Tonight we attended J’s school Hallowe’en disco. It was a family event and we all went along. B was very excited about it, this would be his first disco and he was happy that we were all getting to go. He was dressed as a pirate with J kitted out as a fireman. We even dressed W up as a little ghost.
The signs were not good before we even got into the building. As we approached the school in the car J was beginning to whine. He knew he had already been to school today and I think he thought we were going to just drop him back off. Once we got inside it didn’t get much better. As was to be expected the music was loud and the lights were low, the hall was busy and everyone was in costume so there were lots of unfamiliar faces.
To begin with we just stood near the door and let J watch what was going on and settle to his surroundings. We danced with B and tried to cajole J into joining us. Staff and pupils came over to talk to him and try to entice him in but he was having none of it. The only saving grace came in the form of a kwenchy cup and a packet of Tangy Toms. These helped to see him though another twenty minutes, which took us to almost the half way point of the disco. After once more unsuccessfully trying to convince him to join the dancing he pulled his dad out of the door to walk around the school yard. We allowed him to do this for 5 minutes in the hope that it would calm him down. We then tried to get him to return to the hall. This was a big mistake and resulted in meltdown. Finally we gave in and we all bundled back into the car to return home.
On reflection I don’t think the night was a total disaster. It was his first experience of a disco in a school setting and he has only been at school for a couple of months. He didn’t completely refuse to go in, he didn’t opt to leave straight away either. This was progress. Admittedly it wasn’t plain sailing and it took a lot of effort on everyone’s part but it is a step in the right direction. All we need to do now is keep it going. Maybe at the next disco when there are no costumes he will find it a little more familiar. We live in hope!
Some tips for Hallowe’en:
Upside Mum 