Family oriented things on holiday’s can be limited due to Noah. The biggest thing is he doesn’t sit still and when you try to get him to sit still, he throws huge temper tantrums. After so many temper tantrums, and to stop the stares, we usually leave or just don’t go in the first place because we know what will happen.
To celebrate our 4th of July, we went to the local YMCA that has a wonderful family pool that is very shallow (between 1-3 feet) where Noah can walk around on his own and be more independent. He’s not stuck in a float the whole time like other area pools. Noah loves the water, so we spent most of our holiday there.
My daughter is getting to an age (she will be eight in September) where she wants to do some of the fun family things like going to see fireworks on the 4th of July. However, because Noah won’t sit on a blanket for 30 minutes and be content and because the loud noise of fireworks bothers him, in my mind, I’d just rather stay home and not deal with it. But I also know it will disappoint my daughter for another year.
I have to admit, I do enjoy the festivities of the holiday and watching fireworks has always been a favorite of mine, so to not see them, except on TV, for the past four years hasn’t been all that exciting. But I don’t want the tantrums and I also don’t want to scare him just for our enjoyment.
We discovered a few days before the holiday that Noah could handle the fireworks when the sound was muffled. My in-laws set off some fireworks and Noah was fine once he was back inside viewing them from the window of their house. Knowing that, we decided to go watch the fireworks this year and see how that went. My husband and I decided we would stay in the car and park a little further down from the area where the fireworks were being held so that if we needed to make a quick getaway, we wouldn’t have crowds and traffic to deal with.
We chose an empty parking lot of the Home Depot, close to where we knew the fireworks would be going off but far enough away from the crowd and the traffic. I was nervous about how Noah would handle it and if we did the right thing but I also knew it doesn’t hurt to try again and see. We could leave quickly if we needed to and I could see how excited my daughter was to be there to see them. I think she’s only seen fireworks one or two other times because we’ve always avoided it in the past for Noah.
The fireworks started about 9:15 pm and at first, my husband had his window down so almost immediately, Noah began getting upset. My first thought was this was a mistake and Isabella would be disappointed we would have to leave. However, much to our surprise, that cry quickly turned into a laugh when my husband rolled up his window and the sound of the fireworks wasn’t so loud. For the next thirty minutes, we watched the fireworks, big and small and Noah enjoyed himself as well as the rest of us. We could tell he like the bigger fireworks due to the size of his laugh when they would go off. I’m glad we tried and now we know we might be able to watch them next year, as long we can muffle the sound of the fireworks for Noah.
After we got home and the kids were in bed, my husband and I were watching the local news. That’s when we also found out about silent fireworks, which I found intriguing! Apparently, there are certain types of fireworks that you can buy that provide the big, colorful fireworks but without the sound! They were developed for kids (and dogs) that can’t handle the loud sounds of the fireworks. Even though I enjoy the sound of fireworks because that’s part of the fun, I also understand for kids like Noah who enjoy the look of the fireworks but can’t handle the sounds, these were a perfect alternative!
We ended up having a nice and enjoyable 4th of July. I’m happy it turned out the way it did for our entire family.
With hope (in my genes),
Jenna
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