11","slug":"melt-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/melt-down.html","title":{"rendered":"Melt down"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My husband, Frank, was Disney’s greatest fan.\u00a0 Therefore, we took our children often to the original Disney park.\u00a0 When Disney was planning EPCOT’s attraction,\u00a0The Land, they called NASA for suggestions regarding how to grow food in space.\u00a0 Somehow, the call landed\u00a0at \u00a0Frank’s desk.\u00a0 His idea was part of their exhibition for several decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, one of the things that did not appeal to me was watching the melt down of parents after a long day of fun at the theme parks.\u00a0 Sure, you expect the children to react by melting emotionally\u00a0into\u00a0their weariness.\u00a0 However, parents were often worse than their children. My husband and I would smile at each other at the families’ excited reaction as they\u00a0spied the entrance of the parks for the first time.\u00a0 The happiness they shared with their children was all but tangible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then as the day’s\u00a0excitment\u00a0wore thin and their children’s\u00a0senses had been assaulted with fun and adventure, parent’s eyes would glaze over and their patience would be gone.\u00a0 The children would cry and the parents would take on\u00a0the wounded look of betrayal.\u00a0 As their internal calculator added up what this trip was costing, they would look at their weeping child and wonder why they are acting the same way they always act at 3:30pm–with a melt down.<\/p>\n

Soon afterward, the parents’\u00a0own melt down would begin.\u00a0 This was not an attractive sight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I no longer have small children to take to the Florida theme parks, but I still take the members of Special Gathering who are part of the mentally challenged community.\u00a0 Whether a small intimate group of three or\u00a0multiple van loads, they seem to react differently to the over stimulation they encounter.\u00a0 Here are some things I’ve learned from our members who are developmentally delayed in encountering situation that are more than my senses can endure.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Begin with prayer and pray often during the day.\u00a0 We always begin our adventures with prayer.\u00a0 If I forget, they don’t.\u00a0 Then during the day, when things get hectic, they will say, “Can’t we pray?”\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 When you are too tired to move, sit down to rest.\u00a0Danny could no longer endure the rides of Sea World.\u00a0 When we tried to push him to delay his rest\u00a0for the next planned spot, he sat in the middle of the road and refused to move.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Moderate your excitement and expectations.\u00a0 Because our members are not always able to process multiple sensory stimuli, they remain calm, even at the beginning of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Don’t push yourself to do everything in one day.\u00a0 Our members aren’t interested in pushing beyond their endurance.\u00a0 At 3pm, they want to go home.\u00a0 What they haven’t seen isn’t important to them.\u00a0The greatest thing that has happened to families who are having a Central Florida vacation has been the hotels that are on or near the\u00a0site of the day’s adventure soparents can take their children “home” for a rest and return later in the evening.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Keep food in your stomach.\u00a0 I’ve noticed that when we try to delay lunch, happiness fades quickly.\u00a0 Keep protein snacks available.\u00a0<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Have a plan, set a schedule and stick to it.\u00a0 It’s been completely necessary to keep our day’s activities on schedule for your members.\u00a0 Because I’m a more spontaneous personality, this is difficult for me.\u00a0 However, it is important for everyone to understand the plan of action and keep the plan as directed.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Keep it simple.\u00a0 Our members love the joy and excitement of going places together.\u00a0 But I’ve learned that the simplier we keep our day’s or week’s adventure, the better they like it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>My melt downs happen at places other than Disney or other theme parks.\u00a0 In fact, if I don’t follow these simple rules on a daily basis, I’m prone to melt down no matter what I’m doing.<\/p>\n

What about you?\u00a0 What are some things you’ve discovered that work?\u00a0 How will these steps benefit you?\u00a0 Why won’t they work for you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My husband, Frank, was Disney’s greatest fan.\u00a0 Therefore, we took our children often to the original Disney park.\u00a0 When Disney was planning EPCOT’s attraction,\u00a0The Land, they called NASA for suggestions regarding how to grow food in space.\u00a0 Somehow, the call landed\u00a0at \u00a0Frank’s desk.\u00a0 His idea was part of their exhibition for several decades.\u00a0 Yet, one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,182,40,186,49,16,8,4,41,1],"tags":[690,21,688,7,180,699,701,694,689,6,248],"class_list":["post-1404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-developmental-disabilities","category-disability","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-disney-world","tag-faith","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-survival-tips-to-disney"],"yoast_head":"\nMelt down - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/melt-down.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Melt down - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My husband, Frank, was Disney’s greatest fan.\u00a0 Therefore, we took our children often to the original Disney park.\u00a0 When Disney was planning EPCOT’s attraction,\u00a0The Land, they called NASA for suggestions regarding how to grow food in space.\u00a0 Somehow, the call landed\u00a0at \u00a0Frank’s desk.\u00a0 His idea was part of their exhibition for several decades.\u00a0 Yet, one…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/melt-down.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-16T14:07:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-08-17T21:40:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/08\/disney-ears-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Melt down - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/melt-down.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Melt down - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"My husband, Frank, was Disney’s greatest fan.\u00a0 Therefore, we took our children often to the original Disney park.\u00a0 When Disney was planning EPCOT’s attraction,\u00a0The Land, they called NASA for suggestions regarding how to grow food in space.\u00a0 Somehow, the call landed\u00a0at \u00a0Frank’s desk.\u00a0 His idea was part of their exhibition for several decades.\u00a0 Yet, one…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/melt-down.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-08-16T14:07:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-08-17T21:40:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/08\/disney-ears-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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