Autism and Vanity

My youngest son is beautiful. He is captivating and handsome and has dimples to die for and you can get lost in his eyes.

 My youngest son is also totally awkward looking. I joke a lot about Jake's physical traits from his adorable snaggle fangs in the front of his mouth, his low hairline (yes, I know he gets that from ME), his unibrow, his ears and his awkwardness as a whole. He is 13 1/2 and this is when most boys are awkward looking.... But as his body changes he has started to break out on his forehead.

This morning I was using a cream on his little face to clear up his breakouts and I was thinking to myself, is this MY vanity issue here? Does he even CARE? I am so overly protective of him in terms of things that might get him picked on in school like his clothes, shoes, etc. He could care less if he wears $5.00 payless sneakers or the Nike’s we make sure he has. He does not need name brand anything – it is meaningless to him, but we always make sure he looks his best because he has enough going against him in life being on the spectrum and having such severe ADHD and of course being an adolescent which has it’s own levels of trauma.

My point here is I was having a moment of feeling like I am projecting my own insecurities onto this kid who really when it comes down to it cares only about a few things….movies, YouTube, his IPad and his favorite TV shows. Then, as I was applying the ointment he looked up at me, grabbed my cheeks and said "Mom, I love you for making my pimples go away but maybe you should buy Proactive instead, it worked for Katy Perry”.

I have his back, vanity may play a role but if I can fix one thing to eliminate him from getting picked on I will do it.