I look at providing social outlets for my daughter as setting a tone of normalcy as well as being the best use of our time spent together.  Prior to our present state of living with Coved- 19 my daughter and I participated in many social activities.  We enjoy visiting museums, going to plays, concerts and outdoor festivals.  We love to shop together. She really enjoys picking out her own clothes and helping me find outfits too.  We try new restaurants as well as go to our usual favorite places to have lunch or dinner.  We do manicures and pedicures together.  We’ve even attended a paint n sip while we drank sparkling cider in champagne glasses and ate cheese with assorted nuts. Paint n sip was one of the most fun things to do because neither of us saw ourselves as artist but through this experience we found ourselves open to being daring and created the most beautiful pieces of art. When we are at home we each surf the web for mostly new healthy recipes of meals and desserts to make.  Then we shop for the ingredients and cook together. Whatever way you decide to spend quality time with your loved one can bring out their best creativeness and allow them to be fearless.

Our willingness to be open to exploring new things to do with our special needs loved ones will serve to enhance their interests and talents.  In a way this will hopefully lend itself to have a direct impact on their acceptance to participate in their own communities and to reach far beyond.