Our Latest Father-and-Son Activity

We give our son a lot of supplements per our DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) doctor’s recommendations. Until recently, though, Kai had shown almost no interest in them.

He does not yet swallow pills or capsules, and we give him quite a number of different ones, so we mix most of it with applesauce. He has his before-breakfast applesauce, after-breakfast applesauce, before-dinner applesauce, after-dinner applesauce, and before-bedtime applesauce. Each has a different mix of supplements.

My wife organizes the supplements. She has them neatly stored in a corner of our kitchen counter. And she is the one who has most often prepared each applesauce mixture.

Last week, Kai noticed some familiar names among the supplements – element names. For instance, there is calcium and selenium and zinc. And that gave him the idea to label the container of each supplement with the atomic symbol and atomic weight of different elements.

The names he gave do not reflect the actual ingredients for the most part. So, for instance, Olive Leaf Extract is nitrogen and Tumeric is silicon.

But this labeling has made him extremely interested in the supplements for the first time.

The other morning he woke me up early and asked if I would mix his before-breakfast applesauce. Then he rushed to the kitchen so that he could watch. “Which elements are you going to use, Daddy?” And we prepared them together and he proceeded to consume the applesauce without the usual protest.

After school, he couldn’t wait to get out the “elements” and prepare them for the evening applesauce mix. And so, it’s becoming our latest Dad-and-son routine.

Some dads play catch with their sons. Others watch sports together. Me, I mix “element” supplements. And, I couldn’t be happier about it.