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On Friday May 27th a group of Dad’s at the Autism One Conference got together for the first ever Dad’s Night Out.
The event was at Lucky Strike Lanes, where the Dad’s bowled, ate, relaxed and “talked” with other Dad’s. Yes, thats correct Mom’s and Dad’s reading this…they encouraged and inspired each other to help their children and families. It was exactly what we wanted to happen!
On Saturday at the Keynote presentation, by Jenny and Byron, a few mothers let their feelings go about their husbands lack of participation in their child’s life, their marriage and unwillingness to listen and understand. As these moms, thankfully, got their feelings off their chest, I wanted to stand up and yell, “You didn’t see what I saw last night!”
As males, we handle situations, relationships and many things differently. We all know this. In the autism community DAD is often not in the picture. But last Friday there were nearly 40 Dads there, 3 with their sons, who needed this opportunity that was long over due.
One Dad told me about his son, how he puts him on his shoulders during his transitions to calm maladaptive behaviors. His son gets another perspective and feeling from Dad’s shoulders…and you know what Mom said to Dad, positively, “you may need to stop this because I can’t put him on my shoulders, he keeps asking for shoulders!”
As we were leaving I talked with another group of Dad’s and they said that they were encouraging another Dad to keep going with Biomedical treatment. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in it. His wife is a nurse and she has mixed emotions…but these Dad’s kept motivating him, telling him he was doing the right thing!

Sometimes Dad’s just need the right environment in order to engage. That’s why we have our Man Cave. We need a special place, music, or show to watch for us to unwind and gather our thoughts. Sound familiar to our children?

To the Dad’s who are reading and are ready to engage there are is a troop of Dad’s out there ready to help. Adding you will help us create an army to recover more children.

Mom’s keep doing your thing and we will create more opportunities to help your husbands come out of there shell. And once they do….LOOK OUT!

See you next year!

Yours in Health,

David S. Geslak