Rethinking age appropriate activities

One of the challenges that special needs parents may face is whether they should encourage or curb an activity or interest that may not be age appropriate. Having a 14 year old that wouldn't think twice about buying a stuffed animal isn't the norm, but it's what life is like in this house.

Every Halloween and Easter, I'm faced with the same question. Are the kids too old for Trick or Treat and Easter Egg hunts? I have decided to follow their lead. If they ask to participate, then we do it.

So we did our traditional Easter Egg scavenger hunt. In an attempt to have them improve their reading skills, I like to write down the clues to the egg locations. We always have the kids wait in our bedroom while we hide the eggs. Once we are ready to start the hunt, the boys take turns reading the clues and try to figure out where each egg is hidden.

Since it snowed in the morning, we kept the hunt indoors.

But it was easy to hide the eggs among all of the nerd gear in their rooms.

The final clue leads them to their final prize. If we are going on vacation in the summer, I usually put in things that go with the trip. It could be a travel guide, tickets to a Broadway show, etc. This year, we have no trips planned, so the bag consisted of candy, a couple nerdy items, and books to read during the summer.

It was a nice day. The kids have not outgrown the Easter Egg hunt. Just last week, Nik wrote something for school where he talked about his favorite traditions, and our Easter Egg hunt made the list. So we are going to keep doing this until the say they don't want to. I don't care if they are in their 30's. Who says that we have to outgrow traditions?