Our Normal - We Social Story

In our little corner of the world, I sometimes find myself craving some normalcy. Some parts of life seem so far from normal anymore, that I almost forget what “normal” is supposed to look like. I’ve gotten used to “our normal”.

Our daughter got invited to her very first friend sleepover party. She was beyond excited! So was I - that’s what “normal” is supposed to look like…kids playing with friends, having slumber parties, sleeping bags, all without Tim or me having to hover over the situation. Our girl was so excited to go! We did some planning, I made sure she felt ready to go, and then it was the big day.

And that’s when I noticed that even though we were headed off to something “normal”, we still carried “our normal” with us. See, my girl was going through all the checkpoints. It was good until I realized it was more like a social story than a checklist of things that need to be done before leaving.

In my mind, going through the checklist to prepare for an outing would be something like:
*I have my sleeping bag, pajamas, toothbrush and clothes.
*I know your phone number.
*I know I can ask for help.

But “our normal”, where we social story (because I wanted to turn that into a verb!), and which was the checklist she was going through, sounded more like:
*I’m getting ready for a slumber party.
*Sometimes you might feel happy because your friends are there.
*Sometimes you might feel scared if someone tells a scary story.
*If I feel scared, I’m going to ask Miss L for some help.
*At a slumber party you will sleep in your sleeping bag. I love my new sleeping bag!
*Sometimes you might get scared in the night. If I get scared, I will ask to call my mom.
*When I wake up in the morning, I will eat breakfast and get my things packed.
*My mom or dad will come pick me up.

Her version of a social story wasn’t a bad list to help prepare herself. But it reminded me that it wasn’t completely “typical” either. But I think that’s okay - ultimately she seems to know enough about the social story process and can help her brother prepare for a new situation if she needs to. In our house, we sometimes social story. And that’s “our normal”.