Ohio Renaissance Festival

A few weekends ago I took my kids, Zach and Riley, to the Ohio Renaissance Festival down in Harveysburg, Ohio.  I had heard a lot of good things about the festival and have wanted to go for a number of years.   The festival consisted of people dressed in the Renaissance era clothing, comedy shows, games and rides, musicians playing music from the historical period, and of course vendors trying to sell merchandise.  I thought the kids might enjoy some of the shows and games, but I was grossly wrong. 

The only thing Zach was interested in was a replica pirate ship that was on display. However, when he found out that he could not board the ship and explore it he was not interested in anything other than knowing what time we were leaving.  We stayed for about 3 ½ hours before departing and I initially thought it was just a waste of time and money.  After thinking about the trip some more I realized that it may have been a waste of money, but not necessarily a waste of time.  You see, a couple of years ago Zach would not have been capable of staying at a place for 3 ½ hours he had no interest in being without making it difficult on his parents.  He would have verbally and physically objected by throwing himself down on the ground in protest.  At the Renaissance Festival where he clearly had no interest as evident by his unmotivated body language, Zach hung in there and tolerated the environment without incident.  

We always want our kids to experience new and different things whether or not it turns out good or bad, and if they liked it or not.  Going into some situations we kind of have a feeling if it will be a positive experience and other times it is unpredictable with what could happen.  From one parent raising a child with autism to all the others doing the same, I encourage you to expose your child to different environments.  This is one of many ways they will learn and adapt to various environments they will be confronted with in the future.