This Tumblr post feels so much like the exact heart of occupational therapy. And maybe that’s why I feel like it overlaps so hard with my parenting style…because I’m also on a mission to just try to instill these things in the next generation from the beginning, instead of having to re-teach them again as adults.
WHY FADE SUPPORTS THAT WORK? I’ll have kids on my caseload who have been doing great with some particular support for weeks, months, years, and then the push becomes to try to remove that support or fade it so that the child doesn’t “depend” on it anymore.
Let me be clear: if the child is the one driving that push, because they don’t want the support in place, that’s a wholly different thing. (Unless the reason for them not wanting it is because adults have shamed them into feeling “babyish” for it or whatever.)
But if the adults have just arbitrarily decided that the child needs to stop relying on something that works for them, nah. I’m not here for that. The world has so many things, so many supports, so much technology, so much access. If we’re arbitrarily limiting ourselves from it for absolutely no real reason, then I’m not here for that.
Start by asking yourself what’s the reason you feel like you can’t/shouldn’t use xyz (or your child can’t/shouldn’t). If you don’t have any reason…well, then, there you go.
