Be On The Lookout

Just the kind of phonecall that you don't want to hear...

On Thursday, I received a phonecall at work from my son's daycamp. They said there was an armed robbery in the vicinity of the camp, and the robber escaped on foot in the direction of the daycamp. The police were there, and the camp was under lockdown. They gave me very specific instructions for how I was to pick up my son, and gave me the option of picking him up then, or at the usual time, assuring me the police would be present the entire day.

Yikes.

I was not only frightened for his safety, but also for his ability to handle the drastic change in his schedule, and the idea of 65-70 kids being cooped up in a small building (room). Talk about your sensory overload...

Work was very understanding, and allowed me to go check up on him, with warnings to be careful and not put myself in danger. I didn't care about my safety, I just needed to know my son was okay. But it's nice to work for a place that gives me so much flexibility during work time.

I went to the daycamp, after following their inconvenient, yet understandably necessary, steps to get in. They weren't kidding about the police being there. So were all the big shots in charge of the camp. There were tons of police cars, and I don't know how many undercover cars (I saw a woman with handcuffs dangling off her belt climb into a plain looking car). The parking lot was packed with police. I was awed, and relieved. They stopped me before I could even get close to the building, and we went through more secuity measures. Finally they told me they were going to bring my son out to me. I didn't want to do that, I wanted to go in and just see if he was alright. They finally agreed to allow me in.

I walked into the building, which was packed with about 70 kids, covering every inch of the floor. The volume was deafening, with the typical happy squeals of playing children. While everything looked safe and sound, I was instantly worried about what that level of noise was doing to Nathan. It took me a little while, but I finally located him among the sea of kids. He was fine, though I could tell he was getting over-stimulated (but not to the point of meltdown yet). I whipped out a pair of earplugs (I always carry a bunch in my purse), and handed them to him. He smiled, thanked me, and instantly put them in. Right then, his aide walked up to me, and informed me apologetically that he had offered to get Nathan his earplugs, but Nathan declined. I just smiled and told him that I didn't ask him, I just handed them to him. (Sometimes it's best not to offer the option). I also assured the aide that it was fine. I just knew this was going to be too much for him, and would cause sensory overload. It's one of the reasons I came. I stuck around for a while, to reassure myself that all was safe, and to make sure Nathan wasn't going to melt down. It gave me a good opportunity to talk with his aide, who seems to already have a good feel for Nathan's signals, and how to handle him when he's over-stimulated. The guy is really good with kids. Once the camp was allowed to go outside again (with police escort), and continue with their regular scheduled activities, I left and returned to work, leaving Nathan there. At that point, the place seemed as safe as Fort Knox. And Nathan looked out of the woods, so to speak, with any sensory overload. And none of the kids seemed frightened, or even aware that anything out of the ordinary was going on.

We returned to the daycamp in the evening for the family night. The police were still there! I thought this was awfully impressive. By this time, the thief that had inspired the lockdown had moved on and hit two other locations, several miles away, and was obviously no longer in the vicinity, yet the police stayed to be sure, and to reassure the families. I later found out from Nathan that the police gave the kids talks about "stranger danger," and they also talked to the kids about what it was like to grow up to be a police officer. He thought the whole thing was really neat. Gotta admit, I did too.

So as frightening as the phone call was, it was so cool to see that they would handle things so well in the event of an emergency, and that they would go above and beyond the call of duty (both the camp, and the police), to keep the kiddies safe. It gave me a whole new sense of security, where Nathan was concerned.

And Nathan had a really good first week at daycamp! He was awarded a certificate, declaring he was the "Game King," due to his knack of winning every game he played. (He was particularly proud of slaughtering the counselors at checkers, LOL!) No major meltdowns, and he did very well most days. (Too bad his aide couldn't accompany Nathan to school next semester...)

The summer is looking up!