Cranky and Reclusive is Just Fine

Well, Rosie was in a state of nervous exhaustion after the Scouting and art show events, and the poor kid kept crying out and shouting in her sleep. We let her retreat into her room for the morning and early afternoon the next day, and then, after that, she was fine. She popped out cheerful and interested in the world and ready to talk and play and learn. Contrast that with how it would have been if she had to get up early the next morning and meet the demands of six hours in the public school environment. A meltdown or two, a fight, a trip to the principal's office, a wasted day, more negative reinforcement regarding school, and another day or two or three of nerves and shouting - that would have been the minimum. You tell me what's more natural and healthy.

Anyway.

I'm in a bit of an irritable mood myself, after listening to my aunt rant about how my father and her other sister are "wierd" for avoiding family gatherings and refusing to share every detail of their lives with family. The most maddening part is that she thinks there's 'something wrong' with her siblings for being reclusive, yet there's 'nothing wrong' with her and her daughters (all medicated for anxiety disorders), two of her grandsons (medicated for unspecific "psychosis"), three other grandkids (medicated for ADHD), and two great-grandkids (3 years old and not talking yet). What. The. Hell.

There are obviously a range of traits in this particular family, and combined with other traits from other families, they manifest in different ways, some of them disruptive, some pathological, and some not. This is not different than millions of families - from any human group.

I'm just infuriated. Where does anyone get off thinking that they can pick any set of characteristics - someone else's, not their own - and decide they're maladaptive? That goes equally for a school system which decides that a kid can't take a break from interacting with people in an overstimulating environment as a matter of course, and for an aunt who can't accept that another family member might not want to interact with people under a similar set of overstimulating circumstances.

I am not playing Thanksgiving this year, damn it. I WON'T.